Germany's Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) and Spain's Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) picked up the two wins in today's eighth round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at the Misano World Circuit in front of 68,000 spectators.

With two third places, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) increases his lead in the championship to 49 points.

Race 1:

Neukirchner grabbed the win in the first race to take his second victory of the year.

After playing a waiting game in the early laps, the German stepped up the pace in the second part of the race to catch and pass frontrunners Xaus and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who went on to finish fourth and second respectively. Third place on the podium after an inconsistent run went to points leader Bayliss.

Following a disappointing qualifying session, Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) managed to hold off the competitive privateer Ducatis of Lorenzo Lanzi (RG) and Jakub Smrz (Guandalini). Nurburgring winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) had a difficult race, finishing tenth after starting from row 4, while Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) was taken out by Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in a collision on lap 12.

Max Neukirchner: "Unbelievable! My team did a really good job this weekend, in the practice we changed a lot, up and down with the bike, and couldn't find the right settings, but in the race it was unbelievable. In the beginning it was not possible to get close to Bayliss and I had to push very hard, but then it was easier to find a good line. The other guys were a little bit slower than me, the two Troys, and I'm just so happy."

Troy Corser: "I didn't make it easy for myself from the start of the race because I didn't get into the first corner too well, then I touched a few riders and was about sixth or seventh on the first lap. I pushed really hard, and maybe used my tyre up a little bit because by the end of the race I had nothing left. I could see that I was a little bit faster than Bayliss and once I got past him, I pushed to catch Max, but just couldn't get him and once the tyres are greasy it's easy to throw it away so I settled for second."

Troy Bayliss: "It was really hot like every year here. I was feeling pretty confident before the race and we ended up choosing the hardest tyre in the rear. But I sort of struggled with it the whole race and then did my best laps towards the end, when it was too late, but can't take anything away from Troy and Max, they were riding really well."

Race 2 :

The second race of the day saw a sensational and unexpected 1-2 win for the private Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati team.

The 25 points went to Ruben Xaus, who took his first win of the year, ahead of Max Biaggi, who capitalized on a mistake by Bayliss to grab the second podium slot. Fourth and fifth went to the two Yamahas of Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser, with Nitro-Nori making amends for his disappointing race 1.

Lorenzo Lanzi again went well to finish sixth, while Neukirchner was unable to repeat his brilliant race 1 win. With his eighth place finish Carlos Checa has now been overtaken by Neukirchner in the points' standings.

Ruben Xaus: "It was a nice win but at the beginning it was hard. We had three starts today and the last one was the worst! I think the clutch slipped a bit and I lost a little time. I wanted to recover because I knew that Corser and Bayliss would pull away. For the first 10 laps I had a lot of movement at the rear. Then my team-mate attacked me twice, I closed the door and with ten laps to go I started to do 37s, 37s, 37s. Today my mechanics did an incredible set-up and an incredible job, a big thanks to Team Sterilgarda Go Eleven!"

Max Biaggi: "I think it was a pretty good race. I was so fed up after race 1 when Fabrizio hit me at the back and took me out. Too bad, I didn't expect that. I think this year is the most difficult or unlucky of my career, but I have to say that in Superbike we always have a second opportunity with race 2. I made a good start from row 2 and was in the top 2 or 3 all the time. In some parts I was losing and in others I was gaining, then at the end of the race my tyre went completely off and although my team-mate slowed, it wasn't enough for me."

Troy Bayliss: "Honestly I think this has been one of the hardest days of my career. I felt pretty good all weekend, but we thought the hard tyre in the first race could have been the problem. We changed that for race 2 and it was a bit better, but towards the end I was struggling and the back was coming round. Hats off to the guys, they rode brilliantly but I improved my points lead. I suppose that's what it's all about but I would have loved two wins today."

FIM Supersport World Championship

Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) scored his third win in four races, the Australian comfortably taking the chequered flag after his rival Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) crashed out on lap 9.

The top three podium places all went to Hondas, with Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing) finishing ahead of Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate). Fourth place went to Frenchman Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport), who missed out on a chance of fighting for the podium after going wide at the first corner and returning to the track in 16th place.

Mark Aitchison put in another good performance with the BE1 Racing Triumph 675, the Australian finishing ahead of seventh-placed Italian Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni), while title contender Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com Honda) also crashed out of contention on lap 17.

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