It was never going to be straightforward. Apart from the fact that Misano isn’t exactly the easiest of places to overtake, the weather conspired to make conditions slightly treacherous for some of the time and downright nasty for much of the rest.

Superpole proved to be a fairly tempestuous event in itself, with Championship leader James Toseland having a horrible time and ending up back in 20th place while Mauro Sanchini hauled the ever improving Kawasaki ZX10 up to a best ever 5th on the grid. Laconi upheld the honour of the Ducati FILA team in second behind, wait for it, privateer Steve Martin. Frankie Chili, still sticking with his old 998 machine, took third place and the all-Ducati front row was rounded off by Lucio Pedercini. Honourable mentions, though, must go to Troy Corser and Chris Walker whose Foggy-Petronas bikes sandwiched rising star Chris Vermeulen’s Honda Fireblade to make up the second row.

Race one saw the Petronas boys make a scorching start with Corser soon opening a commanding lead. Original pole-setter Steve martin wasn’t able to maintain the pace and dropped back, as did Chris Walker. James Toseland, on the other hand, made up, at least in part, for his dreadful qualifying performance and sliced his way back up to 10th before the heavens opened and the race was stopped 8 laps early. Sadly for fans of Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser or Malaysia, the race wasn’t stopped soon enough to prevent Laconi’s new full factory Ducati 999 to blast past the Petronas and steal a win. Third place went to an on form Frankie Chili with Haga, Vermeulen and Walker taking the next places.

Race two was wet. Very wet. So the obvious choice for the whole grid was soft rain tyres, right? Frankie Chili went off the line like a startled sloth, having elected for some unfathomable reason to go for harder tyres. Laconi took the lead and simply cleared off. Until the track started to dry, that is. Because you don’t get to be the oldest man on the grid without learning a thing or two. And Frankie Chili is the oldest man on the grid. And he’s learned.

Around half distance the unassailable lead built up by Laconi started to get eroded. Of course, it was assumed that he was simply taking care of his bike and not riding harder than necessary. Wrong – Laconi was riding the 999 to the limit. But wily old Frankie Chili had a tyre that may not grip so well at first but which remained consistent and grippy for longer. With just a lap to go, Frankie drifted past Laconi to take a well deserved and highly popular win over Laconi with Steve Martin a distant third.

The race was also noteworthy for the first appearance at the front of the pack by a green bike in a very long time. Yes, Mauro Sanchin got the ZX10 right up front and looked good until his tyres started to go off and he slipped back down the field, finally finishing 11th.

But what of James Toseland? Well, the guy that everyone expects to win the championship this year had a horrible weekend. Qualifying was a disaster and the resultant 20th position on the grid made an already difficult race even harder. That makes his 10th in race one and 6th in race two even more impressive. But, no matter how good his racing on the day, one thing remains the same. James Toseland is no longer leading the championship. In fact, a factory Ducati is no longer leading the championship. Pier-Francesco Chili, the old man of the field, is leading on a year old privateer machine.

Now who would have bet on that?

Race One Result

1 R Laconi, Ducati
2 T Corser, Foggy-Petronas
3 P-F Chili, Ducati
4 N Haga, Ducati
5 C Vermeulen, Honda
6 C Walker, Foggy-Petronas
7 S Martin, Ducati
8 G Nannelli, Ducati
9 P Bontempi, Suzuki
10 J Toseland, Ducati

Race Two Result

1 P-F Chili, Ducati
2 R Laconi, Ducati
3 S Martin, Ducati
4 N Haga, Ducati
5 L Haslam, Ducati
6 J Toseland, Ducati
7 T Corser, Foggy-Petronas
8 L Pedercini, Ducati
9 L Pini, Suzuki
10 M Borciani, Ducati

Championship Positions

97 P-FChili, Ducati
77 J Toseland, Ducati
70 R Laconi, Ducati
70 C Vermeulen, Honda
69 N Haga, Ducati
55 G McCoy, Ducati
54 S Martin, Ducati
52 C Walker, Foggy-Petronas
49 M Borciani, Ducati
48 T Corser, Foggy-Petronas