Troy Corser capitalised on his pole position to lead the field away but Noriyuki Haga's front row start did him no favours as the Japanese Yamaha pilot got shuffled well down the field after running wide.  James Toseland declared his intentions right from the off in forcing his way past Corser for the lead, Corser tried to get him right back but couldn't pull it off. A few corners later though Corser stuffed it inside Toseland in the middle of a slow double apex right to take the lead again while Bayliss had worked his way forward from sixth place up into third but towards the end of the first lap Karl Muggeridge was looking very aggressive and all over the back of Bayliss. Andrew Pitt went down in a tight right hander but was quick to remount and get back on with the job albeit at the very back of the field.

By lap three Corser, Toseland and Bayliss had started to break away from Muggeridge who was coming under pressure from Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto. Haga had worked his way back up to seventh after that lap one mistake that had him down in 15th position and on lap four the Yamaha man put in a new fastest lap of the race to close on Nieto.

Troy Corser was managing to keep Toseland at bay for a few laps with some very aggressive riding that had the Suzuki very sideways on entry to many of the turns but on lap five the Briton squeezed his way past.  Fonsi Nieto clipped the back of Kagayama or Muggeridge and was pitched off into the kitty litter after a spirited ride in that second group.  Haga got the better of Kagayama to take fifth place and then half a lap later took fourth position from Muggeridge and set about chasing down the leading trio. Kagayama then pushed Muggeridge back to sixth place and two laps later the Queenslander went out of the race after pitching himself off into the kitty litter.

As the race approached its halfway point Noriyuki Haga arrived on the tail cowling of Troy Bayliss' Ducati to turn the leading group into a quartet of four different brands of machinery, Honda leading the way from Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha.  Corser then stole the lead from Toseland while Haga first got Bayliss and then Toseland to move up to second place. Half a lap later Haga slotted his Yamaha Italy YZF-R1 in to the lead and immediately gapped his pursuers. Toseland then moved past Corser for second place and inched closer to Haga.  A little further back in fifth place was Yukio Kagayama only a couple of seconds behind the quarter and looked to be closing in.

Toseland took the lead on lap 14 as the top four tightened up once again. Haga came right back at him but again Toseland put the Ten Kate Honda into the #1 spot while Corser and Bayliss watched on from close astern. Lap 15 saw Kagayama join the group and turn it into a five-way affair for the lead but the only two riders really game to swap paint at this stage was Toseland and Haga who headed the group.

The game then seemed to step up into another gear in the second half and the top four again stretched away from Kagayama.  Toseland and Haga were having a fantastic tussle over the lead with both riders putting maximum aggression into their riding which made for a fantastic spectacle.  Haga and the Yamaha seemed to hold the advantage under brakes and on the entry to tighter turns but Toseland had his Fireblade sideways under power but a nice and smooth sideways with no yawing, just a smooth progressive slide out of all the turns, the back just stepped out a little but still making good drive.

Corser started to challenge Haga for second with a few laps to run which seemed to affect the Yamaha man as Toseland pulled a couple of bike lengths on him and it looked as though he might be able to break away. But as they got the last lap board Haga had recovered all that ground and was right on the back of the Honda. Toseland put the hammer down early in the final lap and again got a couple of bike lengths while Corser again started attacking Haga. The trio had dropped Bayliss off their tails and it was going to be a 3-way battle to the flag.  Toseland hung on for a brilliant win and celebrated it with a stylish mono and strengthened his second place in the series from two points to stretch a seven point buffer over Haga with one race to go. A great race and a great win to the likeable Brit and a brilliant effort from Haga to chase the leaders down and take the battle for the win all the way to the flag.  Corser was right there but couldn't put his Suzuki where he wanted it in the closing laps while Bayliss seemed to be struggling with the front end of the Ducati and fell away in the closing laps. Yukio Kagayama looked to have good speed and for a while was the fastest man on the track so could be a threat in the second encounter if he could get away from the line well.  Pitt's crash allowed Barros to take fourth place in the standings by a single point and Corser closed within five points of Pitt.  The Yamaha man would need to finish ahead of Barros and not lose too many points to Corser in order to get fourth place in the title while Haga would need to score eight points more than Toseland in order to clinch second place in the series.

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Gallery A

----    Day 3    ----
SBK Race 1 - SS Race - SBK Race 2 - Reports - Aussie - FG Sport - Ducati - FPR - Suzuki - HRC - Yamaha - Pirelli - Corser - Muggas - Brookes

----    Day 2    ----
SS FP2 - SBK QP2 - SS QP2 - SBK Superpole - Reports - FG Sport - Ducati - FPR - Suzuki - Ten Kate - Yamaha

----    Day 1    ----
SS FP1 - SBK FP1 - SS QP1 - SBK QP1 - Reports - FG Sport - Ducati - FPR - Suzuki - Ten Kate - Yamaha

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Preview - Stats

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