Haslam was fastest in the opening session at Phillip Island WSBK today.

Leon Haslam has continued his scintillating pre-season form by setting the fastest time in the opening practice session for round one of the Superbike World Championship at Victoria’s Phillip Island Circuit.

The British rider, who has joined the factory Suzuki squad for 2010, scorched around the 4.445km grand prix track in a best lap of 1:32.468 to complete the one-hour session ahead of Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and Ducati’s Shane Byrne, with Honda’s Jonathan Rea making it four different manufacturers in the top four.

Championship favourite Noriyuki Haga was back in seventh, while Chris Vermeulen was the leading Australian in 14th, ahead of Troy Corser in 17th, Andrew Pitt in 19th and Josh Brookes in 20th.

Twenty-four riders will be in action at round one.

Notable crashers during the session included Ruben Xaus, who crashed twice at MG, while Fabrizio also crashed on the tight corner toward the final section of the circuit.

The opening qualifying session will be held at 3.45pm this afternoon, ahead of the battle for final grid positions tomorrow afternoon.

Topping the charts in the opening Supersport session this morning was Katsuaki Fujiwara with a 1:35.260 on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, with teammate Joan Lascorz second and Kenan Sofuoglu third.