Valencia Michelin race day report

Valencia / Spain Ricardo Tormo Circuit

Troy Corser won both races of Sunday's opening round of the World Superbike championship at Valencia, Spain.

The Aprilia rider was on top form as he secured victory in both 23-lap races with Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada - Michelin) second in both races to sit 10 points behind Corser in the championship standings after the opening encounter.

Bayliss lost valuable time in the opening race trying to pass Corser's team-mate Regis Laconi and by the time the Australian rider made it to second place Corser's advantage was too much.

Ben Bostrom finished third in the opening race with Laconi fourth and defending champion Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda - Michelin) sixth. Corser took the lead on the opening lap of the second race and eased away as Bayliss held off Kawasaki's Lavilla for second.

Behind third-placed Lavilla came Edwards, the 27-year-old Texan commented: "It just wasn't our day. Troy has always been strong here so I'm happy to go to the next round in South Africa knowing I'll be able to win."

A luckless Tady Okada (Castrol Honda - Michelin) suffered and electrical failure on the sixth lap of the opening race and crashed out of race two at the second corner.

Pere Riba on the new 600cc Sport Honda romped to a popular home victory in the opening round of the World Supersport championship. Yamaha's Piergiorgio Bontempi took second with last year's race winner Christian Kellner third.

Kevin Curtain (BKM Honda - Michelin Pilot) finished fifth behind Suzuki's Katsuaki Fujiwara with Chris Vermeulen (Castrol Honda - Michelin Pilot) powering through from 16th to ninth before crashing out.

-Michelin