Disappointed Toseland is left playing catch-up

Britain's Leon Haslam claimed his first-ever Championship victory as he dominated the opening round at Phillip Island.

But Toseland – jettisoned from MotoGP after just two seasons and now back in classification he won in 2004 and 2007 – failed to finish the first race for Yamaha Sterilgarda – after crashing out before coming home in 10th in the second race.

His team-mate Cal Crutchlow also failed to finish in the first race, before coming in one place ahead of Toseland in the second.

"I really needed to finish the second race after the crash in the first," said Toseland.

"We've got a lot of work to do, no doubt, but even with all the problems we're not actually that far away."

On his debut for Suzuki, Haslam only just secured his breakthrough victory in the opening race when he edged out Michel Fabrizio in a photo finish.

The 26-year-old was then only denied a memorable double success by Carlos Checa in Race Two when the Spaniard passed him on the penultimate corner to claim the win.

Fabrizio made a late move on Haslam down the straight and while the Italian was declared the winner immediately following the race, the judges soon called for a photo finish which revealed Haslam had in fact crossed the line first by a mere 0.004seconds.

Japan's Noriyuki Haga recovered from a crash in warm-up to claim third place.

In Race Two, Checa overcame a poor start to run down Haslam on the penultimate corner and deny the Briton the perfect start to the new season. Fabrizio completed the podium.