By Glenn LeSanto
Colin Edwards led the first World Superbike race ever held at the all-new Lausitzring circuit from start to finish. The Castrol Honda rider, and defending World Champion, resisted pressure from Britain’s Neil Hodgson in the early stages of the race. Then, as Hodgson faded back to an eighth-place finish Troy Bayliss took over the job of pressuring Edwards for the lead. But Edwards kept his nerves, and lap times, steady and matched Bayliss lap for lap keeping a cushion of just under a second. No matter how hard Bayliss pushed he couldn’t close the gap and Edwards rode to his third win of the season.

Troy Corser had also been an early podium contender but he too slipped back down the field to finish fifth. As Corser slipped back Tady Okada and Franky Chili pushed up through the field. Okada made it two Hondas on the podium with a third-place finish.

The win means that Edwards snuck back in front of Corser in Championship points, taking second spot behind Bayliss. Bayliss now leads the title by 180 points to Edwards’ 166. Corser is now back in third with 154 points and Pierfrancesco Chili, who finished fourth in the race, now has 132 points.

Fuchs Kawasaki rider Gregorio Lavilla recovered from a start line incident that caused both a delay of the start and a shortening of the race by one lap to battle up through the pack to a sixth-place finish. Just moments before the lights went out, Lavilla stalled his engine, left his grid position and bump started the bike but the officials had already called a halt to the start. The race was subsequently restarted but one lap shorter, 23 instead of 24 laps, to allow the extra warm-up lap forced by the restart.

First World Superbike Race Results:
1. Colin Edwards, USA (Honda) 38:47.683
2. Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 38:48.346
3. Tady Okada, Japan (Honda) 38:50.493
4. Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 39:07.460
5. Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 39:08.301
6. Gregorio Lavilla, Spain (Kawasaki) 39:10.504
7. Regis Laconi, France (Aprilia) 39:13.960
8. Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 39:15.691
9. Hitoyasu Izutsu, Japan (Kawasaki) 39:18.367
10. Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 39:18.712
11. Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 39:19.336
12. Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki, 39:30.230
13. Martin Cragill, Australia (Ducati) 39:40.225
14. Broc Parkes, Australia (Ducati) 39:40.427
15. Steve Martin, Australia (Ducati) 39:41.723