The final round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship has gotten underway at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway today, with the nation's premier factory riders trading places at the top of the timesheets in the chase for optimum setup.

Riders made solid progress throughout the course of the day's two practice sessions, however it was Yamaha's Jamie Stauffer who once again emerged as the provisional pacesetter.

Stauffer dominated April's opening round of the 2006 championship here, and seemed at ease as he gradually chipped away at his times while fending off strong challenges from Suzuki's Shawn Giles and Robbie Bugden and Kawasaki's Shannon Johnson.

Leading the championship by 37 points, Stauffer seems set to soar to victory, but as has been seen numerous times before, the sport is both unpredictable and unforgiving.

"It's been a pretty productive day for us," commented Stauffer, "We were a little disappointed to miss a scheduled test due to weather but the team has bounced back well."

"It's definitely much colder than it has been at this time of the year so we had to choose tyres wisely, as always the Dunlops were up to speed early and provided great handling."

"There's probably another second or two to be found yet, and as the weather begins to improve even more I think we're capable of doing a very fast lap around here."

Stauffer is the current lap record and pole record holder at Eastern Creek, and the early pace suggests he may even turn up the wick and crack the elusive 1-minute-29-second mark, which would be a massive spectacle for racegoers.

Returning to racing this weekend after missing Winton due to injury, Shannon Johnson fired from the blocks early, constantly threatening the top 3, and delivered a quick lap late in the day to snare P2.

The Kawasaki rider was buoyed by the recent news that he would return to the fore with 'Team Green' in 2007, and looks set to provide strong resistance to another Stauffer clean sweep.

"I'm just pleased to be back on the bike at this stage and the pace is certainly encouraging," said Johnson.

"There's no reason we can't replicate the podium we scored here at the start of the year, and I'm hoping to go even better!"

Russell Holland ended the day in 5th position, and has a monumental task ahead of him if he is to bridge the 1.5-second a lap gap to challenge Stauffer.

He is sporting extra support from Demolition Plus this round in what will be his last run as a privateer rider in the Australian Superbike Championship ¬ next year the talented Honda rider will join the factory force, lining up alongside Bryan Staring at Teknic Honda.

Four privateer riders made their way into the top 10 today, with Holland being joined by Scott Charlton, Wayne Maxwell and Shannon Etheridge.

Winton round victor Mark Aitchison again rounded out the day as leader in the Supersport class, and is eager to maintain his strong second place in the championship.

Judd Greedy was the first Honda home aboard the CBR600RR, with considerably more pace than the factory pairing of Staring and Glenn Allerton who both missed the top 10.

Riders will contest two qualifying sessions tomorrow to determine Sunday's grid, with a number of strategies set to come into play.

YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship, Eastern Creek Practice.

YMF Loan Australian Supersport Championship, Eastern Creek Practice.