The 23-year-old secured his second Alpinestars Superbike career pole position after the final qualifying session was cut short due to two red-flag stoppages.

Currently fifth in the points standings, Pearson posted the fastest time of 1:12.830 on his Ducati V4R. Alongside for the first of two 16-lap races on Sunday will be Max Stauffer and Qualifying 1 pacesetter Mike Jones, both on Yamaha YZF-R1s.

The two stoppages in the qualifying came after crashes for Stauffer and Glenn Allerton (BMW) at Turn 3 from which both were okay.

Fourth fastest was championship points leader Josh Waters (Ducati) over Cru Halliday (Yamaha) who had set the pace in the first two practice sessions. He was less than a tenth ahead of Allerton who was quickest in Practice 3.

Yamaha riders Arthur Sissis, Anthony West, Bryan Staring, Cameron Dunker John Lytras and Ty Lynch completed the top 12 that took part in the second qualifier.

In the other categories, Jonathan Nahlous qualified the best in Michelin Supersport. Valentino Knezovic won the opening races in Race & Road Supersport 300 and ShopYamaha R3 Cup while 13-year-old Hunter Comey won his sixth race of the season in bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup.