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Results and summary of World Superbike Race 1 at Assen:

Johnny Rea took home victory for the HANNSpree Ten Kate Honda team at Assen, after shaking off a pack of pursuers with a couple of laps to go. Rea was outdragged off the line by Troy Corser on the BMW and Leon Camier, who stuffed his Alitalia Aprilia through into 2nd into the first turn. Corser and Camier led from Rea for the first couple of laps, before the Ulsterman started working his way forward, passing Camier on lap 6 and chasing an unleashed Troy Corser.

Behind Rea, Pata S&G's Jakub Smrz was starting to push Leon Camier, while James Toseland had clearly fixed the issues that had troubled his Sterilgarda Yamaha all weekend, and had charged through from 10th on the grid to fight his way up to 5th. Toseland was compressing the front five from 5th position, the front group tight, assisted by Troy Corser whose pace was starting to tail off. Smrz squeezed past Camier into 3rd, but four laps later, James Toseland barged his way forward into 3rd, bumping Smrz and Camier back a place each. A lap later, and Camier was past Smrz and back into 4th, diving up the inside going into the first turn.

Two laps further on, and Johnny Rea had finally worked his way past the BMW of Troy Corser. Not to be outdone, Toseland followed, elbowing Corser aside going into the GT chicane. Another lap on and Camier was also past Corser round Assen's flowing southern section, and Corser was effectively out of contention, forced to allow Carlos Checa past, but holding off Max Biaggi to the line.

Toseland used the next couple of laps to close hard on Rea, diving through to take the lead into the chicane with three laps left to go. Rea responded immediately, diving back into the lead at the Haarbocht, dumping the Yamaha man wide and creating a gap. Rea then pushed hard for the finish, and crossed the line with a small but comfortable gap to take the win. James Toseland held off Leon Camier, who had got back on Toseland's tail after Rea had passed the Yamaha back for the lead. Carlos Checa crossed the line an impressive 4th, while Troy Corser held off Max Biaggi for 5th.

Championship leader Leon Haslam suffered a painful blow to his title lead, going backwards in the early part of the race to drop down to 16th spot, before leading a fight back to eventually finish 11th. The Alstare Suzuki rider did get a little lucky, though, with chief title rival Max Biaggi only closing by 5 points, and Carlos Checa gaining just 8 points. Haslam finished not far behind Xerox Ducati's Noriyuki Haga, who he had spent much of the race battling with in a big group scrapping over 10th spot.

Results