Brno is one of the few circuits that World Superbike championship leader Troy Bayliss has traditionally struggled at, but the Australian hopes that his new 1098 Ducati will help make his final Czech appearance his best yet.

"I haven't had much luck at Brno the last couple of years to be honest, I've had mixed results here in both Superbike and GP and have been involved in a couple of crashes," said Troy, whose best Brno result to date is a sixth place last season.

"The last couple of years we were missing some acceleration with the 999, and this was noticeable at Brno, so now with the 1098 we should see some improvement in that respect," continued Bayliss, who will start the event with a 49 point lead over Max Neukirchner.

"I hope that the extra track time that we had last week at Vallelunga will prove to have been beneficial, we got going well in the heat there and so I feel better prepared now in case conditions are similar here this week. My main aim is obviously to get a better result than I've ever had here before!"

Team-mate Michel Fabrizio has a more successful past record, with visits to the Brno Superbike podium in 2007 and 2006 and a second place finish in the Supersport category in 2005.

"I really like the Brno circuit," he confirmed. "I have had a few podium place finishes here, in Superbike and Supersport, and it seems to be a track that suits my riding style pretty well. Although I haven't been here on the F08 of course, I know I am capable of riding well here in both the wet and the dry which is useful as you never can predict the weather! After a couple of positive days of testing at Vallelunga last week I can say that we're feeling quietly confident for the next rounds."

Bayliss and Fabrizio will be joined in the Czech Republic by test rider Niccolo Canepa, who will participate as a wild-card with the Ducati Xerox Team for the first time in Sunday's Superbike races, as well as at the forthcoming rounds of Vallelunga and Magny-Cours.

Canepa has been very impressive during both WSBK and MotoGP testing and will be out to convince Ducati that he deserves a 2009 race seat.

"I know the Brno circuit well and although I have to admit that it is not one of my favourite tracks, the fact that I get the chance to race the F09 here is just fantastic," said the Italian, who has been linked to an Alice MotoGP ride next season. "Having been involved in a lot of the testing in recent months, both GP and Superbike, the thing I've been missing is the competition so I'm excited that I will finally get back to racing this week and alongside such an amazing line-up of riders."