The first Superbike race of the weekend saw a thrilling end to one of the best races ever seen at Monza. The race had to have two starts, after two crashes at the first chicane of lap 1 involving Tamada, Hill, Corser, Neukirchner and Roberts led to it being interrupted.
The German came off the worst with a broken right femur and dislocated right foot, while Roberts picked up various bruises. The outcome of the race was decided at the final curve. Spies was well on his way towards a fifth win of the season when in the Parabolica his Yamaha ran out of fuel just a few metres from the line. Michel Fabrizio -Ducati Xerox capitalized on Spies' misfortune to take his first win in Sueprbike. Team-mate Noriyuki Haga finished second to maintain his points lead.
The third place battle also saw a thrilling end as Max Biaggi took his Aprilia over the line, but the Italian was penalized 20 seconds for cutting the chicane, leaving Ryuichi Kiyonari -Ten Kate Honda to take the final podium position after a spectacular mid-race recovery from a poor start. Fourth went to Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki Alstare, ahead of the British pair of Jonathan Rea - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike. Both BMW and Kawasaki placed riders inside the top 10, Ruben Xaus taking the German four-cylinder machine to seventh while a still unfit Broc Parkes fought hard for tenth place.
