When the red lights went out, it was Capirossi who got the drop on everybody. He was first into the first corner followed by Hayden and Rossi, and at the end of the first lap he'd pulled out a lead of just under a second on Rossi, who'd managed to get back quickly past Hayden.

And that was it as far as the 25 points for the win was concerned. Capirosssi just went off on his own personal mission, increasing his lead over the pursuing pack every lap, until by lap seventeen the gap was out to over seven seconds. Loris backed off on the last couple of laps, finishing 4.9 seconds clear of his pursuers and having enough time for a long look over his shoulder on the final corner - just to make sure that no one had crept up on him. Because behind him the duelling for the remaining points was massive.

At the start of lap two Stoner had clawed his way up to fourth place, closely followed by Dani Pedrosa, both of whom had got ahead of Roberts, with Edwards, Nakano, Melandri and Hopkins making up the remaining top ten. Pedrosa was on a charge, crawling all over the back wheel of Stoner and looking to relieve him of fourth place as quickly as possible. Meanwhile Edwards had slipped under Roberts, demoting him yet another place down the order. On the next lap Pedrosa finally got past Stoner and was quickly followed by Edwards, while Melandri was making up places to eighth and on the back of Roberts after a poor opening lap. In fact Melandri and Roberts were passing and re-passing each other so often it was difficult to keep up with who was leading who.

By lap four Pedrosa was all over his team mate Nicky Hayden like a rash, taking some of the pressure off Rossi, who up until then had been getting a lot of attention from the Repsol Honda of the Kentucky Kid. At the front Capirossi's lead over Rossi was now 2.5 seconds, whilst further back Melandri was harassing Casey Stoner for sixth place, before finally getting past on lap six. On the next lap Dani Pedrosa finally made a pass on his team mate that stuck going into turn one, and then was immediately up onto the rear wheel of Rossi's Yamaha. Were we about to see the long-awaited battle between the seven-times world champion and the young pretender? Well, yes we were, but we had to wait another twelve laps. Meanwhile Melandri had got past Hayden, who appeared to be waning, and Stoner had grabbed a place back from Colin Edwards who shortly afterwards was passed by Kenny Roberts Jr. on a second charge.

Lap twelve, and at the front Capirossi continued to extend his lead to 5.7 seconds over Rossi and the attendant Dani Pedrosa, whilst 3 seconds further back Melandri, Hayden and Stoner were having another ding-dong battle ahead of Roberts, Edwards, Nakano and Hopkins. Two laps later and it was Hayden leading Stoner and Melandri ahead of the rest of the chasing pack led by a closing Kenny Roberts in seventh place. At the start of lap 15 Stoner eased past Nicky Hayden going into turn one, and by the end of the lap Melandri had passed him as well, whilst Pedrosa was looking more and more as though he was about to take second place off Valentino Rossi.

On lap 17 Pedrosa finally struck, but Rossi was having none of it and Dani was forced to lift the bike up as he tried to go under the Yamaha which stuck religiously to the racing line. Was that close or what? Pedrosa quickly regrouped and a couple of corners later he slid the Repsol Honda effortlessly under Rossi's Yamaha to take second place. But if you'd thought that was the battle over, you'd be seriously mistaken. Valentino came straight back at the rookie and passed him around the outside going into the next corner, only to have Pedrosa re-take the place on the final corner of the lap. They crossed the start/finish line going into lap eighteen almost as one, but Rossi was just that little bit later on the brakes, piling into turn one and taking back second place yet again. By turn two Pedrosa was back alongside Rossi, giving him the inside line and second position again for turn three. Was Rossi going to let him go? - no chance! Out of turn four and the Yamaha really got the power down allowing Rossi to pull alongside Pedrosa and then outbrake him into the next turn. And that was it as far as the battle for second went. Whether Rossi decided that enough was enough from the young upstart and turned the wick up just a little bit more, or whether Pedrosa simply ran out of steam we'll never know, but Valentino slowly and gradually pulled out a gap on the Repsol Honda that finally put second place out of Dani Pedrosa's reach. But the race wasn't over yet.

In the following pack Roberts had moved up to fourth ahead of Melandri and Stoner, with Hayden down to seventh place and being harried by Shinya Nakano. But it would be anyone's guess over which of them was going to cross the line first. As the last lap got under way Stoner moved back ahead of Melandri and then Nakano demoted Nicky Hayden down to eighth place going into turn one. Hayden fought back immediately to re-take the place and then Melandri took fifth place back again off Casey Stoner. But there was still more to come. While the TV cameras were watching Loris Capirossi take what appeared to be an effortless victory, ahead of Rossi and a fading Pedrosa, Hopkins on the Suzuki had made a late, late charge that had carried him past both Nakano and Hayden into seventh place. And as they all came around the final corner for the last time, Hayden got the Honda out of shape allowing the Kawasaki of Nakano to drive past him for the line and getting himself demoted to ninth place in the process. Not a good day at the office for the Kentucky Kid.