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Aprilia\'s Troy Corser was quickest ahead of Ben Bostrom and Colin Edwards. Corser said “I am both surprised and happy with our first day here at Laguna Seca. Considering we haven\'t tested here, I think we\'ve done pretty well. The bike has been working really well right from the first lap we did today and we have a good base bike set-up already. Now, all we need to do is try some rear tyres and get a good one for the race. But, before that I think we can improve our times tomorrow.”
Ben Bostrom on his home track was less than a second slower. He was sporting new Evel Knievel leathers and looking like he means business in front of his home crowd.
Edward set third fastest time for the day. Proving his comments in Thursday\'s Castrol Honda press release may have been correct> He said on Thursday \"I\'ve struggled a bit in the last few races, but we\'ve gone back to the engine settings we had at the start of the year and I\'m very confident about the weekend. It\'s the first time for the new VTR [RC51] at Laguna Seca and I\'m certain the machine is perfect for this track.\"
Troy Bayliss filled out the provisional front row.
Noriyuki Haga was 1st of the second row. His suspension, it\'s self ,on hold for a further appeal means that the other riders can expect some \"hurry up\" from the Japanese rider.
Aaron Slight was next with a new out look on a track he has never really come to grips with. the Honda press release on Thursday quoted Aaron as saying \"Laguna\'s never been that good for me in the past but I want to change that trend. The VTR will be the machine for this place and I\'m hoping for at least a couple of rostrum finishes on Sunday.\"
After today\'s qualifying he said “I’ve never gone too well in the past here. I’ve always ridden aggressively at Laguna but the secret is to be smooth and that’s what I concentrated on today. Slight continued: “So far things are looking good. I’ll be making a few changes tomorrow just to try and get a little more feel at the front end of the machine.”
Frankie Chili still suffering from his broken collarbone, saying it was even more painful now than at Valencia. Frankie had this to say today “It was hard for me out there today and I suppose that my lap time is pretty good, considering how I felt. We made changes from the morning to the afternoon, but we didn\'t improve anything. In a way, today was a bit of a lost day, so tomorrow we\'ll have to work hard and get back on track.”
Juan Borja will again be chasing Bostrom hard after his disappointing efforts at Valencia.
FRIDAY QUALIFYING TIMESThe Leguna Seca track is 2.23 miles long so the races will be 28 laps each.
