Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s debut season in the World Superbike championship ended in disappointment when both Troy Corser and James Haydon crashed out at Magny-Cours.

Troy, who had finished the first race in eighth to temporarily lift him into the top ten of the rider standings, high-sided on the warm-up lap of the second race coming out of the fast Nurburgring esses at the French circuit. James, who was taken out of the first race when hit by Kawasaki rider Ivan Clementi at the first corner, also high-sided at the 180 turn on the eighth lap of race two. Both riders suffered minor bruising.

Team owner Carl Fogarty said: “That is not the way we wanted to end the season, after the recent progress we have been making. The track temperature and conditions were the same for the first race, and we have not found any immediate problems with the bike, so it appears the afternoon crashes were down to rider error. That’s a shame because we were challenging for third place in the manufacturer standings and Troy has now slipped out of the top ten.

“This has been a development year and 2004 is when we have to produce results. If we are not in the top six at the first race in Valencia next year I will not be happy. We know the problems that need to addressed during the winter and the hard work starts here.”

Troy said: “I have never crashed on a warm-up lap in my life. Maybe one of the problems this year is that I have been trying too hard. We still have a lot of development work to do on the engine but I am confident that we can have a competitive package for next year. The bike landed behind me, so I am lucky it did not land on me. But it was pushing me into the fence so I had to scramble to get out of the way of it before it hit the wall. In the first race I just worked on catching and catching Martin and, when I did, I tried to save my tyres to have a go at him on the last lap. I tried to set it up to block him off at the last corner but couldn’t quite manage it and I wanted to make sure I finished the race.”

James said: “That was a disappointing end to my most disappointing season but I wish the team the best of luck for the future. I wanted to end the season on a high note and I know I could have had two top ten finishes here. In the first race I was right behind Leon Haslam going through the long sweeping corner after an awesome start. There is just no over-taking line at that part of the circuit. Then I was just hit from the side by Clementi, wiping me out. He tried to go through a gap that just wasn’t there. I was so annoyed.”

The first race was won by Neil Hodgson and the second by Ruben Xaus. PETRONAS finished fourth in the manufacturer’s standings, Troy finished 12th in the rider standings, with James 26th.

The FP1 - Malaysia's first superbike - was using the Sprinta WSBK Formulation lubricant developed by PETRONAS Research & Scientific Services for the first time at this round. Zaimizi Hamdani, PETRONAS team leader for the superbike project, said: "This lubricant has been designed specifically for the FP1 and has gone through extensive testing, both on the dyno and on the race track. We are very confident that this will be a competitive product."

Race two results, World Superbike championship round 12, Magny-Cours, France: 1 Xaus; 2 Toseland 10.435; 3 Walker 10.582; 4 Lavilla 22.253; 5 Martin 35.564; 6 Haslam 35.865; 7 Borja 56.719; 8 Gimbert 1:00.813; 9 Clementi 1:02.307; 10 Sanchini 1:03.456; 11 Pedercini 1:30.537; 12 Gramigni 1:41.234; 13 Stey, one lap; 14 Borciani, one lap; 15 Protat, one lap

Manufacturer standings: 1 Ducati 600; 2 Suzuki 306; 3 Kawasaki 130; 4 PETRONAS 118; 5 Yamaha 69; 6 Honda 31

Rider standings: 1 Hodgson 489; 2 Xaus 386; 3 Toseland 271; 4 Laconi 267; 5 Lavilla 256; 6 Walker 234; 7 Chili 197; 8 Martin 139; 9 Pedercini 112; 10 Borciani 111; 11 Sanchini 108; 12 Corser 107; 26 Haydon 12