The qualifying period may have taken place on a damp track, but seven of the first eight grid places went to the inevitable Ducati runners, in a close fought session. Hodgson took his Fila 999 to its fourth pole of the season, once again just pipping Frankie Chili on the 998 machine. Behind these two came the orange HM Plant bikes of Toseland and Chris Walker, with Régis Laconi, Steve Martin and Rubén Xaus on row two, either side of Gregorio Lavilla’s seventh-placed Alstare Suzuki.

Race one began with an incident involving Lavilla and Toseland. Walker came away in the lead, but Lavilla clipped Toseland coming to the inside for second position. The Suzuki went down on the spot, while Toseland was forced through the gravel trap on the outside of the first corner. This put Chili second, from Xaus, Hodgson, Laconi, Martin, Juan Borja, Vittorio Iannuzzo, Ivan Clementi, Troy Corser, Marco Borciani and Mauro Sanchini.

Walker may have exacerbated the injuries to his feet during a practice crash, but he was characteristically determined in the race. Initially, the Englishman had a small gap over the pack, with Chili closer to him than to the pursuing Xaus. However, the Italian was soon on the offensive, passing on the inside line for the right-hander that led off the back straight. In the next right, Hodgson passed team-mate Xaus for third. As he went off into the lead, Chili set a fastest lap.

Before long it seemed the leaders were going to spread out. Behind Chili, Walker, Hodgson, Xaus and Laconi now came Martin, Borja, Iannuzzo, Corser, Borciani, Sanchini, Lucio Pedercini and Giovanni Bussei, with Toseland back in fourteenth. He was followed by Serafino Foti, James Haydon, Nello Russo, Sergio Fuertes, Walter Tortoroglio, Jiri Mrkyvka and Sundby Dag-Steiner.

Borja became the first to retire, and meanwhile Hodgson was replicating Chili’s earlier move to pass Walker and go second. Xaus was also catching ‘the Stalker,’ and began to menace the orange machine, but Chris was equal to this challenge and held his position over the Spaniard. A little way back, Martin was homing in on fifth-placed Laconi, and Toseland’s impressive progress had now taken him up to tenth, behind Corser on the Foggy triple.

The battle for the lead developed into a two-way affair, as Hodgson caught up to Chili and made his presence felt. At this point, Xaus finally made his way past Walker for a podium position, and Laconi’s Caracchi NCR mount was easing away from the Pirelli-shod 998 of Martin. Suzuki’s Iannuzzo was seventh, ahead of another pair of Ducatis in the hands of the advancing Toseland and Borciani. The first of the Kawasaki and Foggy machines were next.

An interesting moment followed as Chili appeared to invite Hodgson through into the lead, continuing to track the works machine. It emerged later that the Italian had suspected a possible fuel leak from his bike, and had not wanted to jeopardise his rival’s progress. However, although the smell of petrol apparently didn’t go away, Frankie’s bike remained fully functional, and without dropping any fluids onto the tarmac.

At this stage, Walker was circulating on his own again, and this was because Xaus’ machine had unfortunately ended up in one of the gravel run-offs. Toseland was by now the quickest man on the track, and as he moved in on fifth-placed Martin, so Laconi did the same to Walker. Positions further back remained quite stable, although Pedercini took tenth from Corser, and Russo arrived in thirteenth at the expense of Foti.

The two leaders stayed in close company. Chili’s bike was obviously handling better than Hodgson’s through the turns, but without having the straightline speed he needed to get by. Meanwhile, Toseland had caught and passed Martin, and was already leaving him behind as he moved towards the Walker-Laconi duo. In the pack, Borciani overtook Iannuzzo for seventh, Pedercini overtook Sanchini for ninth, and Bussei overtook Corser for eleventh. Haydon was not so fortunate, as he suffered a big crash that saw him tumble across one of the gravel traps - reportedly due to a mechanical failure.

With ten laps to go, Walker, Laconi and Toseland were running round together in pursuit of the final rostrum position. The impressive Toseland went past the Frenchman on the inside at the end of the back straight, and then he dealt with his team-mate going into the main straight next time through. Once ahead, his great pace started to take him clear almost immediately. With four to go, the HM machine was just ten seconds back from the two leaders, and this gap was still going down.

After several laps of trying, Laconi finally went through on Walker, in the popular back straight braking zone. However, he obviously hadn’t got an advantage over the English rider, as Chris stayed right with him to the flag, despite a late loss power from his F02 Ducati. But more excitement was to be witnessed between Hodgson and the threatening Chili, as the race came down to its final moments.

