It seems like just yesterday that we were here in Portimao last time. SBK have taken a gamble and moved the Portuguese round from the sometimes unpredictable autumn weather to the, um, sometimes unpredictable spring weather. Portimao is still a fantastic circuit, and looks just a little bit more finished each time we come out. Spring means that the whole place is greener than usual as the Algarve sunshine hasn't had the chance to bake the moisture out of everything just yet.

Despite worries about things being a little changeable, weatherwise, Friday and Saturday were beautifully warm and sunny for practice and qualifying. Leon Haslam continued his fine form, as did Fabrizio, promising that the top of the table slugfest would continue. Happily, despite still having a strapped up hand, James Toseland also appeared to be on form, putting the Yamaha as high as fourth. Now that may not sound that great, but it's worth mentioning that when the dust settled at the end of Friday's sessions the top fourteen were split by less than a second overall.

As we say so often here, free practice is one thing and qualifying is something entirely different. The first qualifying session was dominated by championship leader Leon Haslam, who continues to bond with the factory Suzuki in an impressive way. His bete noir Michel Fabrizio was as having a good day, running him close second, though the tenth of a second gap is a yawning chasm compared with the few thousandths that separated them in Australia. Close behind came Checa, Biaggi and Toseland, starting to show the ability that has taken him to two World titles so far in his career. Crutchlow and Shakey Byrne came next, with Jakub Smrz the meat in a Brit sandwich as Camier and Rea followed him. Just over half a second spanned the top ten.

Qualifying two was closer yet, with the top ten inside half a second. Troy Corser and the BMW team dug deep to put them into that top ten, behind Sykes and Haga, all three making their first foray to anywhere near the top of the leaderboard. Toseland was seventh this time around, safely into Superpole though, behind Checa and Rea. This time Leon Haslam was behind Fabrizio, albeit by just a couple of hundredths of a second, with Biaggi being beaten to the top by Smrz.

Qualifying decides where the lower placed riders will start, of course, but Superpole is the key. Session one saw Fabrizio crash out and fail to make the next stage. Corser had a technical problem and Neukirchner also crashed but they had both done enough to get through The first real upset of the weekend, though, was Nori Haga failing to get through the first stage of Superpole. Haga would start eighteenth, behind Fabrizio but ahead of Andrew Pitt and Makoto Tamada on the Reitwagen BMWs. Superpole two had another upset, as James Toseland highsided on the final corner a few minutes in. He starts fifteenth, ahead of Luca Scassa, who got through to this session for the first time. Ahead of Toseland, Lorenzo Lanzi and Max Neukirchner complete row four, while Guintoli just failed to get through and starts from the third row ahead of Xaus, Camier and Sykes.

The final session ended with Troy Corser bringing up the rear of the second row, behind Byrne, Smrz and Rea. And the front row has Leon Haslam in a surprising fourth place, one hundredth of a second behind Carlos Checa. Max Biaggi put the Aprilia into second, and a new Superpole record was grabbed by Yamaha new-boy Cal Crutchlow. Just over half a second split the front row.

So the stage is set for an exciting race. Haga, Fabrizio and Toseland have everything to prove, and to lose. And they have a whole lot of work to do to get the results their talents, reputations and management demand. Up at the front, new blood is mixed in with old stagers and it will be interesting to see who yields first.

Warmup, though it means nothing, was an emphatic display of dominance by Leon Haslam, clearly starting the day as he means to go on and running over half a second ahead of second place Crutchlow. Just to make things interesting, Haga was third, a whisker ahead of Checa. All of which boded well for some good racing later. No problems were likely to be had with setup, as the day remained warm and sunny with just a pleasant breeze keeping things under control. In fact it was very comfortable, about the perfect conditions for racing - warm enough for grip, not so hot that tyres, riders or engines would expire in the heat.

On to Race One, then. Lights out and it was Max Biaggi who got the drop on everyone to take the lead into the first corner, hotly pursued by Leon Haslam and Crutchlow. Troy Corser got a fantastic start on the ever improving BMW, taking fourth place and challenging hard. In the middle of the enormous and very close following pack, Guintoli found himself squeezed out with nowhere to go and was forced to take to the gravel to avoid anything worse. The Frenchman rejoined with no ill effects but found himself at the back of the field after a promising start. At the front, Corser's controlled aggression paid off as he pushed past Crutchlow to take third. The Yamaha rider might have been a little phased by this as he then dropped back further, yielding fourth and fifth in quick succession and finding himself following Shakey Byrne, whose team-mate Checa went one step further and took third from Corser for a short time. And while things changed around behind them, Biaggi and Haslam's personal battle continued in favour of Haslam, who opened a gap of nearly half a second before Biaggi got past again on lap four, the Italian breaking the lap record at the same time. And so it continued. But behind there were other things happening. Haga, who you may remember had the worst possible qualifying, climbed ten places in the first lap. It took him another lap to make one more place up, though, and he seemed to stall around seventh and eighth as rivals approached his position from either direction. James Toseland had a steady start, getting up to speed properly on lap two and climbing four places to start a scrap with Leon Camier. Ruben Xaus continued BMW's massively improved fortunes as he fired off the line to finish the first lap in seventh place, though he wasn't able to hold that position against the relentless assault of Haga and Johnny Rea, who had a truly awful start.

