Byrne left Walker behind and Walker then came under attack from an aggressive Ruben Xaus. Laconi and Hodgson were right behind them running in 5th and 6th respectively.

Byrne then set the fastest lap on the fourth circuit and closed up on to the back of race leader John Reynolds. Xaus got Walker for 3rd but Byrne and Reynolds had built a good 2-second lead over their pursuers while Byrne had taken over the lead from Reynolds. A couple of laps later Reynolds succumbed to mechanical failure, a disaster for the British Superbike regular, but his sparring partner in the British ranks retained the healthy lead over the now 2nd place Walker who had got past Xaus after the Spaniard made a small mistake.

The 999 Ducati ridden by Ruben Xaus then started leaving a large smoke haze from his machine for nearly a full lap before his team put a 'Box' sign on his pit board which signalled to the Spaniard that he should pull out.  If the oil obviously coming from the machine had met the rear tyre or dumped its load in one go it could have spelt disaster for Ruben and some of his fellow competitors.

Meanwhile Shane Byrne was handing the World Superbike regulars an embarrassing lesson in riding a 998 Ducati by extending his lead to a full 5-seconds over Walker and Hodgson.

Hodgson got the advantage for 2nd place over Walker on the penultimate lap while Byrne had rubbed further salt in to the wounds of the WSBK regulars with his clear 7.5 second lead.

1. Byrne
2. Hodgson
3. Walker
4. Laconi
5. Emmett
6. Toseland
7. Lavilla
8. Rutter
9. Chili
10. Kagayama
11. Ellison
12. Borja
13. Clementi
14. Martin
15. Sanchini
16. Gramigni
17. Haydon
18. De Matteis
19. Pedersoli