Motor Cycling: Bayliss leaves Edwards and Hodgson in his wake

Troy Bayliss maintained his stranglehold on the World Superbike Championship by claiming provisional pole position here for tomorrow's British round.

The runaway world championship leader recorded a time of 1min 26.398sec on his Ducati Infostrada to take his familiar position at the top of the timesheets in glorious sunshine at the Kent track. Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards – Bayliss' only challenger in the title race – took up his usual position behind his Australian rival, less than a 10th of a second adrift as he looks to build on victory on home turf at Laguna Seca last time out.

Bayliss' team-mate Ruben Xaus produced a reminder of his abilities despite a disappointing season so far, claiming provisional third. Neil Hodgson led the British challenge, taking fourth place on his HM Plant Ducati, less than half a second down on Bayliss. In front of 100,000 British supporters this weekend, Hodgson will be desperate to go one better than he did at the same venue last year when he twice finished second behind the L&M Ducati of Californian Ben Bostrom.

Hodgson lies third in the world championship, behind Bayliss and Edwards, and the 28-year-old former British Superbike Champion from the Isle of Man is hungry for success in front of his home fans. "I'm definitely in the right frame of mind for this event," said the Burnley-born Hodgson. "Getting on the podium at the last two rounds – especially mixing it with Bayliss and Edwards – has really boosted my confidence.

"I've managed to stretch the points gap so that things are looking good for third place overall by the end of the season, if I can maintain the same level of consistency. That won't be what's going through my head on Sunday though – all I want is race wins.

"The biggest threat will obviously come from Bayliss and Edwards. Those two have been on fire all season, but the HM Plant Ducati team has been closing the gap and I now feel that I'll be able to compete with them on a level playing field. You always have to keep an eye on the wildcards in the UK but Brands is my home event too and I'm well up for it," Hodgson said.

Indeed, yesterday the wildcard Michael Rutter led a trio of British riders with a fine sixth, one place clear of his Renegade Ducati team-mate Shane Byrne with Fuchs Kawasaki's Chris Walker eighth. Hodgson's HM Plant Ducati team-mate James Toseland, from Sheffield, was a disappointing 13th.

Edwards is now determined to overhaul Bayliss' slim speed advantage to claim pole position in today's superpole session. "I was more interested in seeing how many laps the tyre would do rather than setting a fastest lap," he said. "Overall, we've had a great first day here at Brands and made a lot of progress with the machine settings and tyres.

"After the win at Laguna Seca two weeks ago it feels like the whole team is only thinking about winning races now."

In the World Supersport Championship France's Stephane Chambon led the way, clocking a time of 1:29.474 on his Alstare Suzuki. He edged out his countryman Christophe Cogan who hauled his BKM Honda into a surprise second place with Paolo Casoli's Yamaha third and championship leader Fabien Foret's Ten Kate Honda fourth.

After winning the Silverstone round in appalling weather, James Whitham continued his good form on home turf, bringing his Belgarda Yamaha home fifth as the leading Briton.

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Round 10 (Brands Hatch) First qualifying session (for tomorrow's race): 1 T Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 1min 26.398sec; 2 C Edwards (US) Honda 1:26.450; 3 R Xaus (Sp) Ducati 1:26.599; 4 N Hodgson (GB) Ducati 1:26.722; 5 P Chili (It) Ducati 1:26.786; 6 M Rutter (GB) Ducati 1:26.877; 7 S Byrne (GB) Ducati 1:27.242; 8 C Walker (GB) Kawasaki 1:27.294; 9 J B Borja (Sp) Ducati 1:27.382; 10 N Haga (Japan) Aprilia 1:27.449.

Supersport: 1 S Chambon (Fr) Suzuki 1min 29.473sec; 2 C Cogan (Fr) Honda 1:29.803; 3 P Casoli (It) Yamaha 1:29.838; 4 F Foret (Fr) Honda 1:30.098; 5 J Whitham (GB) Yamaha 1:30.202; 6 K Fujiwara (Japan) Suzuki 1:30.216.