Vallelunga (Italy), Saturday 21nd September 2008: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) celebrated his seventh Superpole of the season, and the 25th of his Superbike career, in front of the Italian fans this afternoon at the Vallelunga circuit.

In dry, sunny conditions and with a track temperature of around 35°C, the riders were able to pick up their pace to record some very fast lap times during the Superpole session, with Bayliss just snatching pole position, ahead of the two factory Yamaha riders Corser and Haga.

The two races taking place here tomorrow are all important for Australian rider Troy, who currently holds a 101-point advantage in the rider classification over second placed man Corser. Two very strong race results here tomorrow could be enough to award him with the world title, a title he has already taken on two occasions, in both 2001 and 2006.

Troy Bayliss (1m36.6s)
"It's always nice to take a pole position, it's a great feeling and another one to add to my career total. I took pole here last year too but there was more wind this afternoon so that may have slowed us all down a little but it wasn't a problem really. My lap wasn't perfect but we did enough and so I'm very satisfied. I'm starting from the front row tomorrow, and as we've done a lot of pretty fast laps on the race tyres today I'm feeling confident for the races."