Bayliss on top

The world champion Australian paced the field on qualifying tyres in 2:00.2 on his Ducati, a tenth of a second clear of Britain's James Toseland, on a Ten Kate Honda.

But he had nothing like as much of an advantage on race tyres, as Troy Corser on a Motor Italia Yamaha matched his best.

Corser said: "I think the tests went pretty well and we did a lot of good work here. We tried many different tyres, although I sort of felt that there was not a huge improvement between one and the other.

"We also tried some different suspension set-ups, different forks, rear shocks and other little bits and pieces. We worked a bit on the anti-slip clutch set-up and the only thing I feel we are lacking is good acceleration out of the turns .

Yukio Kagayama was the only other man to set a lap inside 2:01 on his Alstare Suzuki while the likes of Max Biaggi, Fonsi Nieto and Tuesday pace-setter Noryuki Haga all struggled in the increased temperatures.

- Jamie O'Leary -