Brilliant sunshine and warm conditions greeted us for the final race of the 2011 season at the fantastic, undulating Portimao circuit in southern Portugal.

It was also my final weekend racing for Aprilia Alitalia but any hopes of a decent show in the Superpole qualifiers were dashed when my RSV1000 had clutch problems when I had a qualifying tyre on it.

The tyres are only good for one lap, so we were immediately on the back foot as I had to change bikes.

I went back out on the spare bike but everything was different and the tyre seemed to run out at the end of the lap, so I could only manage to qualify in 12th place – putting me on the fourth row of the grid.

Pole was taken by Jonathan Rae (Honda), second was new champion Carlos Checa (Ducati) and third was Eugene Laverty (Yamaha).

Sensationally, my team-mate and outgoing champion Max Biaggi failed to make the Superpole and would be starting in 17th.

Race one saw me slot into 10th from the off, while up front it was Jonathan Rae in the lead, closely followed by Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati).

With the pace hotting up, we were just approaching the start of the second lap when I ran on to avoid hitting my team-mate Biaggi.

By the time I’d rejoined, I was way down the field and again I had an awful lot to do.

Meanwhile, Guintoli had passed Rea to take the lead.

By half distance, Checa started to make his move, slotting into third and then passing Rae to second, chasing down Guintoli.

I’d got up to 15th but unfortunately by having to push hard to gain places, the rear Pirelli tyre was beginning to cause problems.

Amazingly, Checa started to reel in Guintoli who had, at one time, a four-second lead and with three laps remaining he slipped past him to take the lead to the chequered flag, while I finished 12th. Biaggi came home in fourth.

My final race on the works Aprilia RSV1000 later in the afternoon saw me settle into seventh, while once again Rea was holding first and was being hotly pursued by Laverty (Yamaha). By the end of the first lap, he’d passed Rea to take the lead.

As the race unfolded, Marco Melandri, in second, was hunting down team-mate Laverty in a bid to win the final race of the season and take the overall runner-up position behind Checa.

I was being hounded by Biaggi but was determined to finish in front of him for the final race and with six laps remaining I managed to put a one-second gap between myself and Max.

With four laps remaining Melandri slipped past Laverty to take the lead, which he managed to hold to the flag but I ran out of laps before I could mount a challenge on Guintoli, who was ahead of me, so I crossed the line in sixth.

I’d like to end the season by thanking everybody. My team for their constant support and Aprilia Racing for giving me the opportunity to race in World Superbikes.

Results: Race 1: 1 Checa (Ducati); 2 Guintoli (Ducati); 3 Rea (Honda).

Race 2: 1 Melandri (Yamaha); 2 Laverty (Yamaha); 3 Rea.

Final standings: 1 Checa 505pts; 2 Melandri 395; 3 Biaggi 303; 7 Leon Camier 208.