Fabrizio in fine fettle

Italian Michel Fabrizio was quickest in Friday's first qualifying session for Sunday's FIM Superbike World Championship races at Donington Park.

The Ducati Xerox rider improved by almost a second on his best time in the opening free practice session to top the timesheets in one minute 30.775seconds.

Fabrizio has just one victory to his name so far this season, in his homeland at Monza, but that looks like it could change this weekend in the 17th and 18th rounds of the campaign.

The Italian was more than 0.4.secs quicker than the rest of the field, lap times falling in the closing minutes as the track, wet from an earlier shower, dried out.

Britain's Leon Haslam on the Honda and American Ben Spies on the Yamaha were second and third quickest in 1min 31.191secs and 1:31.294 respectively. Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla was fourth fastest.

It was a good overall session for the British riders, with Shane Byrne and Leon Camier fifth and sixth fastest.

Czech Republic's Jakub Smrz, Italy's Lorenzo Lanzi and Spain's Carlos Checa filled places seven, eight and nine.

Championship leader Nori Haga of Japan, though, was only placed 10th on the list, almost a second off the pace.

Haga leads the overall standings by 48 points from Spies, with Fabrizio in third a further seven points back, but will have to improve over the weekend if that lead is not going to be cut.