The first two were still virtually tied together as they arrived at the final corner. Chili took his nimble machine round on a wider line, enabling him to cut in as the pair exited onto the straight. Unfortunately for Frankie, he nearly clipped the rear of Hodgson, as there wasn’t enough of a gap to go into, and this forced him to back off. Nevertheless, there were still only fractions between the two Ducatis as they crossed the line, Hodgson ahead.

Toseland’s valiant efforts had not been enough to catch the duo ahead, but were rewarded with an excellent third. Given his pace, he could have been a bigger threat if not for the earlier incident with Lavilla. The top eight was completed by Laconi, Walker, Martin, Borciani and Iannuzzo, making it a one-through-seven result for Ducati.

For race two, Haydon was withdrawn after his huge smash, while Lavilla took to the grid with newly sustained wrist and knee injuries. This time the start went without any hitches, and it was Toseland who took the point, from Hodgson, Walker, Xaus, Laconi, Chili, Iannuzzo, Lavilla, Martin, Borja, Borciani, Sanchini and Clementi. During the course of the first lap the first three moved clear of Xaus and the rest, and a similar gap developed behind Chili. Walker didn’t seem to be able to match the pace of his two compatriots, while further back both Martin and Borciani gained a place each.

It looked like being a spirited tussle for the lead, between Toseland and Hodgson. At the esses, Neil went around the outside of James, but the two bikes clashed as the younger man came back at him in the second part of the complex. Hodgson’s machine sustained damage, with a hole in the fairing, and he also seemed concerned about his clutch lever. Although this proved to be unaffected, his immediate momentum was compromised, and both the GSE men made it past at that moment. Behind, Chili was passing Laconi at the same time.

When things settled again, Toseland was on his own, Walker and Hodgson were together, with Xaus, Chili and Laconi in the next group. Hodgson passed Walker on his way out of the back straight, and began to chase Toseland down once more. Meanwhile, the next bunch of guys closed up to Walker, with Chili threatening Xaus as they went. The two GSX-Rs of Iannuzzo and Lavilla led the chase, with more Ducatis and the two Kawasakis up next.

Now Toseland and Hodgson traded fastest laps, whilst Laconi began to drop away from the other leaders, and Bussei became the first retirement. Hodgson caught up to Toseland to renew their scrap. Chili looked keen to pass Xaus and get after his earlier adversary, and he finally found his opportunity on lap nine, going through on the inside of a left-hander. He then proceeded to attack Walker’s 998, with Xaus falling back as they went on. By now, Lavilla had taken his up-to-the-minute-spec Suzuki past Iannuzzo’s earlier example, and the Italian fell victim to Martin next.

At this stage, the status quo among the top seven was maintained for several laps running, although a gap was building between Walker, in fourth, and Xaus. The Spaniard found Laconi’s Ducati paying him close attention as a result, and the French rider made a move at the esses. As with the earlier incident, Laconi was able to go around the outside of the 999 on the way in, but found Xaus coming back on him through the second part, and getting in front again. Undeterred, he kept up his assault, going inside Rubén at the final corner. The NCR machine drifted wide on the exit, allowing his rival to cut back inside, but the pair stayed side-by-side onto the straight, with Régis finally getting the verdict at turn one.

Toseland’s consistent lap times allowed him a bit of a breathing space over Hodgson, and Walker was also getting away from Chili in third. Down the field, Borja had relegated Iannuzzo a further position, and Pedercini had got by the ZX-7RRs of Clementi and Sanchini, who now led Corser. Lavilla’s race came to an end when he withdrew to the pits, obviously suffering in the aftermath of his first race crash.

Next we saw Laconi attacking Chili for fourth, and going through. The Italian was obviously in trouble, possibly with his tyres, as he began to circulate at cruising speed, and this meant he was soon dropping back through the top ten as the rest caught up one-by-one. Meanwhile, Toseland was moving clear of Hodgson, especially through the backmarkers. As the first race winner appeared to lose grip, James’ lead went up from 2.3s to almost five over a few laps. Consequently, the leaders crossed the finish line at intervals, with Toseland taking a well-earned début win.

Hodgson was second, from Walker, making it an all-English podium. Ducati riders also come him in places four to seven, with Laconi heading Xaus, Martin and Borja. Next home were Iannuzzo, Borciani and Pedercini. While Hodgson had been beaten for the first time in the season, he was still on a score of 245 points from a possible 250, and this meant a sizeable margin of 133 over second placed Toseland, who now passed Xaus. Ducati’s stranglehold is broken only by Lavilla, who now finds himself down to P5.

Standings after ten races: Hodgson 245; Toseland 132; Xaus 126; Laconi 122; Lavilla 111; Walker 95; Chili 84; Martin 78; Borciani 64; Pedercini 57.

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