From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI FILA DUO HEAD TO SILVERSTONE FOR 400TH WORLD SUPERBIKE RACE

Silverstone (UK), 10 June 2004: The World Superbike Championship notches up the 400-race mark this weekend at the legendary Silverstone circuit in Northants, England as the Ducati Fila duo of Regis Laconi and James Toseland try to help maintain the Italian manufacturer’s stranglehold on the championship.

Current Ducati Fila team manager Davide Tardozzi was the man who took the first-ever World Superbike championship win, back in 1988 at Donington and he will be urging on the latest generation of Ducati factory riders from the pit-wall as they aim to conquer the fast and flowing Formula 1 circuit.

After a brace of second places at Oschersleben, James Toseland comes back to Britain for round 6 with a slender championship lead, but the 23 year-old from Sheffield knows that a win in front of his home fans will do his championship challenge no harm at all.

“We didn’t have such a good run in the second race at Oschersleben but we certainly got the bike working much better so I’m looking forward to riding at Silverstone” Toseland declared.

“We’ve had a few problems up to now and consistency has meant that I’m leading the championship but now it’s time to win some races and I can’t see any better place to do it than Silverstone in front of my home crowd.”

Regis Laconi lost the championship points lead in Germany but the Frenchman has collected more wins than any other rider this year – 5 – and is surely firm favourite for the honours around the former airfield circuit.

“I really love this track, it’s a place where the rider can really make all the difference. It’s so fast apart from the last part, the right and the left which is far too slow” declared Laconi.

“We had a difficult weekend in Germany and were happy to finish with good points. I will be trying to win the Silverstone race for sure but there is not much of a difference at the top, so my job is to get as many points as possible.”

POINTS (after 5 of 11 rounds) : (Riders) 1. Toseland 157; 2. Laconi 155; 3. Chili 113; 4. McCoy 107; 5. Haga 94; 6. Vermeulen 92; etc.
(Manufacturers) 1. Ducati 250 ; 2. Petronas 112 ; 3. Honda 99; 4. Kawasaki 64; 5. Suzuki 56; 6. Yamaha 26.

CIRCUIT INFO: Name: Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. Length: 5.036 km.
Pole Position: right.

STATISTICS:
Best lap: Hodgson (Ducati), 1:52.875 (2003).
Lap record: Lavilla (Suzuki), 1:53.629 (2003). Superpole: Hodgson (Ducati), 1:52.875
(2003).
Race Distance: 2 x 20 laps/100.720 km.

2003 RESULTS:
Race 1: 1. Hodgson (Ducati); 2. Toseland (Ducati); 3. Xaus (Ducati).
Race 2: 1. Hodgson; 2. Lavilla (Suzuki); 3. Xaus.

TV COVERAGE: BBC (UK): Sunday 13 June, 1135-1250 SBK 1 (live), 1530-1625 SBK 2 (live); Eurosport News (Europe, via satellite): Sunday 13 June, 1200-1645 (Central European Time) SBK 1 + SS + SBK 2 (live); Eurosport (Europe, via satellite): 1930-2000 (highlights). La 7 (Italy): Saturday 12 June, 1800 Superpole (delayed); Sunday 13 June, 1600 SBK 1 + SS + SBK 2 (delayed).