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Troy Bayliss ended his World Superbike career in the only way which could possibly hope to match his amazing career: With a second dominant win of the weekend, crowning his championship with a double at the inaugural World Superbike round at Portimao, Portugal. While Bayliss didn't lead from the start, it only took him a couple of laps before the Australian sliced his way to the front with surgical precision, and checked out. 

The 8 second lead he had by halfway was a comfortable cushion, which allowed him to give away a couple of tenths a lap, and still leave him over 3.6 seconds clear over the line. Adding to the joy at Ducati, his team mate came home in 2nd, comfortably ahead of the fight for third. The final podium spot was more closely contested, but Max Neukirchner looked like he had it wrapped up by halfway after fighting his way through the field. But Neukirchner couldn't maintain his pace towards the end of the race, and was pipped to the podium by Leon Haslam, the British Superbike hero giving notice of his intentions for 2009.

The scenes in the pitlane were intensely emotional after the race, the entire Xerox Ducati team going up onto the podium to celebrate, and say farewell to Troy Bayliss. There's a palpable sense of sadness in the press room, and around the circuit, now that we will never see the man who is arguably the world's greatest superbike rider race again. There's also some doubt, as the press and the paddock find it impossible to believe that Bayliss could walk away at the peak of his career. But seeing Bayliss' face, the sheer relief that it was all done, convinced me, at least, that this was the final chapter.

At least, on a racing motorcycle, as Bayliss is due to go home to Australia and race in the V8 Supercars series. That should scratch any itch he may still feel just enough for him to resist temptation.

It will surprise no one to learn that Troy Bayliss won the first World Superbike Race at Portimao in Portugal. As if the Australian needed his place in history cemented any further, Bayliss took off almost from the start of the race to win completely unchallenged.

Bayliss was helped by a monster battle for 2nd which took up most of the first half of the race. The BSB riders started off strongly, turning in some spectacular and terrifying passing between Cal Crutchlow, Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea, while the regulars Noriyuki Haga, Ruben Xaus, Troy Corser and Carlos Checa joined the fun. But as the race wore on, the BSB riders wore themselves out, leaving Haga, Corser and Checa to fight for 2nd. Haga dropped out with a mechanical problem, leaving Corser and Checa to spend the rest of the race dividing the podium places between themselves. In the end, it was Carlos Checa who won that battle, splitting the Australians on the podium.

Johnny Rea was the best British rider home in 4th, a promising debut on the Ten Kate Honda Superbike, while Leon Haslam was the best of the BSB riders in 7th.

The ease with which Bayliss won race 1 must surely be a worry for the rest of the field. They can't afford to spend time scrapping with each other if they want to have a chance at beating the World Champion.

It's sunny and bright here in the Algarve, and if it wasn't quite so chilly and damp, it would be absolutely beautiful. The good news is, they got the access road from the motorway to the track done yesterday, and the better news is it was filling up nicely as we arrived here. 

The warmup sessions were held on a track that was cold and wet, especially through the scary downhill final turn and along the straight, and times were some 20 seconds off the times set in the dry. Johnny Rea led the way in the Superbikes, ahead of Troy Corser and Cal Crutchlow. Corser seems pretty bent on winning a World Superbike race on the Yamaha before he leaves to join BMW. He has two more chances, and will face the might of Troy Bayliss, who will not want to retire without a fight.

Kenan Soguoglu was quickest during the Supersport warmup, and if you were the betting type, you'd have a sizable sum on the Turk to win the race today. He's looking happy, and more importantly, he's looking fast. Sofuoglu was followed by Gianluca Nannelli and Mathieu Lagrive, who have both been fast in the cold and wet, but not so quick in the dry. The American Josh Hayes was down in 12th.

The Portuguese organizers are putting on a real show here, with a special dance performance featuring some young people prancing around in interestingly metallic costumes. And if that isn't enough, there's the Portuguese Air Force demonstration team flying over before the first World Superbike race. It's a good day to watch some racing.

It's Saturday afternoon, and the sun is starting to make way for clouds. For the moment, it's still bright, but there's no guarantee of that lasting. The second session of Supersport practice was run in pleasant, if not exactly warm conditions, and times continued to drop as ever more rubber was laid on the track.

Once again it was Kenan Sofuoglu who dominated the session, quickly dropping into the 1'45s, and setting the mark for pole at 1'45.156 before the session was even halfway done. Many would try, but the closest anyone would get would be Broc Parkes in the dying seconds of the session, getting to within 7/100ths on the Yamaha.

Holland's Barry Veneman will start from 3rd on the grid, the Hoegee Suzuki team having picked up the final couple of tenths they've been missing over the last few rounds. Veneman has Andrew Pitt on the other Ten Kate Honda beside him on the grid, the 2008 World Champion finishing out the front row.

Gianluca Nannelli heads up the second row of the grid on the Althea Honda, with Spanish rider Joan Lascorz dropping to 6th, from 3rd this morning. Josh Brookes will start from 7th, while American Josh Hayes was pushed down to 8th, and the end of the 2nd row. Hayes had started well, but dropped gradually down the order, as the other riders made good their knowledge deficit of the track.

In the afternoon's World Superbike free practice session, Troy Bayliss was out to avenge his indifferent time of this morning, and quickly topped the timesheets, setting his fastest time on his 2nd full lap out of the pits. This time, Bayliss' time was good enough to beat his team mate, Michel Fabrizio setting the 2nd fastest time, making it a Xerox Ducati 1-2. Cal Crutchlow continued his run of strong times, setting the 3rd fastest time, ahead of Noriyuki Haga and Carlos Checa.

But the session was interrupted after half-distance by the return of the rain. The dark clouds that had been building suddenly broke, light rain becoming ever heavier, leaving the field stranded in the pits. And with the rain came an end to Superpole. The final qualifying session will be a so-called wet superpole, a 50 minute session with limited pit entrances for the top 16 riders. Traditional superpole, with each of the top 16 riders having a single shot at putting in a fast lap, has been scrapped for next season, World Superbike moving to a Formula 1-style knock-out qualifying session for next year.