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By taking a third place finish in Race 1 and a fantastic race 2 win at the “Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours”, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) has this weekend been crowned with a remarkable third World Superbike title, powering his Ducati 1098 F08 to victory and snatching the title after round thirteen, despite there being one more round still to race at Portimao (Portugal).

With a total of 410 championship points, and having achieved nine race wins and sixteen podium finishes during the season, the Australian legend Bayliss has ridden the Ducati 1098 F08 factory machine into the record books, a winning bike in its debut season, a feat previously accomplished by Carl Fogarty with the 916 in 1994, and with the 996 in 1998 and by Neil Hodgson in 2003 with the 999.

Sundays' results also mean that Ducati has secured the manufacturer's title, for the fifteenth time since the championship began in 1988. This means that in the last eighteen years, the Borgo-Panigale based firm has dominated the World Superbike series, to take the constructor's title home on all but three occasions.

Troy started from third position on the grid and knew that to finish Race 1 with an advantage of at least 75 points over Corser, Haga and Neukirchner would be enough to take the title. He therefore rode an intelligent race, leaving Haga to lead while he concentrated on doing just enough to secure the necessary result. He remained in second place for the first nineteen laps before relinquishing that position to Nieto and eventually settling for third place on the podium. Meanwhile team-mate Michel Fabrizio rode a great race, moving up from ninth to third place, only to unfortunately crash out, unhurt, on the nineteenth lap.

In Race 2 Troy was able to ride with less pressure and thus raced for the win. Caught up in a great battle with an old adversary, Haga, Troy proved himself to be the most determined, crossing the line ahead of the Yamaha rider. Unfortunately Fabrizio suffered from technical problems that prevented him from fighting up front, eventually concluding the race in fourteenth place.

39-year old Troy first celebrated a world title with Ducati in 2001, a season in which he dominated the racing on board the 996R, to finish with a 36-point advantage over second-placed rider Colin Edwards. In 2006, racing for the Ducati Xerox Team on board the Ducati 999, Troy's twelve race wins and total of sixteen podium finishes secured him his second world title, a testimony to the incredible competitiveness of the Australian who won the championship by a clear margin of 95 points, ahead of James Toseland.