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The 2016 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship got underway with an incredible weekend of duels to the finish, with Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit hosting the first race weekend to see Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday. Defending Champion Jonathan Rea had been outpaced more often than not by teammate and 2013 Champion Tom Sykes in pre-season testing, but it's when the flag drops for the racing that the talking stops. If that wasn't enough, Ducati showed their intent to fight for the title as they unveiled their 2016 challenger, on Honda's side MotoGP Legend Nicky Hayden joined the WorldSBK paddock, and Yamaha returned to the Championship with the YZF R1 that topped Friday practice. That's all without forgetting the ever present threat of Michael Van Der Mark, the Honda whizz kid who wants to remind you he's no longer a rookie.

In WorldSSP, new boy Randy Krummenacher looked to have the pace to fight with new teammate and reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu, and MV Agusta found themselves in a fight with the new regulations and lack of traction control. Add that to addition of the Tissot-Superpole qualifying format...

So what happened on track when the lights went out? Relive all the best bits from an incredible season opener right here!