Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) wrestled with the stopwatch at Misano in the first qualifying session of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, with Checa coming out on top by a slim margin of 0.047 seconds.Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) put his four-cylinder third in the rankings, with BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Marco Melandri putting four different types of machine in the top four places after the first day.

Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) was fifth with Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) posting another strong result for the Ducati riders, sixth. Young French rider Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) was the top Kawasaki competitor on display today, seventh.

The top 18 riders in first qualifying were grouped together within 1.093 seconds of each other.

1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 1m36.521s2 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda World Superbike Team 1m36.568s3 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 1m36.703s4 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW 1m36.795s5 Davide Giuliano (ITA) Ducati 1m36.806s6 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Ducati 1m36.829s