Leon Haslam topped the timesheets after the first qualifying practice session for the World Superbikes round at Monza this weekend.
Biaggi pipped in first session in Monza
Leon Haslam topped the timesheets after the first qualifying practice session for the World Superbikes round at Monza this weekend.
The BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider produced a last lap of one minute 42.934 seconds to pip Max Biaggi, who had earlier set a new record top speed of 332.5km/h.
Eugene Laverty was third for Yamaha ahead of BMW Motorrad Italia's Ayrton Badovini and Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea, who had been fastest in morning practice.
Noriyuki Haga and Marco Melandri lie sixth and seventh in the provisional standings but Carlos Checa, the current championship leader, struggled to make an impact.
The Spaniard was only ninth fastest in the morning session and slipped to 14th in the afternoon as he failed to live with the pace of the early front-runners.
The second qualifying practice session takes place on Saturday along with the three Superpole sessions ahead of Sunday's two races.
Positions after first Qualifying: 1 Leon Haslam (Gbr) BMW 1min 42.934secs, 2 Max Biaggi (Ita) Aprilia 1:42.953, 3 Eugene Laverty (Gbr) Yamaha 1:43.265, 4 Ayrton Badovini (Ita) BMW 1:43.276, 5 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 1:43.321, 6 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Aprilia 1:43.531, 7 Marco Melandri (Ita) Yamaha 1:43.588, 8 Troy Corser (Aus) BMW 1:43.640, 9 Maxime Berger (Fra) Ducati 1:43.679, 10 Leon Camier (Gbr) Aprilia 1:43.730,
