Assen up in the North of Holland is a fantastic circuit, loved by riders and fans alike. It's fast, flowing and, despite the changes over the last few years that have seen the original track somewhat emasculated, it still has the fabulous character that has been so evident there in the past. The site of many amazing races, Assen has plenty of overtaking opportunities for the brave, committed or merely deranged. Those relying purely on skill or faster machinery also have opportunities to pass though very slightly fewer.

After the high drama, recriminations and injuries (all related) at Valencia a few weeks ago, expectations are high for some serious action, fuelled partly by a championship that's still fairly open at the top and partly by the desire to right some of the last meeting's wrongs and perhaps make a point. Troy Bayliss, leading the championship by a comfortable margin, comes as hot favourite. The Australian has always gone well here, as have Ducatis. And with the form he's currently showing it would be a brave man to bet against him. But Carlos Checa, fast as anything and probably smarting from the criticism received after Valencia is on the Ten Kate team's home turf and will be out to prove a point. As will Max Neukirchner, cruelly denied his first SBK win at Valencia and not totally fit but as hard as nails. Yep, it's going to be good.

A sunny Friday was useful for many of the teams to get at least some data for their 2008 bikes in what would hopefully be race conditions. The weather forecast had been a little dubious, but it looked for a while as though we would be treated to a dry weekend. Despite the dry conditions, a couple of big crashes on Friday saw the red flags come out as Lanzi and Smrz both threw their Ducatis into the rolling Dutch scenery. Saturday started distinctly wet before the clouds blew away to leave the track dry but a little cool. Jakub Smrz showed no ill effects from his Friday tumble, coming out on top of the timesheets ahead of Ruben Xaus and Troy Bayliss. Xaus' team mate Max Biaggi has been struggling for setup all weekend and ended up not making the cut for Superpole. That's one small Italian guy who is going to be seriously fired up for the races. Fabrizio was going well on the second factory Ducati with the leading rider on a Japanese bike none other than the battered and still healing Max Neukirchner on the Alstare Suzuki. Haga, Kagayama and Corser followed with Nieto just behind and Checa rounding out the top ten. Interestingly, though neither of the Alto Evolution guys made Superpole, Shuhei Aoyama went quick enough in the free practice before Superpole to end up ahead of both Lorenzo Lanzi on the RG Ducati and Russell Holland on the DF Honda, probably the closest real rival to the Alto Evolution team in terms of budget and equipment.

Superpole, as I trot out every time, is a rather different prospect to qualifying. Just one go at getting it right, with the slightest mistake spelling the difference between front row glory and fourth row ignominy. Troy Corser is a master of the smooth fast lap - exactly what's needed to take pole position - but this weekend the Australian has been struggling for setup and, though better thanhis earlier qualifying the Yamaha rider ended up taking the final slot of the front row in fourth. Not bad, but we know he can do better. Pole this time went to the other Troy, Bayliss riding a faultless lap to take the honours ahead of Nori Haga and Ruben Xaus. The second row saw Neukirchner ahead of Checa and Kagayama, with fastest in qualifying Jakub Smrz in eighth. Respectable by anyone's standards but surely disappointing after his earlier spell at the top of the timesheets. Fonsi Nieto and Makoto Tamada rounded out the top ten, with the third row being completed by Regis Laconi and Michel Fabrizio on the second factory Ducati.

Race day, then, and with everything perhaps hinging on the weather it was good to see the sun shining, albeit through a slight overcast. But the big thing was that the track was dry and looked as though it was going to stay that way, too. Warmup took place without incident, the only point of note really being that Neukirchner was firmly at the top of the timesheets, ahead of Checa. But warmup doesn't really mean a great deal either, does it? There are, after all, no points for going quickest before the race starts. Except for psychological ones, that is.

Lights out for race one, and it was Yukio Kagayama and Bayliss who made the holeshot from Xaus, Corser and Haga who made a truly dreadful start. Bayliss managed to prevail to cross the line in the lead at the end of the first lap, though the Japanese Suzuki rider really had the bit between hi teeth and was pushing hard. Xaus was riding the only way he knows how and Haga slipped past Corser just at the end of the first lap. And that's when it all started to go wrong. Running into the tight left hander, it appears that Xaus tried to lean on Haga as he rode around the outside of the Japanese rider. The two bikes seemed to get tangled and both riders ended up in the gravel, Haga being thrown into the air and coming down hard. Fortunately neither of them were badly hurt and both managed to remount, though Haga retired shortly afterwards as the Yamaha was obviously too battered to continue. High drama and collisions apart, the other real bit of excitement was Max Neukirchner's progress through the field. Clearly Dr Costa neglected to mention to the young German that he wasn't going to be completely fit for the race as he carved his way through to the leading pack in style. But his nemesis wasn't far behind. Carlos Checa is riding his second home race in a row, this being the home of Ten Kate Honda, and had a lot of pressure to do well as a result.

