Corser had a close call through turn one but thankfully he managed to save it. He explained what happened, “We changed the bike after warm-up and it was stronger than I had expected. I got the bike on the side of the tyre and it accelerated more than expected and the back tyre stepped out. Once I had caught the Kawasakis and Neukirchner I pushed hard. The bike was getting better and better and I knew my tyre was better than the guys in front. I thought I could catch Max but the Suzuki was really fast on the straights. I couldn't push any harder or I would have crashed. If I can get off the line in race two I can challenge for the win.”
Bayliss got a blistering start and disappeared leaving Haga, Nieto, Biaggi and Toseland chasing him. Lap one saw Toseland have a big out-of-the-seat moment which allowed
Ruben Xaus to get by him and pushed him back to sixth place. Biaggi wasted no time and took Nieto as did Xaus, who put quite a forceful move on his fellow Spaniard forcing him to lift his machine up.
Xaus was all over the back of Biaggi trying to take third place, however he pushed too hard and lost the front on lap four. Young German rider, Max Neukirchner was looking impressive and running in sixth place when he over cooked it and crashed on lap six. Toseland was up to fourth place on lap seven but that didn't last as Corser picked him off.
Michel Fabrizio was now on the back of Toseland and on lap nine he made his move. Sadly for Fabrizio he crashed one lap later, he did pick his machine up in the hope of restarting but dropped it in disgust at the feet of a Marshall when it became clear that re-starting wasn't an option.
By now Haga was closing down on Bayliss and on lap fourteen Haga slip streamed him over the start finish line. Bayliss did his best to keep the chasing pack at bay but on lap twenty both Biaggi and Corser who were pushing hard, and they caught him. The battle was now on for second place with Biaggi making life as difficult as possible for the Australian. Biaggi held it to the line for second place.
