Vallelunga (Italy), Tuesday 16th September: the Ducati Xerox Team return home, satisfied with the results of the last round at Donington Park, and head now for a weekend’s racing at the Vallelunga circuit in Rome, a “home” race, especially for factory rider Michel Fabrizio who was born and raised just a few kilometres from the track. Having already raced at Monza and Misano this season, Vallelunga is the third Italian appointment on the Superbike calendar for the Ducati Xerox riders Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio. The last round, held at Donington Park, saw Troy and his F08 significantly increase the lead when Troy took the win in a wet Race 1 while, in a rare turn of events, his four closest rivals Corser, Neukirchner, Checa and Haga all crashed out. It is these five riders that all still have a mathematical chance of taking the world title. Bayliss and Fabrizio have now just three races left – Vallelunga, Magny-Cours and Portimao – before the close of the 2008 World Superbike Championship. There are 150 championship points still to play for and, with Bayliss now holding a 101 point advantage over second-placed rider Corser, this means that the coming weekend is also the first chance that he has to take a third world Superbike title, which would be his first on board the Ducati 1098 F08, a bike that only made it’s track debut this year. Troy Bayliss (1st in championship, 359 points) Troy had a great weekend last year at Vallelunga, with a win and a second place finish. A repeat of that performance this year and Troy would walk away with the title. “It is very strange to think that I only have three races left before I conclude my Superbike career. I’m trying not to think about the fact that I could sew things up at Vallelunga, I’ll just be going out there and giving it my all as I have done every weekend until now and see what happens! Everything went well here last year so I’m hoping to have a similarly successful weekend again this year.” Michel Fabrizio (9th in championship, 172 points) Michel would love to improve on the 5th place finish that he achieved in front of his home fans here last year. Turning 24 on Wednesday 17th September, Michel hopes to be celebrating his birthday with some great results this weekend. “Of course I want to do well in front of my home crowd. A lot of family and friends will be coming along to see me race too so I hope to be able to have two great races. Last year could have gone better, my final results were a 5th and a DNF, so I’d like to improve on that now I’m aboard the Ducati F08. I also want to wish my team-mate Troy good luck for Sunday’s races!” Country: Italy Name: Autodromo di Vallelunga Circuit length: 4.110 km Pole position: right Corners left: 3 Corners right: 7 Race distance: 24 laps = 98.640 km LAP RECORDS: Fastest lap – Haga (Yamaha) 1’37.419 (2007). Superpole – Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1’35.890 (2007). 2007 RESULTS: Race 1 – 1. Biaggi (Suzuki); 2. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 3. Toseland (Honda). Race 2 – 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 2. Biaggi (Suzuki) 3. Haga (Yamaha).