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SPIES RECORD TRACKER: At Magny-Cours Ben Spies equalled the outright record for pole positions in one season in WSBK history, scoring his tenth pole. Only Doug Polen in 1991 was able to record the same number of starts from the top spot of the grid, while Bayliss came close to the record in 2008 when he posted eight poles. Further behind is Troy Corser with seven poles in 1998.

Ben Spies at Portimao could also go past the second best record of wins in a season as he has currently thirteen wins to his name. The outright record of seventeen recorded by Polen in 1991 is unreachable, but Ben can aim for the fourteen wins scored by Bayliss in 2002.

With one more podium place, Ben will also equal the season record for a rookie, set by Max Biaggi in 2007 with seventeen podium finishes.

With one more win, Ben will help his country to tie with Australia at the top of the country win standings: the count is 118 to 117.

OVERTURNING THE TABLES: Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies will take the title race to the final weekend and if Haga is required to confirm his lead, Spies is required to overturn the current classification, as he is ten points adrift. Four times in the history of the World Championship has the rider who was runner-up before the last race weekend been able to win the title:

1988: Fred Merkel was second, 2.5 points behind Fabrizio Pirovano, and won by 5.5 points. The American was also able to make up a 15 points deficit from the points leader (Davide Tardozzi) after the seventh round;

1989: Fred Merkel again had a 3 points gap from Stèphane Mertens, but won with 7 points over the Belgian;

1998: Carl Fogarty was only third in the standings, with a gap of 6 points from Troy Corser and 5.5 from Aaron Slight. He eventually won by 4.5 points over Slight, overcoming a deficit of 37 points in the championship table from Corser after the seventh race;

This year Ben Spies had a maximum gap from Noriyuki Haga of 88 points after the South African round which he was able to recover (the greatest comeback in history) as he led after the German round by 18 points over the Japanese rider, who took the lead back the following weekend at Imola.

OTHER FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE

Ben Spies and Noriyuki Haga have scored respectively sixteen and eighteen podiums this season. The only riders who scored more than sixteen podiums and didn't become champions were Max Biaggi in 2007 (17) and Troy Bayliss in 2002 (22);

Haga and Spies are separated by only ten points before the two final races. The narrowest margin between world champion and runner-up was recorded in 2007 when James Toseland won over Noriyuki Haga by only two points;

SUPERSPORT RECORDS

Cal Crutchlow, and Kenan Sofuoglu at Magny-Cours and Portimao set their hands on some records:

- Crutchlow started from the front row for the thirteenth straight time, the third absolute value behind the 16 front rows of Kenan Sofuoglu (Lausitzring 2006-France 2007) and the 14 of Karl Muggeridge (Brands Hatch 2003-Magny Cours 2004). With one more front row, Cal will set the new season record, held by Sofuoglu, with thirteen front rows in 2007;

- with one more pole position, Crutchlow will equal the all-time record sequence of six set by Muggeridge in 2004 from Monza to Imola;

- Crutchlow is also on a string of six straight fastest laps, the absolute record for the moment is unreachable, eight set by Sebastien Charpentier in 2005 from Losail to Brands Hatch;

- Kenan Sofuoglu scored his 25th podium, the third all-time value behind Stéphane Chambon (29) and Fabien Foret (27);

PODIUM RECORD FOR SIMEON

Xavier Simeon in France scored his ninth podium of the season, an absolute record for the Superstock 1000 class, previously held by Alessandro Polita, with eight in 2006. Ximeon also reached Corti at the top of the all-time charts for podiums scored: seventeen.