Two huge crashes at the first corner on lap one of the first World Superbike race have brought out the red flags. In two seperate incidents, Kawasaki's Makoto Tamada clipped the rear of Brendan Roberts going into the Mickey Mouse first corner.
Tamada crashed but Roberts could then not stop, took to the grass, lost the rear of his Guandalini Ducati and it slid across the track, wiping out Alstare Suzuki's Max Neukirchner. The second incident involved Althea Honda's Tommy Hill and BMW's Troy Corser. It is not clear exactly what happened, but Hill's bike ended up 10 feet in the air and came down in flames.
It would appear that Neukirchner and Roberts have been taken to the medical centre with leg injuries. Pit-lane is due to open at 11.45 with the race re-start at just before noon.
Michel Fabrizio was leading the race when the red-flags came out with Ben Spies, Noriyuki Haga and Max Biaggi following.