Assen's unpredictable weather threw a very soggy cat amongst the pigeons as the riders readied themselves for race one.

The riders splashed their way around the shortened Dutch circuit in the opening lap and the pecking order quickly established itself as Bayliss, Corser, Kagayama and Haga with that quartet proving the bravest and all capitalising on their front row starts. Ruben Xaus seemed to be enjoying the wet conditions and was quickly up to fifth position ahead of James Toseland.

Corser got the better of Bayliss on lap four and immediately started to inch away from the Ducati man. A lap later Haga pushed Bayliss back to third place while Kagayama watched on from fourth place. Only one lap later Haga pushed Corser back to second place and a few turns later Bayliss moved past Corser to push the Suzuki man back to fourth place. Then on lap seven Bayliss took the lead from Haga and Corser skidded off into the kitty litter while trying to match their pace. Xaus was also starting to look very dangerous and through Corser's demise had been promoted to fourth place and was getting a little closer to the leading group lap by lap.  By lap 9 he was only just over a second behind Kagayama who had started to lose touch with Bayliss and Haga who were setting the pace out in front.

Wet conditions always prove a great leveler and along with Xaus another rider benefiting from the treacherous conditions was Josh Brookes.  The young Aussie had worked his way up to eighth place by lap eight after starting back in 20th on the grid. Unfortunately the leveler also leveled Ruben Xaus horizontal on lap nine of the 22 lap race as the Spaniard slid off into the gravel. 

Troy Bayliss made an uncharacteristic mistake on lap nine and had an extended run across the greenery and gravel in a double left hander.  Kagayama was well behind Bayliss but may have got distracted by Bayliss' grass tracking antics and went out in sympathy!  Although while Bayliss kept it upright and managed to regain the track after losing a few seconds in his cross country adventure Kagayama lost the front and ended up on his arse in the gravel trap.  Further back in the chasing group James Toseland also had a bit of a moment and visited some greenery before rejoining the circuit. While other riders were cutting the grass however there were no such problems for Yamaha man Noriyuki Haga who through others mistakes had himself a massive lead that amounted to ?? at the end of lap ten. Lap 11 saw Bayliss visit the greenery once again on lap 11 but was a little more tidy this time around proving that practice makes perfect. Although I am sure Bayliss would rather not practice his grass tracking skills on a 200 horsepower Ducati Superbike!  Riders to benefit from the mistakes of others also included Michel Fabrizio and Andrew Pitt with the pairing chasing each other round in third and fourth position respectively. One would have thought Bayliss would have rode home for a safe good points finish after his early grass detours but that was not the case and the #21 paid the price for his aggression on lap 12 when he lost the rear and skidded off into the kitty litter, this time there was no coming back and Bayliss was left to watch the rest of the proceedings from the fence.

Chris Walker started to haggle Pitt and Fabrizio on lap 12 in what was a battle for second but a lap later Noriyuki Haga saw his 20 second lead disappear from his new vantage point in the gravel trap and that battle for second suddenly became a battle for the lead. Three laps later Walker took Pitt for the lead on the Kawasaki. Another Kawasaki man who made a great charge forward from a long way back was Josh Brookes and the Sydneysider was in the top five before his dream run came to a crashing end on lap 16 of the 22 lap journey.

Andrew Pitt tried to stay with Walker for a few laps before relinquishing the battle to the Briton.  The accountant in him perhaps deciding that those 20 points for second are way too important to risk throwing away for just five more. That was the smart thinking also as all the men in front of him in the series apart from Toseland were not going to take any points from this encounter.

After 131 race starts Chris Walker finally splashed his way to his first ever World Superbike win while Andrew Pitt scored an incredibly important 20 points for his second place.  That 20 points puts Pitt promotes him past Barros for fifth in the series and puts him within striking distance of Corser for fourth overall in the series.

----    Pictorials    ----
Gallery A - Gallery B

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

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

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

----    Previews    ----
Aussie - FG Sport - HRC - Yamaha - Suzuki - FPR
 

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