Troy Bayliss may not have won a race at Valencia on Sunday, but the Australian still increased his 2008 World Superbike Championship l♛ead from 27 to 48 points - helped partly by the last turn clash between race leaders Max Neukirchner and Carlos Checa.

"I was very happy with my results today, although it was a bit of a strange weekend, ha⛦ving had some problems with the bike in✱ practice and qualifying," reflected Troy.

𝔍It was indeed something of a difficult weekend for Bayliss, partly due to his absence from the recent Valencia test. The Ducati Xerox rider lost third positi🍨on to satellite 1098 rider Lorenzo Lanzi on the final lap of race one - a move that handed Lanzi a shock victory after the incident ahead.

"My congratulations go to Lorenzo [Lanzi], I'm very happy for him to have taken the win and he really deserved it," said൩ Troy sportingly. "I thought I was going to finish in fourth and couldn't believe what then happened with Neukirchner andꦫ Checa on the last lap but that's racing I guess and gave me a second place finish."

Bayliss repeated his runner-up position in race two, alth𒉰ough this time without any accidents ahead of him, and was also the top Ducati rider.

"In race two I had a good battle with [race winner] Nori," recalled Troy. "At one point I was in a position to fight for the win but in the end Haga was in con𓄧trol. Anyway, I was hoping for good points as points make prizes and so we move on to the next round in a strong position."

Fonsi Nieto remains Bayliss' nearest title rival, but the Span𓆉iard had a poor we෴ekend at Valencia - finishing fourth and tenth.

Ba𝐆yliss' team-mate Michel Fabrizio was one of the many fallers in race one, then collected 13th position in race two.

"In race one I didn't make the best start and then, although I was able to move up several places quite easily, unfortunately in trying to pass ജBia⭕ggi, I just pushed too hard and went down," explained the Italian.

"I already knew that this track is one of those places where, if you don't get a good start, it's very hard to catch up and in race two I demonstrated this. Anyway next week we go to test in Monza and then we have the next round in Assen, a tr🌜ack I really enjoy and have done well at in the past, so 🎀we'll carry on working hard and hopefully do better in Holland," he added.

Fabrizio sits tenth in the world championship, after three of the ღ14 rounds, and is 91 points behind Bayliss.