Carlos Checa takes pole at Brno

World Superbike Championship leader Carlos Checa again proved to be the man to beat as he took provisional pole for this weekend's round of the series at Brno.

The veteran Spaniard, who holds a 43-point lead at the top of the championship, lapped the undulating Czech circuit in one minute 59. 322 seconds aboard his Althea Ducati to hold a 0.2 second advantage over local hero Jakub Smrz.
Smrz had led the way during the morning's free practice session on his Effenbert-Liberty Racing machine, and he was followed by Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty as the Yamaha pair rounded out the front row.
Defending champion Max Biaggi, who is Checa's closest challenger in the title race, was fifth fastest although the Italian preferred to focus on a race set-up rather than extracting outright pace from his Aprilia.
The stand-out performance of the day came from Tom Sykes, as the Englishman produced a fantastic lap on his Kawasaki to record the sixth fastest time, which put him ahead of the BMW of compatriot Leon Haslam and the Alstare Suzuki of Michel Fabrizio on the second row.
Smrz's team-mate Sylvain Guintoli could only manage the ninth quickest time while Ayrton Badovini continued his improving form by rounding out the top 10 on his BMW.
Noriyuki Haga was back in 13th while it was another miserable day for James Toseland.
The two-time champion was due to make his comeback from a wrist injury this weekend, but struggled in practice and chose to set out the rest of the action, with Italian Lorenzo Lanzi taking over his BMW.