Recording his first win of the season and his third consecutive victory at Assen Jonathan Rea returnedCastrol Honda back to the top step of the podium in race one.
Battling through the field, Rea bested the factory Alitalia Aprilia of Max Biaggi by 0.7 seconds and 3.5 seconds ahead of championship leader Carlos Checa. Marco Melandri and Michel Fabrizio rounded out the top five. Demonstrating some manufacturer flavour in the World Superbike championship, the top six places were taken by six different machines with the BMW of Troy Corser behind the Suzuki of Fabrizio in sixth.
The top Kawasaki runner was Mark Aitchison on board with the Pedercini squad finishing in tenth. The opening race at the Dutch round was crash strewn with seven non-finishers, including the Effenbert-Liberty Ducati team-mate collision of Smrz and Guintoli, Leon Haslam survived a fast crash early on to recover and finish in 12th position.
1. Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 35'46.486
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 35'47.225
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 35'50.058
4. Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 35'55.994
5. Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) Suzuki GSX-R1000 35'56.378
6. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 35'57.606
7. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 36'01.721
8. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 36'16.567
9. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 36'18.557
10. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 36'21.486
11. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 36'29.773
12. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 36'31.775
13. Barry Veneman (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 36'31.784
14. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) Kawasaki ZX-10R 36'37.250
RT. Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 29'26.185
RT. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 29'26.621
RT. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 28'48.258
RT. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 16'56.882
RT. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 13'28.961
RT. Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 10'50.393
RT. Roberto Rolfo (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 5'04.247
