The Infostrada Ducati rider's record run of six consecutive WSBK race wins to start the season came to an end, but today's results were the best that the Australian has scored at the Japanese circuit in the past two seasons.

Victory today was shared by Honda riders Colin Edwards and Makoto Tamada. Edwards won the opening race from Tamada and Aprilia's Noriyuki Haga, before Tamada turned the tables, finishing ahead of Edwards and Brit Neil Hodgson.

With four rounds of the championship now completed, Bayliss heads the points table with 174, twenty four clear of today's opening race winner, Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda). Brit Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) moves to third overall with 95 points thanks to a fourth and third place finish today.

Starting from the second row of the grid in position seven for both 25-lap races, Bayliss quickly moved up to fifth place by the opening turn, but was unable to make up any further positions in race one. Race two saw him hold seventh place off the line, but as the race progressed he was able to make his way to fourth place and onto the tail of the leading trio. After working hard in the opening laps of the race to make up ground on the leaders, he had used the best his tyres could offer and was unable to make a challenge in the closing laps to get into a podium finish.

"The results today were definitely much better than the past two years, but in race one I was still disappointed to finish four places behind Colin (Edwards) and for me that was a worse result," said Bayliss. "Race two was much better in the way that the bike performed. We went to a softer rear spring and that made a lot of difference. After a bit of a slow start I was able to catch up to the leaders, but there was just no way past in the closing laps. My championship points lead has been reduced, but we now head back to Europe where I feel much more at home."

After visiting Australia, South Africa and Japan for the last three rounds, the World Superbike Championship returns to Europe where they will contest round five of the championship at the Monza circuit, Italy on May 12.

Bayliss was a double race winner at Monza last year, finishing ahead of Edwards in both races and will be looking to repeat those efforts at the upcoming round.