Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) notched up Ducati's 250th victory in the World Superbike Championship in race 1 at Brands Hatch today as he powered his 999F06 to a ninth win of the season.

The 37-year-old Australian, running Superman Returns graphic designs on his bike, leathers and helmet, held off the attacks of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and then James Toseland (Honda) before pulling out a slight lead to win.

"I had a bit of a battle with Nori but I didn't show all my cards. I had to follow him for a while but I was pretty much on the limit myself. Then Nori started to get a little bit slower so I passed him. I could see that James was coming and thought that this was the time to go because once James got there, there was no way he was going to let go. I put three or four laps in really good and that was it." It was a similar battle for victory in race 2 but this time Haga had the edge over Troy in the end. "I love having a hard and fair race with Nori and as much as I wanted that second win, I probably messed up a little bit when I let Nori pass twice. I wanted to have a look at his form and the second time I shouldn't have done it but we've increased our points lead a little bit so I'm really happy with the weekend."

Lorenzo Lanzi finished the two races outside the top 10 after starting from eleventh place on the grid. "I got a good start in race 1 but it was a disaster at the first curve when I made contact with Nieto and Hill and lost some places. From the mid-point of the race onwards I was lapping in good times but then I got caught up in the midfield group and I was unable to get past Hill. In race 2 I got a better start, the bike was going well and I had the feeling that I had at Brno. But then I started to have a few problems with the tyres and slipped back. Pity because I really wanted to do a good race at Brands. Hopefully the last four rounds will go better and I can finish the championship in style."

DUCATI'S WINS - The Italian manufacturer notched up its 250th WSBK win at Brands Hatch and leads the wins chart by a huge margin, followed by Honda on 87, Yamaha on 38, Kawasaki on 34 and Suzuki on 21. These are the previous milestones in Ducati history:

Win # Race Rider Bike model
1 Donington 1988 race 2 Marco Lucchinelli 851
25 Misano 1991 race 1 Doug Polen 888
50 Mugello 1992 race 2 Raymond Roche 888
75 Assen 1993 race 1 Carl Fogarty 888
100 Salzburgring 1995 race 1 Carl Fogarty 916
125 Misano 1997 race 1 Pierfrancesco Chili 916
150 Monza 1999 race 2 Carl Fogarty 996
175 Brands Hatch 2001 race 2 Ben Bostrom 996 F01
200 Monza 2003 race 1 Neil Hodgson 999 F03
225 Monza 2004 race 2 Regis Laconi 999 F04