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The World Superbike circus heads off to Italy this weekend, to a part of the country which might almost be regarded as "enemy" heartland. For the region around the Misano circuit, the site of this weekends races, is home to a veritable horde of MotoGP, 250cc and 125cc racers - Valentino Rossi, Mattia Pasini, Marco Melandri, Marco Simoncelli, the list goes on and on.

But World Superbikes has a strong history and a strong place at Misano. For a start, it hosts the World Ducati Week, when the Bologna factory organizes that event. As a consequence, it is very much a Ducati track, and over the years, Ducatis have taken the top spot in 26 out of the 34 races run here, with all of the great names of Ducati World Superbikes winning here: Troy Bayliss, Carl Fogarty, Ben Bostrom, Ruben Xaus, Pier Francesco Chili, Regis Laconi.

So normally, you might expect the odds to be stacked in favor of the Xerox Ducati pairing of Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio. But while Ducati may have an outstanding record here, both Haga and Fabrizio have been pretty dismal at Misano. Of the 18 races that Haga has contested here, he has only been on the podium 3 times, and is yet to win at the circuit. Fabrizio's record is even worse: the Italian has only finished 2 of the World Superbike 6 races he has started in at the track on the Adriatic coast, the only bright spot being the Superstock race he won here in 2003.

The omens are not good for the Xerox Ducati team, and this couldn't come at a worse time for them. Prior to the US round of World Superbikes at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, Haga had a very comfortable lead of 85 points over team mate Fabrizio, and 88 points over his chief rival for 2009, Yamaha's Ben Spies. But a dire weekend in Utah - a reflection of his 2008 race there - left Haga battered and bruised, and giving up 35 points from his lead.

read more (http://www.motogpmatters.com/report/2009/06/19/2009_misano_world_superbikes_and_world_s.html)

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