Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner delighted the home fans by taking Superpole for tomorrow's seventh-round World Superbike Championship round at the Nurburgring. The young German had to dig deep to beat Troy Bayliss (Xerox Ducati) and Carlos Checa (Hanspree Ten Kate Honda), but he lapped the 5.137 kilometre circuit without mistake to end with a time of 1:55.471 - three tenths of an second quicker then his nearest rival.

Max Neukirchner - Alstare Suzuki - Superpole
I saw that Carlos had done a very fast lap and I knew my lap would have to be perfect to beat him, but my lap was very good and without mistake. I am so happy to win Superpole, especially in front of my home fans and it is a very special feeling. I want to thank my whole team for the good job they have done this weekend. I am happy with my bike set-up for the race, but I hope that it doesn't rain because that would be a shame for all the spectators - and all the riders of course!

Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox - 2nd
The practices have all been going well. In Superpole I thought I could beat Carlos', albeit very fast, time but I didn't realise during my lap that Max had already gone faster than Carlos - I forgot to look at my lap board when I went out so when I came down the straight I thought I'd got it but then I saw that Max had already gone faster and so I was second... Not that I could have gone any faster even if I'd known, so well done to Max - taking the pole in front of your home crowd is a very special thing. But tomorrow will be difficult and we'll see how it turns out tomorrow.

Carlos Checa - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - 3rd
Here we didn't find the grip we had in America but we've been working on the bike to find more mechanical feeling with these tyres and finally it worked a bit better. I was confident with that feeling even with the qualifying tyres and on my Superpole lap the time came very good, then of course Troy and especially Max did a great lap time. We are on the first row and it's very positive, I think we'll catch up the pace and we'll be looking good for tomorrow.

I thought I would drop down the field with some fast riders still having to ride their lap. Haga was going to take pole but he made some mistakes. Max Neukirchner did a fantastic job on his lap on which I want to congratulate him. It will be good for him to start his home race from pole position. I thought Haga was going to take pole but he made some mistakes.

Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Italia - 4th
I almost highsided twice during my Superpole lap and that pulled my shoulder a bit, so I went to the Clinica Mobile to check it out. Everything is fine, just painful. We changed the bike setting from yesterday in regular qualifying and that went quite well, so we should be OK for tomorrow - if we have a dry race! Superpole was OK but we had a bit of a problem with the suspension settings. We realised problem was, so it's not a worry for tomorrow.

Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox - 5th
I'm very satisfied with the lap I made during Superpole, even though I am a little disappointed by the fact that I missed out on fourth place by just three-hundredths of a second but anyway, we are happy with the result. We worked hard today and I was able to improve on the eighth position that I held before the start of Superpole so much as to be able to start from fifth place on the grid tomorrow. I hope to get two better starts than I did in the last round at Miller and I also hope that the weather is fine tomorrow as we have done very little preparation if it were to be wet.

Troy Corser - Yamaha Italia - 6th
I made a mistake in Superpole and that stopped me challenging for a front row start. We're all set for the races tomorrow, just a couple of things to try in warm-up to see if they are even better. Our race pace is better in comparison with our single lap times anyway. I was using the camber on the kerbs in a couple of places, quite deliberately, which is something I remembered I could do from last time we raced here in 1999.

Max Biaggi - Sterilgrada Ducati - 8th
I still have some problem, especially in the first part of the track where there is plenty of bumps caused by the F1. Even in the Superpole I got the most of the gap in that stretch of track, but I feel confident to find a good solution tomorrow during the warm-up when I will test a different setting. I cannot set any goal now because the rain might shift our ground.

Ruben Xaus - Sterilgrada Ducati - 10th
I was forced to ride the spare machine during the Superpole due to my crash at the end of the free practice. I didn't find immediately the feeling with the bike and so I was not able to do better than this, but I'm pretty satisfied with my result. Tomorrow I feel confident to be among the bests especially in the second part of the race. I hope to do a good start in order to break the trackers early on.

Ryuichi Kiyonari - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - 12th
The bike felt a lot better than it yesterday and I had a good feeling with the machine today. I also start to understand the circuit better. We tried a different setting this morning as I had to improve on my pace. We managed to improve on some points. We made some small adjustments to the suspension and the balance of the machine, but overall the set up is good. I hope I can make a good star tomorrow. I did manage to overtake a lot of riders in the last riders, if I can do the same here I can fight with the top group.

Regis Laconi - Kawasaki PSG-1 - 13th
It was hard to get back a good feeling after a crash in the timed session this morning, mainly because I am not sure why I crashed. The rear just slid out and I was off. I lost some time in the first section of the circuit all afternoon from then on. I am not happy with my starting position but I know I could have been faster had my mind not been disturbed a bit by the fall. After I sleep on it I know things will be much better tomorrow. The bike is quite good, we only had a little problem with the clutch in free practice, and that was fixed for Superpole. The bike should be good for the race itself.

Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki Alstare - 14th
My Superpole was not good - as usual. I am not sure why it's always this way. The fourth row of the grid gives me a lot of work to do in the races tomorrow. I tried my best in Superpole and pushed as hard as I could, but I made a couple of small errors and that was enough to push me down the grid. It's a pity because I found a good set-up in practice and qualifying and know that I can do well in the races.

More rider comments to follow

Superpole Times - Nuerbergring
 1. Neukirchner  Suzuki GSX-R1000   1:55.471
 2. Bayliss      Ducati 1098 F08    1:55.791
 3. Checa        Honda CBR1000RR    1:55.888
 4. Haga         Yamaha YZF-R1      1:56.401
 5. Fabrizio     Ducati 1098 F08    1:56.436
 6. Corser       Yamaha YZF-R1      1:56.522
 7. Lanzi        Ducati 1098 RS08   1:56.574
 8. Biaggi       Ducati 1098 RS08   1:56.918
 9. Muggeridge   Honda CBR1000RR    1:56.980
10. Xaus         Ducati 1098 RS08   1:57.053
11. Smrz         Ducati 1098 RS08   1:57.112
12. Kiyonari     Honda CBR1000RR    1:57.143
13. Laconi       Kawasaki ZX-10R    1:57.301
14. Nieto        Suzuki GSX-R1000   1:57.491
15. Gimbert      Yamaha YZF-R1      1:57.514
16. Kagayama     Suzuki GSX-R1000   no time

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