Fuchs Kawasaki takes consolation in Supersport.

The Fuchs Kawasaki team's qualifying woes continued at Brands Hatch, where riders Akira Yanagawa and Gregorio Lavilla slid down the time sheets to thirteenth and seventeenth positions in timed practice.

The first day of the traditional summer meeting started promising when Lavilla was fourth fastest in the opening session, but neither the Spanaird not his Japanese team-mate were able to maintain the position at the end of qualifying.

"We were working on our race tyres and they seemed to work really well," Lavilla said, "but, when we put on qualifying tyres, the set-up changed and it took a lot longer than expected to find a setting. We had a lot of chatter on the front, and I wasn't able to push into corners as hard as I would have liked. Tomorrow, I will work on improving my corner speed and that will make me faster."

"At our last test in Imola, we made some improvements to the problems we've had all year," Yanagawa added, as much in hope as anyhting else, "Now the front suspension is much better than we've ever had, and that gives me a lot more confidence. I am finally able to push the bike into the corner on the brakes and then get back on the throttle much earlier. The times don't look that good at the moment, especially compared to the rest of the field, but we have one more session left to improve. All I need is to get into Superpole - then look out."

There was better news in the Supersport category, where Iain MacPherson and Andrew Pitt started the eighth round in fine fashion with the fastest and fourth fastest times in the opening qualifying. MacPherson was eager to repeat his pole position from Misano, and used his knowledge of Brands Hatch to good effect.

"The last race at Misano was really good for me, and now I think we're on the right track," the Briton said, "I think I'm riding within myself and I'm not pushing too hard. There's a lot more to come, and another pole would be just great."

"The bikes working well for both of us at the moment and everything is fitting together," Pitt agreed, "We've really needed to set a fast time in the opening session so it takes away a lot of pressure for tomorrow. Everyone usually goes quicker on Saturday so we still have to find a little more speed to stay on the front row."