Troy Corser is only one race short to become the second rider in the history of the Championship that can boast at least 100 podium finishes. At the moment the only one over this figure is Carl Fogarty, with 109 podium places. The british rider obtained his 100th podium the 27th of June 1999 in Misano, race 1 at his 204th presence (Corser at the moment has 232 presences). With two race finishes, Troy could become the second rider in the history of World Superbikes to reach 200 race finishes, the one and only that managed to do that was Aaron Slight, that in Valencia 2000, race 1, completed his 200th race. Slight ended his career with 209 race finishes.

JAMES TOWARDS 100 – The 2004 world champion at the moment counts 99 races in the points, only one race short to enter the group of 13 riders that in the history of the Championship have reached at least 100 points finishes. The chart is led by Slight (207).

BAYLISS TOWARDS 50 – Troy Bayliss in Phillip Island scored his 49th podium with Ducati. In the history of the Superbike World Championship®, only 5 riders obtained at least 50 podium finishes with the same make: Carl Fogarty that with Ducati recorded 100 podiums, Aaron Slight (Honda, 67), Colin Edwards (Honda, 65), Troy Corser (Ducati, 60) and Raymond Roche (Ducati, 57).


THE LAST DOMINATION – In 2005 in Valencia the last domination of a race weekend was recorded by Corser who scored pole, double win and double fastest lap, an event recorded only 16 times out of 221 race weekends in the history of the Superbike World Championship®.

IT’S DIFFICULT TO ESCAPE IN VALENCIA – In the 12 races run in Valencia, no rider has managed to finish the race with at least 10” over the second classified. The rider that obtained the best results in terms of race gaps is Corser, that scored the 4 widest gaps in Valencia’s history.
These are all the gaps at the end of the races recorded in Valencia:
Year Race Winner Second Gap
2002 2 T.Bayliss N.Haga 1"178
2000 2 N.Haga B.Bostrom 1"227
2004 2 N.Haga J.Toseland 1"769
2003 2 N.Hodgson R.Xaus 2"619
2002 1 T.Bayliss N.Haga 3"176
2001 1 T.Corser T.Bayliss 3"609
2004 1 J.Toseland P.Chili 4"698
2003 1 N.Hodgson R.Xaus 4"700
2001 2 T.Corser T.Bayliss 5"122
2005 2 T.Corser C.Vermeulen 5"361
2000 1 T.Corser B.Bostrom 8"703
2005 1 T.Corser C.Vermeulen 9"116

2004 SUPERPOLE™ - During the 2004 qualifying session in Valencia one of the biggest gaps between poleman and second classified was recorded. 1”038 separated team-mates Regis Laconi and James Toseland at the top of the time sheets. From that race no one managed to gain pole position with more than 1” over the rivals.
These are the 10 biggest gaps in the history of the Championship:

Race Circuit Year Poleman Second in grid Time difference
Australia Phillip Island 2004 R.Laconi C.Vermeulen 0'00"971
Canada Mosport Park 1990 G.Falappa R.Roche 0'00"981
Italy Pergusa 1989 G.Falappa F.Merkel 0'00"994
Spain Valencia 2004 R.Laconi J.Toseland 0'01"038
Australia Phillip Island 2003 N.Hodgson P.Chili 0'01"088
Portugal Estoril 1988 S.Mertens T.Rymer 0'01"260
Italy Mugello 1991 D.Polen F.Merkel 0'01"267
Andorra Jarama 1992 D.Polen S.Mertens 0'01"304 (*)
Hungary Hungaroring 1989 F.Merkel P.Rubatto 0'01"540 (*)
Italy Monza 1992 D.Polen F.Merkel 0'12"977(**)
(*)Riders divided in 2 groups in qualifying.
(**)Riders divided in 2 groups in qualifying. In one of the sessions the rain affected laptimes heavily.

ANNIVERSARIES OF THE WEEK
• 18th of april – 1999, Phillip Island, 50th podium for Corser; - 2004, Misano, first pole position for Steve Martin;
• 20th of april, birthday of Max Neukirchner, Karl Muggeridge and David Checa Carrera; 1992, Donington, first win for Carl Fogarty;
• 22nd of april 2001, Phillip Island, Ruben Xaus records his first fastest lap in race 1;
• 23rd of april 2000, Aprilia wins its first race with Troy Corser in Phillip Island.

MILESTONES IN SPAIN – With 34 races run in Spain there are plenty of milestones: in 1992 (Albacete) first win for Aaron Slight; in 1995 100th fastest lap for Ducati, recorded by Chili (Albacete); in 1996 10th win for Corser (Albacete); in 1998 first pole for Haga (Albacete); in 2002 10th win for Bayliss; in 2003 first presence on the front row for Toseland.

2005 HIGHS AND LOWS IN VALENCIA
• Best season result for Andrew Pitt in qualifying, a fifth place recorded in other 3 occasions during the year;
• Best season result for Norifumi Abe in qualifying, an eight place, best career result;
• Best season result for Chris Walker third in race 2;
• Best season result for Sebastien Gimbert sixth in race 1;
• Best season result for Ivan Clementi eleventh in race 1, repeated in Assen race 1;
• Double retirement for Karl Muggeridge, his only one of 2005;
• Retirement and missed start for Lorenzo Lanzi, the only time, together with the absence in Monza and the retirement in the single race in Imola, in which the italian rider was not classified at least in one race of the weekend;

YAMAHA TOWARDS 100 – Yamaha could become the first make in the history of WSS ™ Championship to reach 100 podium places. At the moment Yamaha counts 99 and records at least a bike on the podium for the past 5 races (since Eurospeedway Lausitz 2005).

HONDA’S SEQUENCES – The series of record sequences of Honda in Supersport continues and at the moment the situation is as follows: 27 pole positions, 29 front rows (absolute records) and 83 races in the points (3rd all-time record).

CHARPENTIER – The french rider could become the third in the history of the Supersport World Championship to reach 10 wins. The first was Paolo Casoli in Assen 2002 and the second Karl Muggeridge in Imola 2004.

YAMAHA IN SUPERSTOCK 1000 – At the moment Yamaha is recording a string of 11 pole positions (since France 2004), the second of all times behind the 15 poles in a row recorded by Suzuki from Spain 2001 to Europe 2002.
Yamaha is also recording an all-time record sequence, a Yamaha bike goes in the lead since Spain 2004, for a total of 19 races in a row.

VAN KEYMEULEN – With Didier going to the Supersport World Championship®, his record sequence of 13 races in the points in Superstock 1000 ends (from Assen 2004 to Magny Cours 2005)