A lack of grip and tire choice for Sunday’s races was the main dilemma facing race teams on the opening day of the season at Phillip Island. With scorching 51-degree Celsius (124-degrees Fahrenheit) track temperatures in Australia, all riders were complaining of slippery conditions, with a number of high-profile crashes during the two sessions as a result.

Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa, James Toseland, Troy Corser, Michel Fabrizio, Shane Byrne and Max Neukirchner all hit the ground, with Toseland and Byrne requiring a visit to the medical center. The two British riders had near identical falls in the last turn, highsiding at just under 100mph. Toseland ended up with a battered left wrist, while Byrne was left generally just battered, with a grazed left arm and a headache from where he hit his head on the kerbing.

The title of most prolific crasher of the day, however, went to none other than Ruben Xaus. The Spaniard crashed twice in Free Practice and again in first Qualifying. The factory BMW rider completed just 10 laps in total, including out laps!

The fastest man of the day was Carlos Checa, who has clearly found a good home onboard the new Althea Ducati 1098R. The Spaniard, who has been consistently fast in testing, showed his undisputed pace once again, but like many others also crashed during the final hour-long session.

“I know what I am capable of and now I have to prove my pace again tomorrow,” said Checa. “I would be happy if the temperature was the same for the races that it has been today. The Ducati works very well here at Phillip Island and my pace at the moment is very good, but I do not know yet if it will be good enough for the race.”

In what was an overall good day for Ducati, Fabrizio claimed the second fastest time with Byrne in fourth and factory-man Noriyuki Haga in fifth. Historically the Ducatis work well around the flowing Australian track and 2010 looks to be no exception.

Leon Haslam finished day one in third place, having dominated the opening free practice session onboard the Alstare Suzuki. Haslam has been in stunning form during winter testing and having completed a private three-day test at Phillip Island last November plus last week’s two-day official test looks to have the edge on his four cylinder rivals.

“I spent two days working with the race tires and never used a soft tire just to set a time,” he said. “My tire life today still dropped off, but I think everybody’s did and there was a lot of sliding and spinning going on out there. Even though I’ve been fast I’m under no illusion that the other teams will get there by Sunday. Right now we’ve got a good set-up for the hot or cooler conditions and I can be consistent, which will be the important thing.”

Factory Yamaha men James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow made some inroads into the chatter problems that plagued them during the latest round of testing. As the 2009 world championship-winning team, the Italian squad were hoping that the improvements made to the Yamaha R1 would make life easier for its riders, but since arriving in Australia last week they have been of the pace that was expected of them. To combat the situation a host of parts from Ben Spies’ title-winning R1 have been shipped to Australia and both men have been steadily moving up the leader board as a result.

In World Supersport, Kawasaki man Joan Lascorz set provisional pole in impressive fashion. The talented Spaniard was lighting up the rear tire of his ZX-6R exiting the final turn with Chaz Davies claiming that he could actually see smoke coming off his rear Pirelli when he was following him. Last year’s runner-up Eugene Laverty pushed Lascorz all the way, with former champion Kenan Sofuoglu in third, meaning all three title favorites will line up on the provisional front row.

2010 WSB Phillip Island Qualifying Results:
1. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1'32.155
2. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1'32.162
3. Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki) 1'32.373
4. Shane Byrne (Althea Racing) 1'32.635
5. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1'32.703
6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) 1'32.850
7. Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate) 1'32.884
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Alstare Suzuki) 1'32.902
9. Jakub Smrz (Team PATA B&G Racing) 1'32.905
10. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) 1'33.038
11. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) 1'33.296
12. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing) 1'33.389
13. James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) 1'33.422
14. Lorenzo Lanzi (DFX Corse) 1'33.454
15. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing) 1'33.492
16. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad) 1'33.512
17. Andrew Pitt (Team Reitwagen BMW) 1'33.940
18. Max Neukirchner (HANNspree Ten Kate) 1'33.960
19. Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad) 1'33.984
20. Roland Resch (Team Reitwagen BMW) 1'34.065
21. Vittorio Iannuzzo (SCI Honda Garvie Image) 1'34.417
22. Josh Brookes (ECHO CRS Honda) 1'34.663
23. Matteo Baiocco (Team Pedercini) 1'35.892
24. Roger Lee Hayden (Team Pedercini) 1'36.113

Rider Quotes:
Michel Fabrizio, Ducati Xerox - 2nd:
“We tried different tire solutions this morning and various setting solutions in agreement with my engineer. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage fortunately. Then in the qualifying session we found a good direction with the tire solution that may well be the one to choose for the race; the results were quite encouraging. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m happy; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.”

