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Colin Edwards showed the form that got him to the lead in the world championship. It was raining at the start of the first race and did not stop until well into the race.
Edwards got away well but was soon chasing Bayliss who made a decision to go really hard in the wet , too hard as it turn out as a crashed early on, Lavilla also crashed out.
From then on Edwards put on a smooth performance, not doing anything wrong as he splashed his way around the course, to cruise to an easy win with over 9 seconds back to second place.
The Castrol Honda press release quoted Edwards after the race as saying \"I was determined to make a good start and hit the front as soon as possible. When Troy (Bayliss) hit the front on the first lap I was happy to keep him in sight then when he crashed I decided to try and open up a gap. The plan worked out and the new 16.5 inch Michelins did their job. I had a couple of slides but I had to find the limit and then work it all out from there.\" He added: It\'s been a long time coming but it was nice to climb the top step of the podium again.\"Kiwi Aaron Slight equaled his best result this year with a fifth. Slight was also quoted in the press release \"I got boxed in a little at the start then couldn\'t see a thing for a couple of laps until some gaps appeared. I\'ve not had that much experience of riding the VTR in the wet so it was a little bit of a learning process for me in the early laps.\"
Juan Borja got his first podium finish with a second to Edwards, in his efforts to catch Edwards he put in some huge slides in the chicane being very lucky to survive, before doing some impressive grass tracking . It was about then he decided 2nd place was ok
Haga was a distant 3rd, which pushed him above Corser in the championship points, Corse was a couple of seconds back in 4th place.
Frankie Chilli continued his rotten run with another crash. Antonello crashed but restarted only to crash again.
NCR Ducati\'s Ben Bostrom was 16th, after a shocker of a start he was never really in it and was lucky not to be lapped.
First race result:
