An incredible day for the Ducati Xerox Team with both Bayliss and Fabrizio performing impeccably. Twice world-champion Troy Bayliss took the double win in front of his home crowd, in what is to be his last ever Superbike race day at Phillip Island. Despite the elbow injury he sustained in a high-side yesterday morning, Bayliss rode the two races perfectly, leading the field from the start in race one (restart) and leading for most of race two after rival Corser crashed out in the early stages.
Fabrizio had a much more difficult start to race one after failing to leave the start line. He sustained muscular contusions to his right calf and although in pain returned to the grid for the race one restart. After a less than perfect start, Fabrizio soon moved up from eighth place to fourth and, after a battle with Corser and Xaus, was able to take an impressive third place and his first podium with the Ducati Xerox Team. Unfortunately in race two a jump start for Fabrizio meant a drive through penalty, leaving him unable to catch up and with an eventual nineteenth place finish.
Bayliss now leads the championship with 88 points, 27 points ahead from Nieto (Suzuki) while Fabrizio is in eighth place overall. Ducati leads the manufacturers championship with 95 points and a 32 point advantage over Suzuki.
Troy Bayliss (winner - Race 1 and Race 2)"It's something you dream of, to have a double win and I knew this year it would be difficult to achieve but I have a great team behind me who all worked really hard. overnight They had to build a new bike for me from scratch after my crash yesterday. I had a few ups and downs this weekend. After race one I was struggling with the last six laps but in the end I managed to take the win. In the second race the tyres were a little slower but I felt better on the bike which was more consistent and a pleasure to ride.
After race one I was so tired but after the second one I felt great. I had to concentrate hard today as in the second race, even though I was ahead I was aware I had to keep it together and put in some consistently good laps. It's been incredible, great weather and some good racing. I know there will be fighting to come later this season so two wins like that was just fantastic."
Michel Fabrizio (3rd place - Race 1)
"All in all, it was a good day. I'm sorry for what happened this morning on the grid but the bike failed to leave the start line and that unfortunately caused an accident. The blow to my leg from the impact from David Checa's bike meant that of course my leg was hurting a lot during the restarted race one but I gritted my teeth and did what I had to do. Then there was the jump start in race two. I realised straight away that I'd done it and unfortunately after the ride-through penalty that they gave me, I wasn't able to catch the others. A big thank-you goes to my team today as they had to completely rebuild my bike between the two races, literally from the frame, so I'm very grateful to them."
Results Race 1:
1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox)
2. Corser (Yamaha)
3. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox)
4. Xaus (Ducati)
5. Nieto (Suzuki)
6. Checa (Honda).
Race 2:1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox)
2. Checa (Honda)
3. Nieto (Suzuki)
4. Xaus (Ducati)
5. Neukirchner (Suzuki)
6. Kiyonari (Honda)
Championship Points: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 88
2. Nieto (Suzuki) 61
3. Xaus (Ducati) 59
4. Corser (Yamaha) 45
5. Checa (Honda) 45
6. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 39
7. Biaggi (Ducati) 36
8. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 34
Manufacturers:1. Ducati 95
2. Suzuki 65
3. Yamaha 54
4. Honda 46
5. Kawasaki 7
