Chili: They thought I was stupid!

WSBK legend Frankie Chili turned what had been a nightmare Valencia weekend around with two strong finishes on race day, despite switching from his new Ducati 999 to last year's 998 model.

Chili had been battling to find a comfortable set-up for his new machine all through pre-season testing but, after being just sixteenth in first qualifying, the Italian decided to take drastic action and roll out his 2003 racer - which he took to victory at Laguna Seca last year.

"Just yesterday [Saturday], I decided to use my old bike - and everybody looked at me like I was stupid," Chili smiled later.

The change brought a further three places up the grid in Superpole, but a damp first race provided Frankie with the perfect change to shine and, with his confidence in the front end having returned, he soon carved through the field to third, as he and second placed Steve Martin took a second a lap out of race leader James Toseland's once 13-second advantage.

Chili would overtake Martin, whose DFX Ducati later broke down, for second place with three laps to go, but ran out of time to threaten Toseland.

"I was lucky with my tyre choice, began the race slowly and then pushed when I had found the limit," he explained, "Yeah, I thought I could catch [Toseland] - I'm disappointed not to win, but very happy with second."

The Italian would go on to finish fourth in race two, and now holds second in the riders' championship, twelve points behind Toseland.