Yamaha rookie Ben Spies has taken his 2009 world superbike scorecard to three wins from four starts after a spectacular clean sweep at Qatar on March 14, while it was yet another encouraging performance from Australian Troy Corser on the all-new BMW.

Riding the same spec bike he had at Phillip Island two weeks ago, Corser finished ninth in both 18-lappers, and he even spent some time with the leaders in race two after a brilliant start from the fourth row of the grid. Although he eventually fell back through the pack, Corser feels his team is not far off on finding a really competitive set-up.

"After practice and qualifying, we were a bit disappointed about our prospects of any good results from the fourth row of the grid," said Corser. "But then overnight we found a solution to our top speed problem and that gave me a slim chance today."

"In race two, I made one of the best starts of my life, saw a gap and just went for it! It felt great to be up front with the race leaders and although I knew it wouldn't last, it was great while it happened. At the moment, we are about half a second down on bike and chassis set-up, and if we could cut that gap we’d be competitive for sure."

"To get two top 10s today is certainly more than I was expecting before the season started and shows that the bike has real potential. After three weeks or so away, we'll now be able to return to our workshops, analyse all the info and get the work started for the next round."

Spies was magnificent in Qatar and, after starting from pole position, won both races from championship leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) and Aprilia's Max Biaggi. The trio was unwavering from the front row of the grid, although the unflappable Spies was able to maintain the tempo when it really mattered.

It was definitely a tougher assignment for the Texan in race one though, and he didn't hit the lead until lap 13 after Biaggi had controlled proceedings from the start, with Haga close behind in second. Spies eventually won by 1.893secs to score Yamaha's first-ever win at Losail, while Shinya Nakano (Aprilia) prevailed in a great battle for fourth from Carlos Checa (Honda), Shane Byrne (Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Yamaha).

In race two, Spies was in the lead by lap six, and he also set a new lap record of 1:59.041 en route to a clinical 1.274sec victory – the first rider to ever score maximum points at Losail. This time Japan's Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) gave the leaders the hardest time, and he had firmly latched onto the back of Biaggi by lap 11, but was unable to improve his position as he finished fourth from Sykes, race one crasher Max Neukirchner (Suzuki), Nakano and Jonathan Rea (Honda).

"It was an extremely tough first race, and all three of us were strong in different parts of the track so it was really interesting," said Spies. "It was very hard to pass them both, It was when Nori was looking up the inside of Max, that I had my chance to get inside of him, and then Max ran a bit wide so I got through. Once I got it done I got my head down and kept it clean, it was good enough to win."

"In the second race Nori set a really good pace first for a few laps so I just tried to keep the same rhythm. Eventually I managed to get past and just kept my head down and tried to open up a gap. It was a hard race, but a better race for me than first one as I could concentrate on riding my lines. A good weekend for the team, they're not always like that but we'll take them when they come."

Spies is now in second place on 75pts, 10 behind Haga. The duo has already cleared out from the pack, with third-placed Neukirchner on 40pts, from Biaggi (38), privateer Leon Haslam (Honda, 36), and Sykes (22). Corser is in 12th on 22pts.

Although his WSBK career is only in its infancy, Spies has already charged up the all-time winners list, and now sits in a three-race winning club that includes Biaggi, Kiyonari and Mick Doohan. Spies winning percentage of 75 is already the best in the caper, although the 24-year-old knows it's going to get a lot tougher once the championship shifts to Europe, starting with the tight Valencia circuit in three weeks time.

Newcastle's Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) scored his first points for the year with a 14th in race one and, although he dropped a few places in race two, was actually circulating at a faster pace.

"The weekend has been quite successful for the team, as we qualified well and on quite a few occasions we were in the top 10," said Parkes. "In race one I had a good start and I was in a couple of battles with a few guys until I ran out of grip towards the end of the race. I was really trying to keep the bikes in 13th and 14th to get some points on the board after Phillip Island."

"Although I missed out on points in race two we were seven or eight seconds faster than in race one. I'm getting more confident on the bike and feel that we are getting closer to running in the top fifteen more consistently. This weekend we've taken a lot of information away with us so we can regroup in Europe and look forward to the race in Valencia."

The Gold Coast's Karl Muggeridge (Suzuki) finished with 16-16 results, and Adelaide's Ben Roberts (Ducati) went 21-19.

World Supersport: Australian Andrew Pitt gains championship lead

In world supersport, Australia's Andrew Pitt is the new championship leader after his second consecutive runner-up finish, this time behind Irish rookie Eugene Laverty.

It was a typical multi-rider supersport blockbuster, with just 0.711secs separating Laverty from fourth place finisher and round one winner Kenan Sofuoglu.

Briton's Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) was third, on the only non-Honda in the top six.

There were two other Australians in the top 10: a slow-starting Garry McCoy (Triumph) in seventh and Anthony West (Honda) in ninth. Their countryman Mark Aitchison (Honda) was running strongly in fifth before he crashed a few laps from home. He remounted to finish 15th and salvage 1pt for his effort.

Pitt has lost the first two races by a combined margin of 0.123secs, but he’s now the championship pacesetter on 40pts, from Sofuoglu (38), Laverty (36), Crutchlow (29) and West (23).

"I gave everything I had during the race and, although I didn't win, at least we've bagged another 20 points," said Pitt. "We struggled early in the weekend, but the team has worked really hard again to put a good bike underneath me."

"Congratulations to Eugene and the Parkalgar Honda team – they were knocking on the door last season and deserve to be there. Bring on Valencia, when we'll have the 2009 CBR to play with and the straight is a little shorter!"