As expected, the World Superbike Championship title fight will go down to the wire in Portugal after Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies took a win apiece in France.

Even so, the advantage is very much with Haga heading to Portimao as his first and second place finish – compared to Spies' first and fourth – gives him a ten point margin over his arch rival.

The ten point difference remains potentially significant, though, as it puts Haga and Spies in prime position to finish the season level on points should the American win both races and his rival follows him in second. Crucially, however, Spies potential 15 wins – compared to Haga's eight – would mean that the title would be going Yamaha's way by the very slimmest of margins…

The fight for the championship is officially down to two following Magny-Cours after Michel Fabrizio's slim hopes were dealt a fatal blow with a fall in race two. Nonetheless, fourth in the first encounter also means he can't be caught for third now either.

The fight for fourth overall, meanwhile, has moved in favour of Max Biaggi, whose double podium finish – coupled to Jonathan Rea's race one retirement – puts him a comfortable 14 points ahead with two races remaining.

Further back, two retirements for Tom Sykes means he is left fighting off the attentions of Shane Byrne in the battle for eighth in the standings, the duo split by ten points now following the Sterilgarda man's double top ten finish.

Troy Corser continues on the ascension too after finally riseing above sidelined trio max Neukirchner, Shinya Nakano and Regis Laconi for 12th in the standings.

Other notable gains include Karl Muggeridge, up three positions to 21st and Matteo Baiocco, who jumps from 33rd to 27th after a scoring points in both races for Guandalini Ducati.

Meanwhile, two new point scorers – David Salom and David Checa – bring the total number of people to get on the score sheet this season to 41.


Full World Superbike Championship rider standings (After 13 rounds of 14 - Previous position in brackets)

1. (1) Noriyuki Haga Ducati Xerox 436 points
2. (2) Ben Spies Yamaha WSB 426
3. (3) Michel Fabrizio Ducati Xerox 346
4. (5) Max Biaggi Aprilia 293
5. (4) Jonathan Rea Ten Kate Honda 279
6. (6) Leon Haslam Stiggy Honda 241
7. (7) Carlos Checa Ten Kate Honda 200
8. (8) Tom Sykes Yamaha WSB 176
9. (10) Shane Byrne Sterilgarda Ducati 166
10. (9) Jakub Smrz Guandalini Ducati 161
11. (11) Ryuichi Kiyonari Ten Kate Honda 141
12. (12) Yukio Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 123
13. (15) Troy Corser BMW Alpha 89
14. (13) Shinya Nakano Aprilia 86
15. (14) Regis Laconi DFX Ducati 77
16. (16) Max Neukirchner Suzuki Alstare 75
17. (17) Ruben Xaus BMW Alpha 66
18. (18) Broc Parkes Kawasaki WSB 42
19. (19) Matthieu Lagrive Althea Honda 24
20. (21) Fonsi Nieto Suzuki Alstare/DFX Ducati 22
21. (24) Karl Muggeridge Celani Suzuki/Suzuki Alstare 21
22. (20) John Hopkins Stiggy Honda 17
23. (22) Marco Simoncelli Aprilia 16
24. (23) Lorenzo Lanzi DFX Ducati 15
25. (24) Leon Camier Airwaves Yamaha/Aprilia 13
26. (25) Gregorio Lavilla Guandalini Ducati 12
27. (33) Matteo Baiocco Guandalini Ducati 11
28. (27) Jamie Hacking Kawasaki WSB 9
29. (28) Makoto Tamada Kawasaki WSB 8
30. (29) James Ellison Airwaves Yamaha 8
31. (30) Sheridan Morais Kawasaki WSB 8
32. (31) Simon Andrews MSS Colchester Kawasaki 6
33. (32) Tommy Hill Althea Honda 6
34. (34) Luca Scassa Pedercini Kawasaki 8
35. (35) Brendan Roberts Guandalini Ducati 3
36. (36) Roberto Rolfo Stiggy Honda 3
37. (-) David Salom Pedercini Kawasaki 2
38. (37) Vittorio Iannuzzo SCI Honda 2
39. (38) Jake Zemke Stiggy Honda 1
40. (39) Alessandro Polita Celani Suzuki 1
41. (-) David Checa Yamaha GMT 94 1


Full World Superbike Championship manufacturer standings (After 13 rounds of 14 - Previous position in brackets)

1. (1) Ducati 534 points
2. (2) Yamaha 469
3. (3) Honda 395
4. (4) Aprilia 303
5. (5) Suzuki 167
6. (6) BMW 126
7. (7) Kawasaki 67