Althea Ducati boss Genesio Bevilacqua has blasted the weight penalty handed out to his team under the FIM's parity rules after Aprilia's Max Biaggi came through from dead last to take second spot on the podium in yesterday's second World Superbike race.

The Roman Emperor, who enjoys a 15km/h top speed advantage over Checa, took to the grass at 140mph going into Doohan's on lap one, re-joined the track and came back through the field to finish just seven seconds behind Checa. Bevilacqua is calling into question whether the penalty will hand Biaggi an unfair advantage.

“After the crash in race one, we were worried that Carlos may be hurt but thankfully he wasn’t and was able to concentrate on the second race. I was disappointed to see that there are riders that can start from last position and finish second, while we are penalized with six extra kilos of weight. It will be hard to overcome this difficulty this season, even with a rider, a champion, of Carlos’ calibre," he said.

Haven't we seen this somewhere before. Mr Wright?