Corser got the run off the line in this second race which could prove dangerous but in race one Laconi was the man to beat and Vermeulen the Frenchman's closest challenger.  Vermeulen took the lead from Corser halfway into the first lap while Muggeridge and Laconi ran third and fourth respectively with Laconi a few bike lengths behind them and the Foggy Petronas machine of Steve Martin the next best.

Muggeridge took second place from Corser and held it for around half a lap before the Suzuki man took that position back. Laconi then put in a new fastest lap to close onto the tail of Muggeridge.  Laconi then put a pass on Muggeridge and managed to pull away from the Ten Kate man and then closed on Corser to add more flavour to the battle for the lead.

It took him a couple of laps but Laconi first got Corser and then a little more than a lap later he also took Vermeulen to move into the race lead as the leading trio continued to circulate in close quarters.

The surprise package of the race was a charging Pierfrancesco Chili who had worked his way forward and as they moved into the second 1/3 of the race he had taken Muggeridge and Laconi to move up to fifth place. Chili was really having a red hot go with huge black lines painting out from behind his Honda with some very fast and very sideways attitude through the turns.

Laconi was repeating his escape act from race one and went on to leave Vermeulen and Corser in his wake and by half race distance he had stretched the gap out to over a second.

Vermeulen then redoubled his efforts as they entered the second half of the race and managed to pull away from the Corser to the tune of a couple of bike lengths and closed the gap a similar distance to race leader Laconi as he slithered his Fireblade around the Misano circuit with some breathtaking sideways entries to some corners.  Laconi responded to the threat however and over the next few laps took a tenth each time out of Vermeulen to stretch his lead out to a full second once again.

Back a lot further a great battle for top finishing Kawasaki was being waged between Walker and Bussei.  Garry McCoy was running in 17th place before ending the misery with a somewhat painful looking trip into the kitty litter. On the next lap Andrew Pitt reduced the number of Australians still running by one more when his YZF-R1 cried enough.

Haga had got in front of Chili and was adding to the ozone layer degradation by sending some of his Pirelli up in smoke through some of the fast left handers. Unfortunately Haga's Yamaha lost power on the way up to the finishing line on the last lap and thus he had to give that hard earned fifth place back to Pierfrancesco Chili.

Laconi looked over his shoulder as they started the last lap to see how much ground he had on Vermeulen and the answer was plenty as he went on to take a perfect weekend for France by taking the Superbike double to add to the victory Charpentier took in the Supersport encounter.  Vermeulen came home a fighting second after getting the better of his compatriot in both races today to pull back Corser's championship lead to 73 points which while still not close it is certainly better than the 81 point lead Corser enjoyed before this round over his young compatriot.

Ducati are fully back in the game as today proved that Silverstone was no flash in the pan. 

Kagayama's dream start to the season is all but forgotten now after a series of mediocre results that saw him today slip from second in the championship down to fourth after being displaced by both Vermeulen and Laconi. 

Haga showed some flashes of brilliance and was again the man leading the charge for the tuning fork brigade but it must be said that at this stage of the game it looks highly unlikely that Yamaha will score a victory this year which will certainly be not too well received at HQ.  With Rossi dominating in MotoGP that certainly will help ease Yamaha's pain but at the same time it would not be nice for them, and the world, to see their flagship litre sportsbike weapon getting whipped in World Superbike by Suzuki, Ducati, Honda and in fact they are also in danger of being eclipsed by Kawasaki in the Manufacturer's points. But it must also be said that Honda would be much in the same boat if not for one man's efforts, and that man is of course young Chris Vermeulen.  He is on rider that will certainly be making management back at Honda HQ sit up and take notice and I for one certainly wouldn't be at all surprised if he is promoted into a HRC backed MotoGP berth next year.  Honda must bring some new blood into the premier category of racing.  And with the Ten Kate squads liking for young Australians one could also speculate than one Joshua Brookes might perhaps be in a prime position to fill the void left in the World Superbike ranks if Vermeulen does indeed move on to MotoGP.