The last two years of Superbike racing have seen the Losail circuit in Qatar play host to an uncharacteristically wet weekend. After all, Qatar is a desert state so starting the season should be a fairly safe bet. Well, writing this the night before the race all I can say is that at the moment we're looking at breaking the duck. Yes, it's dry, warm and everything is running according to plan. There's nothing I can tell you about Losail that hasn' t been said, right here, before. Suffice to say that the circuit is in the desert, which creates a unique set of potential problems. Even when it doesn't rain. The sand blows across the track and though it's beautifully surfaced and maintained, once you're off the racing line it's as slippery as anything. The acres of astroturf around the tarmac keep the worst of the sand off, but some still gets through. Plus, of course, it's hot. Sometimes very hot indeed. Race two last year saw temperatures nudging around the thirty celsius mark trackside, with on-track temperatures around forty seven. That's over one hundred and sixteen degrees in old money on track - plenty hot enough to cause a few furrowed eyebrows in the Pirelli camp.

Qualifying threw up a few surprises, though of course as it's the first race of the season there's no established form to be upset. James Toseland has been on a mission since he got here. The young Englishman has something to prove having ridden to a storming second overall last season, and he's certainly out to go one better this year. Friday morning saw him demolish the Losail lap record on a race tyre, staying at the top of the table right through to Superpole. Troy Corser, on a new bike and again with a lot to prove, was second quickest this time, a third of a second down but crucially one place ahead of his team mate Nori Haga. There's history between these two, despite protestations from the team that they are great friends. Well, it's fair to say that there is a lot of respect there anyway, and nobody wants to be beaten by their team mate so the racing between them is going to be, um, interesting. Someone else who is going to make life exciting is Max Biaggi. He's a rookie in SBK, but as a four times 250 GP champion and multi MotoGP winner he can't be discounted. But qualifying saw him bettered by Lorenzo Lanzi, unusually going rather better than current champion Troy Bayliss, who has not exactly shone so far.

Corser had a couple of offs in qualifying and Karl Muggeridge was lucky to escape serious injury when he collided with another rider who had a mechanical problem and sat up mid corner. The likeable Aussie got away with some heavy bruising on his left arm but still made it into the cut for Superpole.

Superpole and Troy Corser are names which are inevitably linked, and yet again the 2005 champion showed his mettle by slicing through in his own inimitable, Mr Smooth, style to take pole position from the man who nicked his ride last year - Max Biaggi. Biaggi had looked secure at the front having become the first person ever to lap the Losail circuit in the 1'58"s on a superbike. James Toseland made, by his own admission, a couple of mistakes on his Superpole lap and ended up third, just over half a second behind Corser. Haga took a solid fourth to close off the front row, while Lorenzo Lanzi out qualified Bayliss, possibly for the first time ever, to take fifth. Bayliss, in sixth, is roughly one and a quarter seconds off the pace. Yukio Kagayama put the new Suzuki into seventh place ahead of Max Neukirchner on the old Suzuki with Fonsi Nieto and Roby Rolfo rounding out the top ten.

So on the the racing, then. Saturday was warm, dry and clear. Which is business as usual in this part of the world. The morning warmup was dominated by the two Troys from Biaggi, Lanzi and Haga with Toseland the last rider lapping in under two minutes. Mind you, with just over half a second separating the first six riders, it was hardly looking as though anyone had a runaway advantage.

Race one had a lot of promise, and from the moment the lights went out it was clear that we were in for a treat. The Yamaha pairing of Corser and Haga made the first corner in front, Corser just holding the advantage over his team mate. Hot, and I really do mean hot on their heels was James Toseland while Max Biaggi sat a few hundredths of a second further back, watching and learning in his first real Superbike outing. Bayliss led the next group, ahead of Lanzi and Neukirchner. Kagayama, Rolfo and Ruben Xaus finished the top ten. Further down the field, Karl Muggeridge's weekend failed to improve as a coming together with Michel Fabrizio took both Honda riders out of the race, happily unhurt, but before even the first lap was complete. Still, it'll have saved them fuel, anyway. Toseland wasn't going to stay at the back of the lead group for long, and barged past Haga at the beginning of the second lap, taking Corser a few turns later. The young Englishman seemed to be able to keep the Ten Kate Honda on a tighter line, brake later and get on the power earlier than anyone else, and having taken the lead he immediately proceeded to build on it.

Behind Toseland, a great furball kicked off as Corser Haga and Biaggi fought tooth and nail for position. Obviously, this slowed everybody up, but the real surprise was that SBK rookie Max Biaggi came out on top of the two seasoned campaigners. So lap five saw Biaggi start to break away from the pursuing Yamahas and set off to hunt Toseland down.

Further back, Yukio Kagayama was adding to the new Suzuki's impressive debut outing, carving his way through the field to fifth, ahead of Lanzi, Bayliss and Neukirchner. A spirited comeback by Bayliss saw Kagayama pushed back to sixth briefly, before the Japanese rider broke clear, muscled past both Haga and Corser and climbed to third place on lap eleven. Corser, by this stage, had used up all the Pirellis had to offer and was suffering as the rear tyre had shifted on the rim, going out of balance and vibrating badly. The 2005 champion dropped back to eighth, while Haga fared little better, fading back to seventh. Both the Yamaha riders succumbed to a late spurt by Roby Rolfo which saw him finish seventh while Ruben Xaus took tenth.

