Toseland's task made tougher

James Toseland's dreams of a winning send-off at Brands Hatch before his switch to MotoGP were put on ice after reigning World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss produced a perfect last-minute lap to claim pole position for Sunday's races.

The 38-year-old Australian edged out Toseland by just under three-tenths of a second on his Xerox Ducati 999 in a dramatic superpole session and topped the timings with his lap of one minute 25.607 seconds.

A disappointed Toseland said: "Obviously I wanted pole in front of my home crowd but Troy and I have been swapping fastest times since Friday. He pipped me but hopefully I'll turn the tables on Sunday and finally get a win here."

Toseland's nearest title challenger Max Biaggi is making his Brands Hatch debut this weekend but will start in a creditable sixth place after initially struggling to adapt to the undulating circuit.

Japanese duo Noriyuki Haga and Yukio Kagayama complete the front row while Haga's Yamaha Italia team-mate Troy Corser rounds out the top five.