LACONI THE MISANO MASTER - LACONI SCORCHES TO DOUBLE WIN: In front of a partisan weekend crowd of 52,000 vociferous Italians, Frenchman Regis Laconi (Xerox Ducati 999F05) powered to a double race win, his first of the season and his third win overall. Ducati riders have now won the last four races in World Superbike, underlining the Italian manufacturer’s recent resurgence. In a day for doubling up - and which will long be remembered for temperatures which made racing hard work for all - Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) scored a pair of second places, while Troy Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) took two third places, losing a sliver of ground in the championship to new second placed rider Vermeulen. Corser has 254 points, Vermeulen 181 and Laconi 162.

RACE ONE: A crash involving Italian privateer Norino Brignola (Ducati) meant the race was stopped on lap five. Regulations demanding an aggregate result thus demanded a second leg, which was itself delayed when several riders reacted to the starting lights, causing a second reformation of the grid, a stop for refuelling, and a reduction in the race distance from 25 to 24 laps. The race itself was won by Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox 999 F05) with Chris Vermeulen second and Troy Corser, in an on track fight with James Toseland (Ducati Xerox 999F05), a safe third - four seconds up on the English rider. Lorenzo Lanzi had a superb ride on home soil, taking his SC Caracchi Ducati to fifth. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Honda Ten Kate) had a difficult day, feeling unwell but fighting to tenth in race one and seventh in race two, spending some time warring with the leading riders.

RACE TWO: The finishing order for race two was a carbon copy of the opener, right down to fourth place, but this time Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda) was the rider in fifth, fighting against the hot track and air conditions of 32°C and 53°C respectively. Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) suffered a crash in race one, and partly due to a badly bruised hand, finished race two in 12th, losing his overall second in the championship fight, slipping to fourth overall.

YAMAHA RIDERS TOIL IN THE SUN: Noriyuki Haga improved his set-up all weekend but had to fight against a lack of rear traction to take a brace of battling sixth places. His team-mate Andrew Pitt crashed after losing the front in race one, and saw his machine lose forward motion in race two. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone), on his first trip to Misano, crashed in race one and then scored the last point for 15th in race two.

MARTIN MERITORIOUS IN MISANO: Despite being outgunned on the straights, Steve Martin took his Petronas triple to 11th in race one and a truly creditworthy eighth in race two, despite the high numbers of crashers and retirees. In total the hot air and track conditions saw 14 riders in race one and 15 in race two fail to finish. The extraordinary high number of starters nevertheless meant that race one had 20 finishers, race two 18.

KAWASAKI FIGHTERS: Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) secured an eighth place finish in race, but due to increasing chatter in race two, he dropped to 11th, behind his main rival in the last laps, Bertocchi Kawasaki runner Giovanni Bussei.

HONDA HOPEFULS GROUNDED: Crashes and drama were the keynotes for two Honda riders, as Ben Bostrom was one of the competitors fooled by the lights sequence on the second start. He finished race 1 14th, hurting from a big warm-up crash in the morning, but in race two he fell again, taking away only two points from Misano. Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda) collided with his team-mate Chili just as race one was stopped for the first time, and on the re-start suffered brake problems, crashing once more. In race two he battled against a cracked exhaust and lack of traction before retiring.

SUPERSPORT RACE: An all-French battle between eventual winner Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike) and Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was a game of two halves, with Foret leading for the first ten laps, before Charpentier overhauled him and kept his lead for the remaining 13. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) had an eventually lonely third place, over four seconds down on the leaders. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) could not keep the leading pace and finished a spirited fourth, ahead of his team-mate Broc Parkes and wild-card rider, Simone Sanna (Team Improve Honda). Gianluca Nannelli (SC Ducati 749R) crashed out of contention on lap two, and Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda) stuttered to a halt on the second lap. In the championship fight, Charpentier leads Fujiwara by 140 points to 106, with Curtain on 93, Foret on 74 and Parkes on 60.