Troy Bayliss took his second win of the season by the length of his recently amputated little finger, after a thrilling conclusion to race two at Assen on Sunday.

The reigning double World Superbike champion had finished a disappointing fourth in race one, after front tyre problems in the closing stages, but bounced back to deny championship leader James Toseland his first ever double victory by just 0.009secs.

The pair were inseparable during the closing stages, with Toseland pulling a potentially race-winning move to pass the Ducati rider with only the final chicane to go. A defensive line saw Toseland emerge in front, but momentum was with Bayliss and the Australian edged ahead at the flag for his first win since Philip Island in early March.

"It was an incredible race and there was lots of action. I take my hat off to James, he's riding stronger and is getting more and more confident all the time," declared Troy sportingly. "We were both over the limit in those last few laps, I was trying to cover my lines, slowing down in some corners and speeding up, and James was doing the same. At the last chicane the win could have been anybody's!"

"I'm happy to take a win but I'm also very frustrated because in the first race I thought I could possibly have taken a win and we really struggled in the last six laps with the front tyre," confirmed the #21, who badly injured his finger and groin at Donington Park on April 1. "We just made a mistake and didn't use the hard tyre but then we did use the hard tyre in the second race and the last three laps I was really struggling again so we have to put our heads together and work a bit on the setting because you just can't ride like that all the time."

Bayliss' race two victory moved him to fourth in the championship, but his race one result meant he still lost more points to Toseland at Assen and is now 68 behind the Briton.