Back up at the front things had settled down a little. Haslam and Biaggi were still battling hard, though Biaggi had lost the lead again to haslam on lap eight but the gap was rarely more than a tenth of a second, and frequently a lot less. Cal Crutchlow had regrouped and battled his way back to third, ahead of Shakey Byrne and, eventually, Rea who got past Checa on lap four. Corser settled in seventh though he would eventually cede positions to both Haga and Camier. BMW have their bike sorted out now as far as power and handling is concerned. All they need to do is get it to last the pace over race distance. Toseland continued his climb, working his way up to ninth a few laps from the end. With five laps to go, Biaggi made one of his many passing attempts stick and got past Haslam. And with three laps to go hopes of an all Brit podium were dashed by Cal Crutchlow outbraking himself and taking to the gravel, dropping from a solid and threatening third to fifteenth. Toseland made a last minute surge to get past Haga on the final lap and save Yamaha's blushes, but the race, though close, wasn't the classic it could have been as the pack had become somewhat strung out.

Despite his herculean efforts, Haslam lost out to Biaggi by two tenths of a second, with Rea over six and a half seconds behind in third. Carlos Checa was fourth, half a second back with Camier a tenth behind him. Four seconds later, Shakey Byrne crossed the line, a massive seven seconds clear of Toseland who managed to get past a below par Haga on the last lap. After haga there was a further six seconds before Corser crossed the line, with Xaus a further eight seconds behind in tenth.

Race Two was slightly breezier, and the air temperature remained the same despite the sunshine. Track temperature, too, was still comfortable, and everyone was now happy about where the track went and what they could do. We were treated to something of a carbon copy as the lights went out, because once more it was Biaggi who got the holeshot to take the lead from a extremely fast Jonathan Rea, again with Haslam and Crutchlow nipping at their heels. Yet again, Troy Corser made a strong start, putting the BMW into fifth place ahead of Leon Camier and Carlos Checa. Everyone got through safely this time, though the field remained pretty bunched up for a while. Johnny Rea mad a lunge past Biaggi on lap two but wasn't able to make the break, though the Honda was certainly going well. Not well enough, it seemed, because Biaggi simply blasted past on lap three to take the lead back. And immediately behind the pair of them, Leon Haslam was closing, patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike. Behind Haslam, Cal Crutchlow was also closing up, with Troy Corser in the tow behind. And further back, Carlos Checa was on the move, slicing past Leon Camier on lap two and despatching Corser one lap later. Further back yet, Haga made a slow start, only gaining a few places and actually being passed briefly by Fabrizio before asserting himself again and resuming his gradual climb up the field. Ahead of them, James Toseland made a better start, passing Guintoli and Xaus on the second lap and making steady progress. Troy Corser again found himself falling victim to the BMW's lack of staying power, steadily falling back from his strong first few laps showing. The Australian rider is still pushing as hard as ever and there's certainly no lack of commitment there, if only the bike would last out.

Back at the front, the leading group had settled as Biaggi, Haslam, Crutchlow and Checa. Johnny Rea had dropped out with a mechanical failure - a meagre reward for someone who was genuinely in for a shout at a podium - and the initial promise shown by Shane Byrne had faded as well. But that front group was so incredibly well matched it was great to watch. At one stage, Haslam and Crutchlow both got past Biaggi, and Haslam managed to get some clear air behind him. But just for one lap, as Biaggi outdragged the Yamaha rider on the next lap and then closed right up to Haslam before again drafting past at the end of the main straight. Checa's privateer Ducati just didn't quite have the legs to get past anyone, though the Spanish rider's considerable skill and a sweet handling bike were enough to keep him in touch until the end.

But at the end of the race it was the sheer speed of the Aprilia that gave Biaggi the first double of the season, and his first ever SBK double as well, from Haslam and Crutchlow. Checa was a fine fourth, and ten there was a two second gap before Leon Camier brought the second Aprilia home in his best position so far, a massive six seconds ahead of james Toseland, the former champion's efforts hampered by his still broken hand. A couple of seconds behind Toseland, Shakey Byrne took a respectable seventh on the second Althea Ducati, a comfortable couple of seconds clear of Haga on the first factory Ducati. Guintoli and a frustrated Corser rounded off the top ten.

As we pack up and head for Valencia, Leon Haslam has actually increased his lead in the championship, though Biaggi has leap-frogged his way up from seventh to second, with Checa a close third. Despite their dismal showing this weekend, Fabrizio and Haga are fourth and fifth respectively. Interestingly, Crutchlow, Toseland and Byrne are tied on points, with Cal taking the lead on the basis of his highest finishing position.

Valencia should be good. Hopefully everyone will be fit and we can start to see things panning out the way they should. Personally I'm expecting great things of the Yamahas and Suzukis, while Checa will be very strong. And of course the Aprilias will be up there too.

See you there!

Race One

1 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2 Leon Haslam (Suzuki)
3 Jonathan Rea (Honda)
4 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
5 Leon Camier (Aprilia)
6 Shane Byrne (Ducati)
7 James Toseland (Yamaha)
8 Noriuki Haga (Ducati)
9 Troy Corser (BMW)
10 Ruben Xaus (BMW)

Race Two

1 Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
2 Leon Haslam (Suzuki)
3 Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)
4 Carlos Checa (Ducati)
5 Leon Camier (Aprilia)
6 James Toseland (Yamaha)
7 Shane Byrne (Ducati)
8 Nori Haga (Ducati)
9 Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
10 Troy Corser (BMW)

Championship Standing after two rounds:

1 Leon Haslam 85
2 Max Biaggi 69
3 Carlos Checa 60
4 Michel Fabrizio 46
5 Nori Haga 43
6 Jonathan Rea 39
7 Sylvain Guintoli 33
8 Leon Camier 32
9 Troy Corser 29
10 Cal Crutchlow 25
11 James Toseland 25
12 Shane Byrne 25

SB