The tall Spaniard, riding a year-old factory Ducati, had his work cut out as he got off the line in fifth place and had to make his way through Haga, Corser, Toseland and World Champ Bayliss to take his tenth WSBK victory.
Commenting on his race win Xaus said, “Long time since I win and I have never won here. I finally got it! Thank you to my wife and my crew, they give me the best. I got a good start and Corser was pushing hard, he had a few moments so people behind could see where there were problems on the track. I have good place and I hope for the same in race two.”
Second place went to the hard riding
Noriyuki Haga on the Yamaha Italia machine and
Troy Bayliss finished in third place on the Xerox Ducati.
With the changeable weather Haga found track conditions hard to deal with as he explained, “Beginning of the lap the track was unbelievable, really difficult to see if it was wet or dry. Just two laps in I look fro pace of others and where was available to ride on the track. I push and fight with Ruben. My bike have a problem and I can't push anymore. Ruben was very fast and in second race I can beat him!”
Despite recovering from his big crash at Donington Bayliss was still on good form, “Congratulations to Ruben, it has been a little while since he had a win so I'm sure he will enjoy this moment. Tyres wise we honestly didn't have a big choice I think we were all on the same one. I'm not happy with how I rode; I hit some damp patches and had some moments. I just tried to relax and settle for the points; I did better than I did at
Donington. Next round I'll give it a bit of a nudge.”
Haga's team-mate
Troy Corser who led for a number of laps was disappointed to finish off the podium. He looked strong at the start however he dropped off the pace which usually points to tyre issues.
