Marco Melandri powered to provisional pole position in the first qualifying session of the SWC Spanish round.
Italian pips series leader Checa to provisional pole
Marco Melandri piped series leader Carlos Checa to the provisional pole position in the first qualifying session of the Spanish round of the Superbike World Championship.
Checa had led the session on his Althea Ducati but was knocked down to second by Melandri on the factory Yamaha who set a best lap time of one minute 59.726 seconds.
Spaniard Checa - who goes into his home round having won eight of the 12 races so far to lead the standings by 72 points - was second quickest ahead of Nori Haga on the Pata Aprilia and the Alitalia Aprilia of Leon Camier.
"There are some riders who are surely going to be fast this weekend so I'm not expecting an easy time of it but, after today's sessions, I can say that I'm feeling confident," said Checa.
"In terms of rhythm we have improved even if the times appear to be slower than those set during winter testing, which is due to the heat.
"We definitely have more work to do tomorrow; I want to do a long run for example to assess the tyres in these high temperatures."
Fifth went to Kawasaki's Tom Sykes with Checa's nearest title rival and defending champion Max Biaggi sixth on the other factory Aprilia.
Michel Fabrizio, on the Alstare Suzuki, and BMW Italia's Ayrton Badovini rounded out the second row of the grid.
Melandri's team-mate Eugene Laverty was ninth ahead of Maxime Berger (Ducati), Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) and Troy Corser (BMW). Corser's team-mate Leon Haslam was a disappointing 14th.
Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea sat out the Spanish round after fracturing his wrist in Misano.
