It’s round 12 of the World Superbike Championship this weekend at Imola in Italy and it gets underway with just 18pts separating Yamaha’s Ben Spies from second-placed Noriyuki Haga (Ducati), with the American carrying all the momentum.

Spies has romped to seven wins in the last 10 races, while Haga has been beset by injury and misfortune, the latest a crash in Germany after making contact with Briton Jonathan Rea (Honda).

To compound matters, Haga missed an official two-day test at Imola in mid-July while he was recovering from a heavy fall at Donington, while it was a rare treat for Spies: learning a new circuit outside the intensity of a race weekend.

While the balance of power has shifted, Spies isn’t being lulled into a false sense of security. With rumours still circulating regarding his 2010 plans in either world superbike or MotoGP, Spies short term focus is Imola this weekend, and strengthening his break on Haga in the world championship chase.

As for Haga, the Japanese ace often produces his best work when he’s backed into a corner, and he’s always been a strong performer at Imola.

“We came away from Nürburgring disappointed, because we know we should have, and could have, taken at least one race win. Now I am in second place in the championship which means that at Imola it is even more important to finish first,” said Haga.

“There are 50 points on offer at Imola and the gap between Ben and me is only eighteen. It is of course Ducati’s home track and we haven’t been here for a few years, so, as well as needing the points for the championship, it would be great to do well in front of all the Ducatisti.”

Imola, 40km east of Bologna, probably produced the most memorable world superbike round of all time in 2002 when Aussie Troy Bayliss and American Colin Edwards locked horns in the final round to decide who would become world champion.

It was mesmerising, relentless racing from start to finish, with Edwards prevailing on one of the fastest circuits on the calendar.

This year will undoubtedly be another high-tempo affair, with Rea, Carlos Checa (Honda), Max Biaggi (Aprilia), Leon Haslam (Honda), Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) and Australia’s Troy Corser (BMW) all expected to push hard at the front.

Rea and Fabrizio, who remains the only other person capable of winning the championship, were the fastest riders at the recent Imola test, with Spies in third.

Corser was well back, but since then has improved dramatically on a new-spec BMW engine.

He’s now a regular top 10 finisher again, and his teammate Ruben Xaus will also return to action at Imola as BMW gets back to full strength.

“Although we have tested at Imola this year - on the new layout - there is still lots to learn and do. For me the new approach to the front straight is not as good as before and the final chicane could cause problems,” said Troy.

“I am looking forward to riding my bike again as I believe that we have made really good progress recently and I want to see how this progress continues in Imola. Hopefully the weather will be better than the Nurburgring and we will get a good crowd and a good result.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle’s Broc Parkes will continue to push hard at Imola, although it’s been a constant grind on the underperforming factory Kawasaki.

WORLD SUPERSPORT

In world supersport, the major interest is on another two-way championship joust, this time between Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and Honda’s Eugene Laverty.

Crutchlow is 22pts in front on the lightning fast YZF-R6 and continues to turn the screws with every round – and Imola could be the knockout punch as far as Laverty is concerned.

The Aussie contingent -- Honda trio Andrew Pitt, Anthony West and Mark Aitchison and Triumph’s Garry McCoy -- currently don’t have the set-ups to go with Crutchlow the whole distance, but anything could happen if the race turns into a game of high-speed cat and mouse.

Superbike standings (after round 11 of 14):
1 Ben Spies, America, Yamaha 364
2 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Ducati 346
3 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Ducati 289
4 Jonathan Rea, UK, Honda 244
5 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 224
6 Leon Haslam, UK, Honda 201
7 Carlos Checa, Spain, Honda 177
8 Tom Sykes, UK, Yamaha 165
9= Shane Byrne, UK, Ducati 140
9= Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati 140
16 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 71
18 Broc Parkes, Australia, Kawasaki 34

29 Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki 8

Current supersport standings (after round 11 of 13)
1 Cal Crutchlow, UK, Yamaha 210
2 Eugene Laverty, Ireland, Honda 188

3 Joan Lascorz, Spain, Kawasaki 138
4 Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey, Honda 128

5 Fabien Foret, France, Yamaha 99
6 Anthony West, Australia, Honda 96
7 Andrew Pitt, Australia, Honda 94
8= Garry McCoy, Australia, Triumph 71
8= Mark Aitchison, Australia, Honda 71
10 Massimo Roccoli, Italy, Honda 62

Rd12 World Superbike, Imola, Italy, live on Foxsports 3 at 7.30pm