Ducati Xerox's Michel Fabrizio topped the timesheets at the end of the first qualifying session at Misano.

Italian rider Fabrizio was on the pace all day at the San Marino circuit, finishing second to title rival Ben Spies (Yamaha) in this morning's free practice session.

He trailed the American for much of the afternoon session but leapt to the top of the order with just two minutes remaining as times tumbled across the board.

Fabrizio's best lap of one minute 37.016 seconds was over a second faster than he managed this morning, although WSB rookie Spies, fresh from a double win on home turf in America last time out, kept him honest, improving by a similar margin to finish less than a tenth behind the provisional pole-sitter.

Such was the competitive nature of the session, there was less than a covering the top 19 runners when the chequered flag fell.

Yukio Kagayama impressed with third place for Alstare Suzuki, the Japanese rider finishing within quarter of a second of Fabrizio, who sits third in the riders' championship, 64 points behind team-mate and title leader Noriyuki Haga.

Spies is second in the standings and closing to within striking distance of the off-key Haga, who could manage just eighth place on the provisional grid today.

Fourth place went to Britain's Jonathan Rea on the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda, while Australian Broc Parkes was fifth for Kawasaki.

Ryuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa dropped to sixth and seventh late in the session, while Stiggy Motorsport's Leon Haslam finished a fraction slower than Haga in ninth.

Troy Corser rounded out the top 10 for the BMW Motorrad team, while Max Biaggi could manage just 16th for Aprilia.