JAMES Toseland and Max Biaggi share the lead of the World Superbike Championship after the first round at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The Roman Emperor won the opening 18-lap race, after taking the lead from Toseland on lap 13. Toseland, the youngest WSB champ, swapped places with Biaggi on a few occasions before the ex-MotoGP ace made a pass stick on his Suzuki. Biaggi won by just over one second and Toseland was followed over the line by Lorenzo Lanzi.
In the second race, the distance was once again 18 laps. Toseland took the lead after the first lap and pushed hard to claw out a healthy lead. Biaggi chased hard in second place, but Toseland's early surge created a buffer between the two that Biaggi couldn't reel back in. In the closing couple of laps Biaggi reeled Toseland in but the British rider kept his cool, made no mistakes and crossed the line to take first place, just over half a second ahead of Biaggi.
Max Biaggi commented after the race: "This championship is tough and for sure there are a lot of good riders, so I don't think it's always going to be like this. We made a small adjustment to the bike for the second race and maybe it wasn't the right thing, but we still nearly managed to win it. Now we are off to one of my favourite tracks, Phillip Island. I'm looking forward to it and having more fun!"
