In fact the only non Ducati on either of the first two rows was the all new CBR1000RR Fireblade piloted by Australia's Chris Vermeulen.  His Ten Kate prepared machine is not a full HRC specification machine due to the Japanese manufacturers withdrawing their support from the World Superbike Championship.  At this stage they have not even had enough time to fully sort a quick-shifter for the machine.  So squeezing it on the front row is a very impressive first out feat for the Dutch squad.

The two full factory 999 F04 Ducati machines were the only ones to go quicker than Vermeulen in Superpole, at their controls was Regis Laconi and James Toseland.  Leon Haslam was the first of the non full factory Ducati's with the final spot on the front row alongside Vermeulen.

Heading the second row was Steve Martin on his DFX machine.  The Adelaide born rider is confident of threatening for the title this year and early indications are that he is certainly in with a good chance of putting a determined cat among the proverbial pigeons.

Sixth on the grid was Noriyuki Haga from Camden's Garry McCoy.  The Australian having to step down to World Superbike this year after a disastrous 2003 aboard the Kawasaki MotoGP machine.

Troy Corser had figured strongly in most of the practice and qualifying sessions but a far from perfect Superpole lap had relegated him to 12th place on the grid.

Vermeulen's Fireblade is the only Honda in the largely European field.  Three Suzukis took to the grid for this round one with the machine of Fuertes scoring by far the highest spot on the grid with an excellent 9th after a clean Superpole lap.  The highest placed Kawasaki is that of Mauro Sanchini in 15th place while the best Yamaha was that of Saiger who qualified in 19th place.

As the lights went out it was Regis Laconi who led them through turn one before the Frenchman fell only a couple of turns later.  James Toseland was there to inherit the lead with Noriyuki Haga right on his tail in the cold and slippery conditions.  The real surprise packet though was Sergio Fuertes on the Suzuki who seemed to be reveling in the slippery conditions to slipstream past Haga late on the first lap, and then at the next turn dispatched with Toseland to take the lead!

Haga then relegated Toseland to third while Troy Corser was running fourth and had started to close.  Toseland slipped back through on Haga early on lap two while Corser started to show a wheel to Haga to declare his intentions.  A few corners later Corser slipped past Haga and started to threaten Toseland while Fuertes continued to lead the tightly bunched quartet.  Corser then tried to get around Toseland on the outside but couldn't quite pull it up in to the turn, and with Toseland still on the inside as they started to get on the gas for the exit Corser had to stand it up and head off in to the kitty litter and out of the race.

Toseland went through for the lead on lap four while Nannelli got the better of Haga for third.  Chris Walker was also right with them in fifth place, while Steve Martin had started to close on that group of riders.  Haga then seemed to have some sort of problem occur with his machine which started to lose him time at certain parts of the circuit, allowing Steve Martin to move up to fifth place as few tiny spots of rain started to intermittently and lightly sprinkle around the circuit.  None of the riders have looked at all aggressive during this race as the Valencia track obviously providing very little grip and not inspiring any of the riders with any confidence at all.

Steve Martin then took Walker before then squeezing past Fuertes to then set out after Nannelli.  Martin immediately closed and past Nannelli for second before running a little bit too deep and having to relinquish that second position just as quick as he had taken it.  He made a pass stick only a few turns later though and tried to break away from the pack.

But James Toseland was oblivious to all this drama as he had pulled a healthy 10 second lead as they eclipsed one/quarter race distance.  Pierfrancesco Chile then started to factor in to the race as he moved past Fuertes and Walker before applying the pressure to third placed Nannelli.

Chili pushed past Nannelli a lap later and started to pull away in pursuit of Steve Martin.  1.5 seconds was the gap between the two riders as they completed lap ten.  The gap to Toseland out in front was a full 12 seconds.

With ten laps to run in the 23 lap race Chili had closed a little on Steve Martin while the gap to Toseland out in front was still a little over 12 seconds.  Chris Walker had put on a big push to close some ground on Martin and Chili and the Foggy Petronas rider set a new fastest lap of the race on lap fourteen to underline just how hard he was trying.

Chris Vermeulen had been struggling all race and the young Australian visited the pits on lap fifteen and got off his machine.  A great shame after a spectacular first out privateer performance for the Ten Kate Fireblade. 

By the end of the fifteenth lap Martin had narrowed the gap to Toseland down to under ten seconds and started to leave Frankie Chili in his wake a little.  With seven laps to go it would mean that Martin would have to better Toseland by over a second a lap in order to threaten for the win.

And as the next couple of laps counted down he seemed to be doing exactly that!  But Chili had also started his big push and set a new fastest lap on his 18th lap around the drying Valencia circuit and closed the gap back down to only a couple of bike lengths behind Martin.  Vermeulen had got back out of the pits at the back of the field but eclipsed Chili's fastest lap on lap 19, only for Chili to go faster again on lap 20.

Toseland was still out in front although with a couple of laps to run Martin and Chili had narrowed the gap down to five seconds.  Chili then put a move on Martin on lap 21 to take second place from the Australian.  The Italian then pulled away as Martin smoked his 999 sideways out of the corners.  Then with two laps to smoke started pouring from behind Martin's fairings at certain points of the circuit, enough smoke to even possibly cause him to be black flagged from a secure podium position...

But his 999 cried enough and the Aussie was left to dwell on what could have been...

No such trouble for Chili though who still had his head down setting new fastest laps time after time in a quest to chase down Toseland for the win. 

But Toseland took the win, Chili second and Chris Walker a distant third for a great podium position for the Foggy Petronas team.

Garry McCoy may have not threatened up front but he showed that he still has some good pace by setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap.  The first Japanese machine home was Sergio Fuertes in eighth on the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Steve Martin will be seething with the failure of his machine robbing him of a certain podium finish, look out in race two if his DFX team have a strong spare bike for him to ride later this afternoon.

1. Toseland - Ducati
2. Chili - Ducati - 4.7secs
3. Walker - Petronas - 22.1secs
4. Borciani - Ducati - 53secs
5. Haslam - Ducati - 62secs
6. Nannelli - Ducati - 71.2secs
7. McCoy - Ducati - 85.2secs
8. Fuertes - Suzuki - 86.5secs
9. Saiger - Yamaha - 1 lap
10. Mrkyvka - Ducati - 1 lap
11. Nowland - Suzuki - 1 lap
12. Vermeulen - Honda - 1 lap
13. Praia - Ducati - 1 lap
14. Sanchini - Kawasaki - 3 laps
15. Bontempi - Suzuki - 3 laps