Hodgson stormed off the line and led them through turn 1, Troy Bayliss was 2nd for a couple of corners but the Castrol Honda of Colin Edwards soon went past and set out after Hodgson while Haga also started to hassle Bayliss.

Both Haga and Xaus went past Bayliss towards the end of lap 1 relegating the Australian to 5th.  Neil Hodgson and Colin Edwards started to escape a little.  Colin Edwards got through on Hodgson halfway through lap 2 but Hodgson got him back again, before Edwards took the lead again, then Hodgson slid it under him again before running wide and losing a lot of ground.  Edwards took the lead then but Ruben Xaus and Noriyuki Haga were right on his tail.  But Edwards responded to the challenge by pulling a gap on his pursuers.  Troy Bayliss worked his way through on Hodgson for 4th near the end of lap 3 but Hodgson got him right back on the next lap.

Bayliss then ran wide and lost position but then Hodgson waved him past as the Brit' started to suffer bike problems and idled his way back to the pits.  Pierfrancesco Chili then started to close on Bayliss.

By lap 6 Edwards had pulled over 3 seconds on Ruben Xaus who in turn had pulled a couple of bike lengths on Haga.  Bayliss was some distance further back in 4th.  But a lap later Haga caught and passed Xaus for 2nd.  Troy Bayliss also seemed to pick up pace and started to catch back up on to the back of Xaus and Haga.

By lap 8 Edwards had cleared out to the tune of over 5 second.  Haga had extended his gap over Xaus, while Bayliss was really nipping at the heels of Xaus in an effort to steal the Spaniard's 3rd place.  Bayliss got that 3rd place at the chicane on the next lap around and set out after Haga.  Bayliss then got that 2nd place from Haga who looked to be having some stability problems with his Aprilia.  Some of the riders out of the race by the half way stage included Hodgson, Martin, Antonello and Walker.

The order then remained the same with Edwards taking a seemingly easy win, Bayliss a distance 2nd and Haga held off Xaus for 3rd.