Are the World Superbike regulars literally tripping over themselves in order to try and reign in an already dominant-looking Troy Bayliss?

If you look at Qatar and Phillip Island, the carnage levels have been pretty high - involving some of the biggest names in the championship.

Nori Haga decided to rack up some air miles in the opening round, yesterday's outing down under saw Troy Corser drop off his Yamaha and Max Biaggi take a huge fall, at something like 160mph into turn one. Thankfully for both Haga and Corser there wasn't too much physical damage to contend with - unfortunately for mighty Max, he was left with a snapped left wrist.

Although it might not seem like it now Max was lucky. If you saw Biaggi's fall on British Eurosport then you would have seen exactly how lucky the guy actually was. OK, so he fell off at one of the fastest corners in the world and slid for a very long way, but with Phillip Island Max had the fast-approaching luxury of a huge gravel trap designed to scrub off speed. Such things usually don't add to the drama.

But this time, with man and machine sliding in parallel at probably around 120mph by the time they hit the kitty litter, Max's 1200cc Ducati dug in and barrel-rolled. With each rotation the bike slammed into the ground and vaulted higher and higher, all Max could do was try to slow himself up by sticking whatever bits were sticking out as he tumbled, into the gravel.

Thankfully, the 200kg bike missed the Italian by a matter of a few feet. Max could so easily have been killed in what would have been just one of those one-in-a-thousand racing incidents.

It looked spectacular and Max almost got away with it - almost because his broken left wrist was the only immediate medical downer afterwards.

Max should have plenty of time to heal in time for the third round of the championship in Valencia on April 5/6 (providing there's no complication with the Scaphoid - a notoriously difficult and time-consuming wrist bone to heal), but when he finally does go out on track in Spain I wonder if he, and the rest of the field will just be that little bit more wary of pushing quite so hard.

Let's be honest, Bayliss in the first two rounds has been stunning - strong, fluid and relaxed is usually a potent combination for any racer, when it's Troy B who's showing those qualities at 180mph on a motorcycle it can be a pretty devastating formula.

So what will be going through the minds of Haga, Corser and Biaggi now? They've all had offs while chasing the Aussie's championship lead and we're only at the start of the season.

If we look at the bigger picture though, it's not quite so glum an outlook - Corser was unbelievably smooth both at Qatar and Phillip Island, watching him during both Superpole sessions was a lesson in itself. Max was up to second in both races at Phillip Island, which when you consider that he had to start from 16th on the grid after his gear lever fell off during his warm-up lap prior to the Superpole flyer was just great riding twice over.

Haga is Haga. Without doubt one of the most flamboyant and brilliant riders to ever swing his leg over a racing motorcycle - and has always gone well when the pressure is off, so maybe his stop/start 2008 beginning is exactly what he needs to just get things back on track inside his head. It might sound a bit perverse, but Haga wouldn't be the Samurai of Slide unless there was some drama and points deficit to chase.

So they've all fallen, but it's still early days and the 2008 championship is 15 rounds long this year. 13 rounds left, 26 superbike races to go. This is far from over - in fact, now we've got some niggly issues like crashes and erm, gear lever retention, out of the way recent events look more like opening the flood gates at the front of the field more than ever. Riders who have to get over earlier indiscretions tend to just open the throttle and go for broke, rather than let a rival get too far ahead in the championship chase.

1200cc Ducati's or not, the Yamahas, the Suzukis and the resurgent Honda campaign (Carlos Checa bringing on the 2008 bike at a dizzying pace) are already getting properly stuck in.

Bayliss' show already? Don't you believe a word of it. This is going to get much more brutal before it calms down in anyway whatsoever.

Roll on Valencia.

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Tony Carter / Eurosport