The weather in Misano, northern Italy, last weekend was a bit unusual with wet conditions meaning the Superpole qualifiers were tricky.

Sure enough, within two laps of the first Superpole, I parted company with my Alitalia-sponsored Aprilia RSV-1000 and had to rush back to the pits to get my No.2 bike.

Then, with only five minutes left, unbelievably I dropped my second bike, meaning my Superpole was over, leaving me in 16th position on row four for the race. That’s the first time ever that I’ve dropped both bikes.

I don’t know what went wrong, it was like using slicks on ice out there. Both crashes were at no speed with no lean angle and on ‘out’ laps.

I was just rolling round. Maybe the tyres needed some more heat or that track is 10 per cent slower than what I consider riding slowly in the wet. It was a shame because we found a load of pace in the dry practice session beforehand. I was third and a podium was definitely on the cards.

The drama wasn’t over as team-mate Max Biaggi’s No.1 bike blew up in a big way and he had to rush back to the pits for the second Superpole and use his second machine.

In the final Superpole, Brit Tom Sykes, riding the Paul Bird Kawasaki ZX10, grabbed pole; series leader, Spaniard Carlos Checa got second on his Althea Ducati, while third was Jacob Smurz riding his Effenbert Ducati. Biaggi qualified in seventh.

The weather on Sunday was more Italian-style with clear skies and temperatures in the high 20s which made for a much better day for racing.

The circuit at Misano doesn’t offer many places for overtaking as it’s quite tricky with lots of bends and from the off I got a little swamped with everyone making for the first corner. Fortunately everyone got through without incident. At the end of lap one, I’d made up four places and was trying to get into a rhythm to pace myself for the 24-lapper.

Up front Biaggi had got to the front with a brilliant start from seventh. Four laps in I was up to 10th and chasing the leading pack. Biaggi was slowly being reeled in by Checa on a track that the Ducati’s go well at – having won more races there than all the other manufacturers combined!

By mid-race my Aprilia was responding well and I’d moved up to sixth; while up front, Checa had squeezed past Biaggi to take the lead.

My next target was Sykes, some five seconds further up the road, a big ask to try and make up that amount of time especially as the tyres were just beginning to react to the heat. As the chequered flag dropped, Checa got to the line first, with Biaggi second and Melandri third, while I maintained my sixth spot.

Race two was almost an identical copy of the first as Sykes was quickly overtaken by Haslam, Checa and Biaggi. By the end of lap one, I’d got up to ninth and was in a close tussle with Smrz, Haga and Fabrizio.

Up front Checa once again took the lead and looked comfortable with Biaggi stalking him in second. With 10 laps left, both myself and Melandri parted company with our bikes, just seconds before the red flag came out, losing the right to restart in the second part of the race – another duff race for me!

The re-run was over 14 laps and riders were re-arranged in the positions they were before the red flag; so in pole was Checa, with Biaggi in second and Haslam in third.

Again from the start, Biaggi shot into the lead followed by Haslam and Checa. By the end of the first lap, the positions remained unchanged.

Max maintained his lead for seven laps before running wide and Checa didn’t need a second invite to take the lead and crossed the line taking a double win at Misano.

Meanwhile, there was a struggle for third with four riders battling out with Nori Haga eventually getting the last place on the rostrum.

I’m now in sixth place overall with the next races at Aragon, Spain, this weekend.