Troy Corser confounded absolutely nobody when he wrapped up the World Championship today at a rain soaked Imola. In a meeting which saw a little controversy and some superb performances, the Australian veteran did enough to ensure that Chris Vermeulen remained just out of reach of that elusive first title.

Imola is a home from home for Superbikes. It's a fantastic circuit to ride and to watch at, and the atmosphere from the incredibly passionate Italian crowd is something that really has to be experienced to be believed. It's a unique place, sitting as it does in the middle of a thriving town in Northern Italy as opposed to in the middle of nowhere like most circuits still in use. Being just a pizza toss from Bologna, it's obviously a Ducati circuit and the local vee twins have got a great history there.

Qualifying was an early departure by Olivier Jacques, ironically standing in for the injured Alex Hoffman, who was himself injured when the Kawasaki spat him off in Friday practice. Happily it seems the Frenchman is merely badly bruised, but he has been sent back to France to make sure that everything really is OK before the next round. Saturday morning sw an even more violent departure on the part of Garry McCoy. His second oil leak of the day coated the rear tyre of the FP-1 and launched him into a spectacular highside which landed the unfortunate Australian on his backside. McCoy thought that he'd be able to carry on but soon realised that he was actually in too much discomfort to be safe. Further investigation showed that he's actually broken his coccyx (tailbone) so it looks like a wise choice.

Upright on the track, though, James Toseland was acquitting himself rather well, consistently lapping faster than either his team-mate, the freshly returned Regis Laconi or local hero Lorenzo lanzi. Lanzi has been returned to his parent team after his factory ride last outing, but has retained the use of a works bike. The other local hero, Frankie Chili, was having mixed fortunes, going very well some of the time and then dropping back again. His team-mate Max Neukirchner was performing similarly while fellow Honda pilot Ben Bostrom was having a torrid time, seemingly unable to find a setup that worked. All this season, in fact, Ten Kate have been the only Honda equipped team to regularly deliver the goods. And this was no exception, with both Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge making a good showing. But at the top of the tree it was the Suzukis of Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama showing the rest the way to go home. Or at least it was until Nori Haga made an appearance up there as well, making a terrific sprint from way down the field to look very good indeed before the end. When everything turned around again.

Superpole was going to be the only way to sort things out. No huge surprises, though Laconi's second place on the grid was a bit of an eye opener, as was Toseland's fourth. Seeing both the Ducati's on the front row was welcome indeed. Between them sat Mr Superpole, in danger of losing his title to the young pretender on his right. Chris Vermeulen had done it again, snatching pole position with a textbook lap that was a full half a second faster then Laconi's seemingly unbeatable attempt. The second row was headed up by another young pretender - Lorenzo Lanzi on the third factory Ducati - while Nori Haga was relegated to fifth by just a couple of hundredths of a second, ahead of Kagayama and a suddenly together Ben Bostrom.

Of course one of the best things about racing in Italy is that it's always sunny and warm. Apart, it seems, from today when it absolutely bucketed down. No, really. The pictures don't begin to do it justice. And then, just to really throw the cat among the pigeons, it stopped again. And the sun came out.

Now any racer will tell you that a dry track or a wet track is one thing, but a drying track is a different can of worms entirely. Tyre choice becomes absolutely critical and overtaking is a nightmare as, with only one dry line, going round the outside (or even down the inside) becomes a move fraught with risk as grip deteriorates so fast off the line.

So with the race declared wet, meaning that it would run full distance regardless, the lights changed for twenty one laps of mayhem.

Straight off the line it was Troy Corser who got the drop on Chris Vermeulen with James Toseland, Yukio Kagayama and Andrew Pitt in a big furball just behind. Regis Laconi shot backwards off the line while Chris Walker made a blinding start climbing six places in the first lap. Up at the front, Corser yielded to Vermeulen before the end of the lap, the Honda rider immediately opening something of a gap, while Toseland got the better of Pitt and Kagayama. Haga joined in the battle for third while, just three laps later, Walker came up to them as well having fought from sixteenth up to fifth.

The conditions were making themselves felt, though, as Chili and Lanzi upset the home fans by both crashing out completely. Kagayama lost the front fighting for position and slid off, though he was able to remount and carry on. Pitt, too, after a hard fight with Haga, which he lost, and another with Walker which was settled when the Englishman ran wide, went exploring the gravel traps while a little later Norick Abe also went down and out.

