Kagayama will consider himself robbed of victory in Qatar, after friend and rival Haga piled into him on the final lap of race one, while Haga himself will know that he has the potential to move up the order after pushing for victory in both races. The Aussies keep coming too, with Honda's
Karl Muggeridge and Yamaha's Andrew Pitt showing well in the desert, the latter taking third on the grid - his best career qualifying result - and then bettering it with the first WSBK podium place of his career behind Toseland and Bayliss. Throw Ducati upstart
Lorenzo Lanzi into the equation after a disappointing start to the season - a first-race highside leading to sixth in race two - and the potential for fireworks is there for all to see.
Among those expected to feature in Qatar but not actually doing so,
Ruben Xaus will want to banish memories of a difficult first race back in the WSBK. The leggy Spaniard recorded his worst qualifying performance with 21st spot on the Losail grid, and could not better tenth in either race.
Fabien Foret was similarly underwhelmed by his Qatar experience, his Alstare Corona Suzuki breaking down in both races after promising times in practice, while veteran Pierfrancesco Chili heads to Australia already trying to recover from injury after a heavy race two fall last weekend. Despite suffering a broken left ring finger, and a welter of contusions and swellings, the popular Italian is expected to line up for qualifying and the races at the Island.
Another comparative veteran, albeit of bike racing rather than the WSBK itself, Alex Barros knows that his early-season struggles could continue for a while yet as his Klaffi Honda lacks the latest spec engine, but is looking forward to returning to Phillip Island, a circuit he knows well from his
MotoGP days.
On the flip-side, however, Losail witnessed an unexpectedly assured display from Superbike rookie
Michel Fabrizio, who pushed his DFX Honda forward all weekend. The Italian could be another contender this weekend.
