The scene is set for the final round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek, with title favourite Jamie Stauffer maintaining his unblemished qualifying record, adding another pole position to his extensive list of 2006 achievements today. With just minutes remaining in the final session, Stauffer emerged from the pits and shattered his previous best effort, laying down a 1.30.321 – the fastest ever recorded lap of Eastern Creek by a motorcycle rider. The time shaved a narrow margin off the benchmark of Grand Prix rider, Spaniard Alex Criville set on a 500cc GP machine the last time the Aussie GP was run at Eastern Creek. Stauffer will now have started from the number 1 position on the grid at every Superbike race in 2006, and is just two races away from claiming the first ever number 1 plate for Yamaha. “This is fantastic news, when I did the lap I wasn’t actually aware I’d gone that fast, I had to wait until I’d ridden back into the pits for the guys to tell me,” said Stauffer. “The bike felt great out there today, things looked a bit grim after the first session where we finished third, but with a little more heat in the track and a different Dunlop tyre we were really able to work at that time.” “7 poles from 7 rounds in the season is really pleasing also, I wasn’t actually focusing on breaking any kind of record this weekend and it really is a testament to the bike and the team that I’m able to go out there and lap this quickly.” “Tomorrow should be a great day for racing, I really hope we can wrap up Yamaha’s first ever Superbike title and finish the season off with a few more wins.” Early pacesetter Shannon Johnson appeared to have extracted every last thousandth from his Kawasaki early in the piece, and was powerless to stop Stauffer as he disposed of the time by mid-session. Suzuki’s Shawn Giles laid down a late challenge, and slipped by Johnson to eclipse the 1-minute-32-second bracket. Teammate Robbie Bugden did well to hold onto the final front row placing, and is looking to go one better after finishing on the second step of the podium at the previous round. Suzuki is leading the charge in the Superbike manufacturer standings, overtaking Yamaha at the previous round and looking to build on its points advantage this weekend. Contributing the bulk of the points for the manufacturer this year has been New Zealand Superbike champion, Brother/SsangYong-backed rider Andrew Stroud, who was uncharacteristically off the pace today in qualifying. Shannon Etheridge delivered one of his best qualifying performances of the season, coming in close behind the factory GSX-R pairing to finish in 6th. Another strong performance came from Honda’s Bryan Staring, in his first round of racing the factory CBR1000RR. With teammate Adam Fergusson sidelined, Staring was quick to adapt and showed Honda why their decision to include him in their Superbike lineup next year was a good one 1.33.324 places him on the second row of the grid in 7th place. “I’m pretty happy with how the session went today, the Superbike is certainly very different to ride but I feel very comfortable on it already,” said Staring. “There’s considerably more power and obviously it’s a lot heavier, but it’s really very smooth through the corners and seems to suit Eastern Creek very well.” “I’m looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and stringing together some good results, we’re not in any kind of championship battle here so I can afford to really push the limits.” Each of tomorrow’s races is good for 25 points, and if the current pace is anything to go by, there is set to be a monumental fight for the minor placings within the top 10 tomorrow, with a number of riders needing every point to improve their championship berths. Racing begins at 9am, with the premier Superbike races set to kick off at approximately 11.30am. YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship, Eastern Creek Qualifying. 1. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team. Yamaha R1. 1:30.321 2. Shawn GILES (NSW) / Team Yoshimura Suzuki. Suzuki GSXR. 1:31.889 3. Shannon JOHNSON (VIC) / Kawasaki Racing Team. Kawasaki ZX10R. 1:32.055 4. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Yoshimura Suzuki. Suzuki GSXR. 1:32.812 5. Russell HOLLAND (NSW) / Demolition Plus Honda / Pirelli Tyres. Honda CBR RR. 1:33.124 6. Shannon ETHERIDGE (NSW) / Kirk McCarthy Award / Suzuki Aust. / Phil Tainton. Suzuki GSXR. 1:33.270 7. Bryan STARING (WA) / Jardine Honda. Honda CBR RR. 1:33.324 8. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Joe Rocket Honda. Honda CBR RR. 1:33.424 9. Wayne MAXWELL (NSW) / 1300 Kawasaki / Pirelli. Kawasaki ZX10R. 1:33.971 10. Andrew STROUD (NZ) / Superbike New Zealand / Brother / SsangYong. Suzuki GSXR. 1:34.596 YMF Loan Australian Supersport Championship, Eastern Creek Qualifying. 1. Mark AITCHISON (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team. Yamaha R6. 1:33.397 2. Jeremy CROWE (NSW) / Sydney Mesh & Steel / Yamaha. Yamaha R6. 1:33.553 3. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team. Yamaha R6. 1:33.763 4. Jason O’HALLORAN (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team. Yamaha R6. 1:34.474 5. Shaun GERONIMI (NSW) / Sydney Mesh & Steel / Geronimi Concreting. Yamaha R6. 1:34.478 6. Judd GREEDY (VIC) / Redwing Honda / Clearmake/Dickies. Honda CBR RR. 1:34.994 7. Christopher SEATON (VIC) Kawasaki ZX6RR. 1:35.441 8. Gareth JONES (QLD) / Electroregenesis Racing / Ausflo Water Industries. Yamaha R6. 1:35.692 9. Zac DAVIES (NSW) Yamaha R6. 1:35.747 10. Joshua WATERS (VIC) / Kawasaki Racing Team. Kawasaki ZX6RR. 1:36.071