While Corser and Vermeulen were fighting for the lead, Toseland and Haga were at it tooth and nail, swapping positions while reeling in the leading pair at an astonishing rate. The outgoing champion rode as well as he has ridden all season, pushing the Ducati harder and harder and seeming even more committed and aggressive than Haga. This despite an injured right hand from a practice crash. Something had to give and, on this occasion, it was the Englishman. Haga managed to get inside him and forced him wide and onto the grass. Fortunately there is a large concrete apron which gave him the chance to stay on and upright before the gravel and Toseland rejoined the race having lost third place but in no danger from fifth placed Walker, whose own incident had occurred in the same spot a few laps earlier.

Steve Martin had a great race, managing to get the underpowered but ever improving Foggy petronas past the fading Chris Walker in the penultimate lap to take fifth. Walker's result is astonishing, especially bearing in mind that he broke his elbow just five weeks ago - I did mine four months ago and it's still not at full strength yet - and that until his off he was a serious podium contender. Max Neukirchner and Sebastien Gimbert had their own private battle, settled in favour of the German who took seventh while an off form but still injured Regis Laconi came in ninth. Local boy Gianluca Viziello brought his privateer Yamaha in tenth.

Meanwhile, the battle between Corser and Vermeulen hotted up. Corser retook the lead on lap eight but couldn't break away and was forced to concede again just five laps later. A last lap surge looked possible and indeed things got very close indeed but Vermeulen simply didn't put a foot wrong and blasted the Honda across the finishing line just three tenths of a second ahead of Corser's Suzuki for well earned win. The tricky conditions meant that out of thirty three starters, just sixteen finished - less than half the field -

Race two saw something of a change in circumstances. Between races the clouds had regrouped and dumped what appeared to be half the Adriatic on the circuit. The Supersports race was stopped and restarted as conditions deteriorated, and there was no doubt that this was going to be a wet race in every sense.

The warm up lap proved to be anything but a warmup, and the body language of the riders said it all. Not happy. Laconi was the first to suggest this was a Bad Idea, quickly followed by Vermeulen and the rest of the front two rows. A delay was agreed on, but after thirty minutes of ineffectual drainage efforts the race was abandoned with standing water on the track being considered, quite rightly, too dangerous for the race to be held.

So, in a way that nobody could have wanted, Troy Corser wrapped up the 2005 World Superbike Championship with a fifty five point lead and only fifty points left to play for. Full credit to Vermeulen for immediately supporting the decision not to race despite being the man with the most to lose, but that should take nothing away from Corser who has ridden a fantastic season and only been off the podium three times in twenty one races. Corser goes to magny Cours with no pressure but anxious to prove that he's a worthy champion. Vermeulen goes with nothing to prove and nothing to lose. Or gain. Haga, Toseland, Laconi and Kagayama all have a mathematical chance of taking third though Haga has a reasonable buffer over fourth placed Toseland at the moment. Neither of the Ducati riders have contracts for 2006 yet, so they both have lots to prove, especially with Lanzi nipping at their heels for a factory ride. Walker, Pitt and Chili could all take seventh though Frankie has to be considered a spent force, sadly. Could this be his last season? I hope not, but the possibility has to be considered that, at 41, he's just not the racer he used to be.

Whatever happens, though, Magny Cours should be exciting. See you there...

Race One

1 Chris Vermeulen (Honda)
2 Troy Corser (Suzuki)
3 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
4 James Toseland (Ducati)
5 Steve Martin (Foggy-Petronas)
6 Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
7 Max Neukirchner (Honda)
8 Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha)
9 Regis Laconi (Ducati)
10 Gianluca Viziello (Yamaha)

Race Two

Cancelled

Championship Standing after eleven rounds:

1 Troy Corser 409 (World Superbike Champion 2005)
2 Chris Vermeulen 354
3 Noriyuki Haga 255
4 James Toseland 228
5 Regis Laconi 221
6 Yukio Kagayama 212
7 Chris Walker 140
8 Andrew Pitt 137
9 Pier-Francesco Chili 125
10 Lorenzo Lanzi 118