Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) stormed to victory on board the Ducati 1098 F08 in the opening race of the 2008 World Superbike Championship yesterday, a spectacular result for the team and a significant maiden win for the new F08 machine.

Bayliss then narrowly missed out on a podium place in race 2, finishing fourth just ahead of team-mate Fabrizio.

Young Michel Fabrizio made a determined start to his year and leaves Qatar with 18 championship points, accumulated from his tenth (race 1) and fifth (race 2) place finishes.

Bayliss, with 38 points, leads the World Superbike championship after round 1 here in Qatar.
Strepitosa partenza del Mondiale Superbike. Max Biaggi accarezza il sogno della prima vittoria ma non riesce a resistere allo scatenato Troy Bayliss vincitore all’ultima curva. Dominio della Ducati 1098 che era al debutto in campionato. Nella seconda manche però la Suzuki si è presa la rivincita con lo spagnolo Fonsi Nieto al primo successo in carriera. Biaggi ha concluso la giornata con il terzo posto. Bayliss, in crisi di gomme, è finito quarto mantenendo comunque il primo posto nel Mondiale con due punti su Biaggi e quattro su Nieto.
Race 1:

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After trying for nearly five hours to get the two-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway dry, NASCAR called it a day, postponing the completion of the Sprint Cup series Auto Club 500 until Monday at 10 a.m. local time.

The drivers had completed 87 of the scheduled 250 laps when a heavy downpour caused the third delay of the day.

Two-time reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson was out front when the rains came for the final time, with Travis Kvapil, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon close behind.