RUNAWAY leader Neil Hodgson experienced mixed luck on the opening day of qualifying for the seventh round of the World Superbike Championships in Italy yesterday.

Hodgson, who has won 11 of the 12 races so far this season, set the fastest time during the free qualifying session yesterday morning here at Misano.

However, the Burnley bike ace then had to settle for sixth place during the afternoon session after Steve Martin of the DFX Racing Team set a scorching pace.

Once again, it was the Ducatis who dominated yesterday morning's free practice session.

Eight of the top nine riders were all on Ducati machines and Hodgson set a blistering time of 1'35.397 on his Fila 999 to lead the field.

Foggy Petronas, meanwhile, were forced to endure another traumatic day as Lorenzo Mauri's FP1 ended up in the gravel 38 minutes into the opening session.

The wild-card Italian, who had been drafted in on a one-off basis in place of the injured James Haydon, did get back to the pit-lane in time to fit in a couple of late laps but he still found himself some way off the pace, lapping around four seconds slower on average than Hodgson.

Troy Corser was left to carry the mantel for the Fogarty team but he, too, experienced technical difficulties and ended the session as 18th fastest.