Troy Corser maintained Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s recent consistent run with seventh place in the first World Superbike race at Imola today.

Starting from sixth on the grid, Troy made the most of a good start to achieve his third consecutive top ten finish in a race won by Spaniard Ruben Xaus. Team-mate James Haydon, however, suffered more misfortune with a retirement on the sixth lap with engine failure.

Troy said: “I got a great start so I tried to run at the front for as long as possible. I knew that Frankie Chili, who had to start from pit-lane after stalling on the line, was going to catch me. So I just made sure that nobody else did as other bikes were a little faster on the straights. My rear tyre was not spinning consistently, and that might have affected the consistency of my lap times.”

James said: “I was really struggling with my hand injury yesterday and I thought that this would be my biggest problem today. But I was having problems with my brake lever early on, which resulted in me running wide on lap four and left me in 25th. I just got my head down and the bike started to have a few ‘moments’ so I thought it best to save the engine and my hand for race two. It was only when I pulled in that I realised there was a problem with the engine and that oil was everywhere. I’m just thankful I pulled in because it could have been nasty. It is another big disappointment but there was nothing I could do about it.”

Race one results, World Superbike championship round 11, Imola, Italy: 1 Xaus (Ducati Fila); 2 Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 2.793; 3 Laconi (NCR) 8.778; 4 Lavilla (Alstare Suzuki) 32.344; 5 Chili (PSG-1) 37.382; 6 Martin (DFX) 39.576; 7 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 50.840; 8 Sanchini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 1:00.616; 9 Clementi (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 1:01.306; 10 Borciani (DFX) 1:09.525; 11 Borja (DFX) 1:10.844; 12 Garcia (NCR) 1:21.015; 13 Gramigni (Novulari 391) 1:29.975; 14 Fuertes (MIR) 1:33.884; 15 Pini (Boselli) 1:44.014