Weather Can’t Keep Corser Down: The wet start to raceday at Phillip Island cleared shortly after morning warm up but the strong north winds gathered pace as the first Superbike race of the day got underway, at 12 noon local time. Race one was taken, in convincing fashion, by local hero Troy Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki). The 25 knot winds, gusting to 40 knots on occasion, did not help any of the riders in their quests, especially during fast changes of direction into the prevailing gales. As the winds abated slightly, the rains duly returned to halt race two after 12 laps, and leave a ten lap ‘wet’ race to be completed. The result was declared as an aggregate of leg one and two, delivering a magnificent double to Troy Corser who now leads the World Championship from twice second place finisher, Yukio Kagayama.

Race 1: Troy Corser took the lead into the first corner and kept it for all 22 laps of the race, winning by a margin of 8.279 seconds, from his own team-mate, Yukio Kagayama. The fight for third place, which was to be determined some 12.551 seconds down on Corser at the flag, was a seven rider battle at one stage, as early runner Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) eventually faded from his impressive start to finish fifth, behind an awesome fight between Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda). Touching fairings at one stage, the pair battled it out right to the very end, with Vermeulen scoring the podium, but Neukirchner covering himself in glory. The 21-year-old German’s success was consolation for his Klaffi Honda team, as their lead rider Pierfrancesco Chili suffered a broken collarbone on Saturday.

Race 2: In the second race, a harsh fall of rain stopped the race, and as the contest had not yet reached the two thirds stage, a second leg was called. This second ten lap race was run under ‘wet’ rules, with the aggregate leaders from the first race being Troy Corser, Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) and Max Neukirchner. Corser, leading for a period, was re-passed by Kagayama, but won the aggregate race by 5.822 seconds, from his Japanese team-mate. Third, on the track and on aggregate, was German sensation, Max Neukirchner, his first podium score in only his fourth-ever World Superbike race.

Off Podium Fights: Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) ended the day in fourth place in the championship fight, after a fourth in race two and fifth in race one. Starting from row three these were impressive results, and unlike many other riders, he was to finish both races. His team-mate Karl Muggeridge, finished eighth in race one, but fell in race two - after a collision with fellow crasher world champion James Toseland (Xerox Ducati).

Laconi Battles Hard: After a lowly seventh in race one, Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) looked on course for a second place finish in the re-run. When the rains came, he had to make an acrobatic save of a potential high side approaching Lukey Heights, fell from his Ducati, and then bravely restarted, to finish his day with a pair of seventh places. His team-mate Toseland had an even tougher day, finishing race one only 14th, after a bad start and some grip issues throughout. After his second race tangle with Muggeridge at the hairpin, he slipped to eighth in the championship, on 22 points. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati SC 999RS) was disqualified from the race when his machine was found to be underweight, promoting all riders behind him up one place, and earning Toseland his two points.

Yamaha Riders Tough It Out: A challenging day for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad saw Andrew Pitt’s fifth place in race one become the highlight of the weekend, as he crashed out in race two – on two occasions. Noriyuki Haga also had woes as the Japanese rider suffered a retirement in race one and a crash at exactly the same corner in the wet part of race two as Pitt.

The Yamaha Motor France pairing of Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert had different fortunes in race trim, as Abe scored a sixth in the dry and an eighth in the interrupted race two. Gimbert had clutch troubles which left him 11th in race one, and an electrical problem in race two robbed him of any more points.
Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda) burned his clutch in race one, pulling in on lap one and he once more failed to finish race two.

Kawasaki Nearly There In the Wet: Chris Walker (PSG-1 Ducati) had the pleasure of leading the second wet leg of race two, but like three other riders, crashed around turn eight, and was unable to continue. He thus had a high point of ninth in race one. In race two, Giovanni Bussei (Bertocchi Kawasaki) was the highest placed Kawasaki rider, confirming himself in ninth place on aggregate.

Bostrom Scores: Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) had to retire from race one, but after being outgunned in the dry section of race two, he had greater pace in the second wet leg, finishing 11th, and adding his name to the points table.

Petronas Riders Out of Luck: Garry McCoy and Steve Martin failed to take a race finish between them, as neither Petronas FP-1 made it through race one, and then Martin crashed out on race two, in a bizarre double fall. He jumped off right in front of the following Andrew Pitt, without either rider’s machines touching each other, and with neither rider to blame for the other’s accident.

Nieto Nets A Goal: Fonsi Nieto (SC Ducati 999RS) took a convincing fifth place in race two, thanks in part to his wet weather prowess. The big-name Spaniard has great experience of Phillip Island, but not on his current Ducati four-stroke. This was his first top five in World Superbike.

Supersport: High winds delayed the start of the 21-lap Supersport race, as trackside advertising hoardings, two TV towers and pit lane awnings blew over. With grey clouds rushing past overhead, the 19-strong Supersport grid formed up for battle, in a contest eventually taken by Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Sebastien Charpentier. His win propelled him to the top of the championship table with 45 points.
Young Italian charger Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike) took an early lead, but was rebuffed by the charging Yamaha Motor Germany R6 of experienced rider Kevin Curtain. Fabrizio failed to finish the race, with only three laps to go, but Curtain finished second, to take third in the championship with 33 points.
Qatar race winner Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) lost his personal battle with third place man Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda), taking fourth place in the race and now sitting second overall, on 39 points. A strong ride on a circuit he knows well gave Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Ducati Selmat) a fine fifth place.

The next rounds of both World Superbike and Supersport take place back in Europe, at Valencia in Spain, from 22-24 April.