Red flag halts race one.

Superbike race action at Phillip Island was halted almost as soon as it had started after a startline accident involving Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio. The sudden appearance of the red flags then created another incident at Lukey Heights that decimated the Honda contingent.

The cause of the stoppage was Fabrizio apparently stalling his 1098 as the field was given the green light. Although the front few rows managed to avoid the stranded Italian, two swerving bikes - with Kenan Sofuoglu and one of the Yamaha France machines both clipping the Ducati - obscured the view of those further back, leading to Vittorio Iannuzzo making heavy contact with the right-hand side of the Italian and his bike.

The impact was enough to break the rear wheel and pull the tyre off the rim while also, amazingly, removing Fabrizio's right boot. Some how, the Italian managed to limp to the sidelines, while Iannuzzo was lucky to avoid having his bike land on top of him, but had to receive attention at the scene.

The field had completed nearly half a lap when the decision to throw the red flag was taken. Troy Corser had got his Yamaha to the front, and the frontrunners managed to receive the signal without trouble, but, further back, sighting problems saw Carlos Checa, who reacted, collected by a second machine, which didn't.

While the luckless Spaniard was flipped into the air, his assailant tumbled onto the grass, sending the following Ryuichi Kiyonari on a rough ride across the grass.

Fabrizio appears set to return to the fray at the restart, but we await news on the condition of others involved in the two incidents.