It's not the way Troy would've liked to have opened his 2004 campaign but, as Troy himself said afterwards, "Sometimes, that's the way it goes."

There was some joy though for Troy's team mate Chris Walker in the first race, which started with a damp track and a sprinkling of rain. In a race of attrition, which only saw fifteen finishers, Walker took a superb third place, to give team Petronas FP1 something to celebrate.

James Toseland (Ducati) won the race comfortably, though Frankie Chili (Ducati) was catching him towards the end of the 23-lapper. Fortunately, for all concerned, race two took place in completely dry conditions. Troy was in the top nine at the end of the first lap, but his Petronas FP1's engine began to overheat and then started losing power. Troy didn't want to pull in, and kept going as best he could and ended up eleventh.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) led the race from start to finish and was never troubled on the way to victory. Toseland took runner-up spot, with Steve Martin (Ducati) third.

Troy Corser - "That's the way it goes sometimes, I guess. Tyre choice was a bit of a lottery in the first race because of the dampness of the track, so we went for full wets - the same choice as most of the other riders. I thought that the track would dry out as the race progressed, so I tried to keep with the leaders. After two laps I was in second place and then out! I was chasing James (Toseland) and went a bit wide and off line and then slid on the side of the track. I ran out of space, so just lay the bike down in the gravel, but the slide happened so fast, I couldn't do anything about it. Luckily I wasn't injured, but I was a bit disappointed - to say the least!

"In the second race, the bike's engine overheated, which means it loses power. It was the engine I had used in Superpole and in the first race and. Once it overheated, I knew that I would be struggling. I could've pulled in, but I decided to keep going and see how many points I could salvage. I guess today, my team mate got lucky and I did not."