Ben Spies believes he is improving every time at the second round of the FIM World Superbike Championship in Qatar.

The Yamaha World Superbike rider, fourth in the standings after a crash and a race win in Australia, was quickest around the Losail circuit with a best time of one minute 58.886 seconds.

Spies said: "Today went pretty well, the result will be more important on Saturday but every time I come to the track with Yamaha the bike is getting better and it's already such a fun bike to ride.

"The team is working really well but there are so many people that are fast out there that if you have just an OK session you end up behind.

"It's going to be a tough year, but we're clicking off session by session and we'll see where we're going to end up."

The closest rider to Spies was Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea whose team-mate Carlos Checa was third.

The fourth-best time went to Max Biaggi on the Aprilia RSV4 ahead of the third Ten Kate Honda of Ryuichi Kiyonari.

The Sterilgarda Ducati of Shane Byrne, who had been quick in pre-season but failed to score any points at Phillip Island in round one, was sixth quickest.

The factory Ducati Xerox machines of Michel Fabrizio and Nori Haga were eighth and 11th respectively, with the Suzuki Alstare BRUX bikes of Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama back in 13th and 15th.

It was an even worse day for BMW as Troy Corser was 16th, one place ahead of team-mate Ruben Xaus.