Lap eleven also saw the departure of both PSG-1 Kawasakis, as Regis Laconi misjudged his braking and used his team-mate to slow him down a little more. Both riders ended up eating gravel, though fortunately neither was hurt, and Laconi's apologies were clearly accepted as they had a very Mediterranean making up session in the gravel trap before skipping off into the sunset. Well, not quite, but you get the picture I'm sure.

Up at the front, Biaggi was inexorably closing in on Toseland, and after a few swaps, took and held the lead on lap thirteen. Though he didn't break away, it seemed there was little the Englishman could do to counter Biaggi, who was riding exceptionally smoothly and didn't put a wheel wrong. Lanzi seems determined to prove the critics wrong, as on the last but one lap he mugged Kagayama in spectacular fashion, got the Ducati turned when nobody thought he possibly could and took a well deserved third place. Bayliss held off Neukirchner for fifth in a surprisingly unimpressive opening race for the champion.

So on his first Superbike race, Max Biaggi took the new GSX-R 1000 to a win by a second and a half. That's never happened before - a rookie wining first time out on a brand new bike, and it certainly bodes well for the championship.

Race two, a few hours later, gave everyone time to regroup, rehydrate and fiddle with their bike setup a bit. As always, this can be a good thing, but it can also be less good. Lights out saw James Toseland beaten into the first corner but in the lead well before the end of the first lap, again with the Yamahas of Haga and Corser snapping at his heels. And again, Max Biaggi sat in fourth place, watching and waiting. Fonsi Nieto made a fabulous start, despite his flu, to push the wayward Kawasaki into fifth place at the end of the opening lap, ahead of Bayliss, Laconi, Kagayama and Xaus. Lorenzo Lanzi this time rounded out the top ten after an appalling start, while Roby Rolfo fried his clutch off the line and retired almost immediately.

Five laps in, and Biaggi started to make his move, slipping past Corser and treating Haga to the same a couple of laps later. But this time the Italia didn't have it all his own way, as first Corser and then Haga barged back past him. But Biaggi is made of impressive stuff, and two laps later he was back up in second place and chasing the rapidly disappearing Toseland. Chasing him in vain, though, as even Max Biaggi was going to be pushed to close a two point one second gap with just seven laps remaining.

Behind Biaggi, Corser prevailed over Haga by some seven seconds while Nieto followed them home a safe distance, both in time and in places, from his team mate. Sixth place belonged to Kagayama, suffering from some tyre problems after changing a few settings during the break, while Lanzi again beat Bayliss to seventh. The Ducati certainly didn't seem to be working very well, both riders complaining of a lack of feel from the back. Maybe it's part of the Ducati master plan to get a 1200cc bike allowed next season, who knows. Ninth place saw Ruben Xaus complete a good weekend's work on the 2006 factory Ducati, while Max Neukirchner finished off the top ten on the Suzuki Germany GSX-R, again a 2006 model.

James Toseland, then, took the chequered flag just over half a second clear of Biaggi to make the pair of them tied at the top of the championship. Honda and Suzuki both had pretty good weekends, while Yamaha, Ducati and Kawasaki had rather a thin time. There's one more manufacturer in the mix now, though. Foggy Petronas are gone, of course, but there is a single MV Agusta competing this year. It's a beautiful bike with a fantastic pedigree, and Austrian Christian Zaiser just missed out on a point in the first race, retiring in the second.

The racing in Qatar this weekend was as close as we've seen anywhere, certainly right at the beginning of the season. Max Biaggi surprised a few people, James Toseland probably didn't. Everyone we've spoken to was astonished at Ducati's lacklustre performance and Yamaha's inconsistency was a bit of a surprise as well. But whatever happens, if we keep getting scraps like this it's going to be a fantastic, vintage season. Ten Kate have done a brilliant job on what is, remember, essentially a privateer machine, and our money remains firmly on Toseland regaining the title. But he's going to have to fight for it...

Race One

1 Max Biaggi (Suzuki)
2 James Toseland (Honda)
3 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati)
4 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
5 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
6 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)
7 Roberto Rolfo (Honda)
8 Noriuki Haga (Yamaha)
9 Troy Corser (Yamaha)
10 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)

Race Two

1 James Toseland (Honda)
2 Max Biaggi (Suzuki)
3 Troy Corser (Yamaha)
4 Noriuki Haga (Yamaha)
5 Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki)
6 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
7 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati)
8 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
9 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
10 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)

Championship Standing after one round:

1= James Toseland 45
1= Max Biaggi 45
3 Lorenzo Lanzi 26
4= Troy Corser 23
4= Yukio Kagayama 23
6= Nori Haga 21
7 Troy Bayliss 19
8 Max Neukirchner 16
9 Ruben Xaus 13
10 Fonsi Nieto 11

SB