Factory Yamaha's Ben Spies rode an inch-perfect race to win the first leg of today's World Superbike double header, leading Noriyuki Haga and Max Biaggi across the line by almost two seconds.
The reigning AMA Superbike Champion got off to a bad start, finding himself in fourth place going into turn one from pole position. The American then set about the scything his way through the field, passing Aprilia's Shinya Nakano for third with 14 laps to go.
As Biaggi and Haga tried to make a break, Spies slowly reeled them in and played a waiting game looking for an opportunity to pass. His YZF-R1 looked to be down on top speed along the one kilometre front straight, so Spies left it until lap six to get a double draft on the pair.
With Haga despatched, Spies was then on Biaggi's rear wheel and when the Roman Emperor ran a foot wide, Spies went for the gap and lifted him up to take the lead.
He then did a disappearing act while Haga and Biaggi tripped each other up, scrapping for the second podium position. The Japanese finally got the upper hand with two laps to go and hung on to beat Biaggi by three-tenths.
Reigning British Superbike Champion Shane Byrne ended his first race battling for fourth with Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa and Nakano but had to settle for sixth, just in front of Tom Sykes.
Sykes, like his Yamaha team-mate, got an awful start and found himself in 11th place by the end of the first lap. The youngster then got into his lap rhythm and clawed his way back up to finish seventh.
Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam couldn't have had a worse weekend but it looked to be going downhill further when he ran wide on lap one and found himself at the back of the field. The former HM Plant Honda man then set about his task and managed to haul himself back up to 12th until a mistake on the last lap by Rea gifted him 11th. He finds himself third in the championship after Max Neukirchner crashed.
Althea Honda's Tommy Hill got another solid points scoring position with a 15th place from the fifth row of the grid.