Leon Haslam, Alstare Suzuki - 3rd:
“I am really happy with today because we are well on the way to finding a good set-up for the race on Sunday. We tried all three different tires and now we have good ideas about which one we will use depending on the conditions. I didn’t even use a soft tire this afternoon and my fastest lap was done on ordinary race rubber. The differing temperatures have given us different challenges, but I’m pretty confident about the bike’s set-up, unless of course it rains and then we’ll all be in trouble. The track felt a bit slippery and greasy today, because of the hotter temperatures, and the wind was a bit of a problem in turns 1 and 2 and sector 4, but it was the same for everybody and we just had to cope with it.”

Noriyuki Haga, Ducati Xerox - 5th:
“We’ve tested the different rear tires that Pirelli make available to us this weekend but we are still undecided as to which will have the best durability in these hot conditions. Tomorrow we’ll try a different solution for the setting but overall I’m happy. The lap times have been consistent but today was very hot and although I felt I could have pushed a little more, I didn’t want to risk it, also because I saw that several riders crashed."

Sylvain Guintoli, Alstare Suzuki - 8th:
“We’ve made a good step forward today - maybe part of it was down to me using my right hand better - and I am really loving riding the bike. We tried many different settings and also did a lot of work on trying to improve the tire life and, like Leon, I did my best lap on normal race rubber. At the moment, I am struggling a bit finding problems with the bike and everything is going very well. That’s also down to the hard work put in by the whole team and we are feeling good about our prospects on Sunday. First aim tomorrow morning is getting into Superpole. After that, we’ll see what happens.”

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda - 10th:
"I think we've worked hard and got rid of the chatter problem. The 2009 parts that we've used seem to have helped us in that way. The tank and the seat unit seemed to have stopped the chatter now. If you look at our times, although we're not initially fastest straight away we've got consistency across the sessions. We've got some more areas to work on and I'm looking forward to making the bike even better tomorrow. We've got a good direction to work in, it was just a little unfortunate that the track temperature was so hot today. Even so we were still doing the same times as Ben's race pace from last year. Hopefully it will cool off over the next couple of days and work better for us."

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda - 13th:
"Unfortunately had a big crash today coming out of the penultimate corner which didn't help things. I did go back out on the other bike but had a pain in my hand so came in as I wanted to make sure it was ok. We're definitely making improvements, we've just had a lot to do in one day to work through the package. We're only a bit over a second off pole now so we'll focus down and keep moving forward tomorrow."

Troy Corser, BMW Motorrad - 16th:
"At the moment, there is a lot of work to do and we are trying our best to get the bike working the way we want and get the most out of it at the same time. We are sorting out what we need to do to improve grip and this morning we decided to use a different clutch and I preferred the change, though we then had some new problems to solve because the bike turned quicker and so I had to adjust the bike to suit. Obviously a different clutch affects how the bike feels and I was only really happy with the bike in the afternoon qualifying when there was fifteen or so minutes left. Then I felt more confident in pushing, but before that I didn’t. I am definitely feeling more confident with our new brake system, though once again, it is a matter of learning and understanding how it works and this is not a quick process. I feel that the new system is better, but we just need more time with it. I had a little get-off this afternoon, when I lost the rear at the bottom of Lukey Heights. It was on a new tire and I guess that was part of the reason why I fell. No big drama, though I did bang two of the knuckles of my right hand. I’ll get some ice on it, but I don’t see it being a problem tomorrow, where the first goal will be to make sure we get into Superpole."