It wasn't long before the leading group started to pull away from the rest. Bayliss, Kagayama, Neukirchner, Corser and Checa were riding in a league of their own. No quarter was given and none asked, but all of them were riding cleanly and professionally, with the passes that took place being safe and solid, if a little forceful on occasion. But certainly nobody would have cause to complain, which is as it should be. On the fifth lap Kagayama astounded everyone by tearing into Hoge Heide, normally approached at about a hundred and seventy miles an hour and dropping to about one forty for the turn, without seeming to roll off at all. He cannoned past Bayliss, threw the Suzuki onto its ear and simply rode around in an extraordinary display of commitment and talent. Even Bayliss had no answer to that, and the Japanese rider enjoyed a spell with a bit of a gap at the front before the pack closed him down again. Five laps later at the same place, Kagayama had a huge wobble after clipping the kerb, dropping him from a clear lead to third in one go and dropping two more places a couple of corners later. I'm guessing that maybe his brake pads had got knocked back in the calipers and he needed a couple of corners to get full braking back at just the wrong time. The rest of the race saw a scrap between Corser, who also suffered some sort of mechanical problem, and Kagayama. Up at the front, Bayliss used the opportunity to put his head down and make some space between himself and the fast and very controlled Neukirchner, who in turn was trying to get away from Checa who by now was sitting close behind him. The Australian Ducati rider was certainly successful, extending a very comfortable lead but still riding the Ducati at absolutely one hundred percent, sliding all over the place and looking as though he was still really trying hard. Neukirchner, though, wasn't so lucky and never managed to extend that space. Four laps from the end, the Ten Kate rider slipped underneath the Suzuki, clean as you like, and took second place. Neukirchner stuck in there and made the last corner lunge we all expected but Checa just managed to hold it for a well earned second place. Kagayama and Corser continued to swap places as they both suffered from grip and other problems, but the Suzuki rider took fourth place. A few laps later and probably both of them would have been demoted further as Jakub Smrz rode the wheels off his privateer Ducati to lap at the same pace as Bayliss and take a highly credible sixth. Kiyonari has started to get to grips with the Ten kate machine now, and came in seventh with MotoGP refugee Tamada nipping at his heels and Greg Lavilla just behind. Max Biaggi continued to struggle and just got into the top ten, at least taking some points.

So after that, race two was going to have to be good to avoid disappointment. Lights out and again it was Bayliss who made the running off the line, followed by Xaus, Haga and Corser. The Suzuki trio of Nieto, Neukirchner and Kagayama were just behind, making at least seven bikes within a second by the end of the first lap. This time everyone managed to stay upright as Haga made a fabulous move on Xaus to take second and go off after Bayliss. One lap later and Max Neukirchner put a move on the Ducati rider as well, the young German clearly remembering that he likes the taste of podium champagne and would like to try it again. Troy Corser seemed to be having a weekend he'd rather forget as he continued to struggle for grip and slipped further down, ending up tenth. Still in the points but for someone as good as him (remember we're talking about a double World Champion here) that's got to be a bitter pill. But the real surprise was Checa, who took into the fifth lap before he was able to start moving forwards, languishing in eighth. Up at the front the leading trio was trying to break away from the rest, though in doing so they dragged Xaus along with them. After several laps of nailbitingly close racing the quartet split into two pairs as Haga and Bayliss opened the smallest of gaps between themselves and the following pair. And so it remained, at the very front at least. For a moment it looked as though Bayliss had made the break and opened half a dozen bike lengths over the pursuing Yamaha but then Haga was right back up there and it went all the way down to the last corner before things were decided.

The second pair were going really well, racing hard and close but still maintaining a cracking pace. Which made it even more surprising when Carlos Checa recovered from his rather slow start, muscled past Yukio Kagayama and latched onto the back of Xaus' Ducati. There is a particular corner which Checa has absolutely mastered, and it was here that he passed Kagayama, Corser and Nieto earlier on. With just five laps to go, Xaus managed to pass Neukirchner who must have been feeling the strain after a very hard afternoon's work, and a couple of laps later Checa made the same move on him as he had made in the first race. At the same corner as he did everyone else. And with the same result - the Spaniard slipped through cleanly and immediately opened some ground. Then on the final lap he managed to do it to Checa as well to secure himself the final podium position. Kagayama rode another strong round to bring the Suzuki in behind his team-mate, while Greg Lavilla did a cracking job on the Paul Bird entered Vent Axia Honda to take seventh. Jakub Smrz also finished well in eighth ahead of Tamada and Corser. Up at the front, Bayliss managed to take the double by the smallest margin, despite an heroic lunge by Haga on the last corner.

So. Troy bayliss has a seemingly unassailable lead already, just four rounds in. Carlos Checa is fast and generally consistent, Haga is always a threat and we can't discount Xaus or Neukirchner either, both of whom will surely be spending time on the podium. We're off to Monza in a fortnight, where Haga did the double last year. The Ducati is strong and Bayliss is fully fit, so I would be extremely surprised not to see the same people up at the front. But hey - we should get some good racing as well. It's an exciting circuit to watch at so hopefully even if the championship is a bit of a foregone conclusion we can still get a spectacle...

Race One

1 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2 Carlos Checa (Honda)
3 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)
4 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
5 Troy Corser (Yamaha)
6 Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
7 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)
8 Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki)
9 Gregorio Lavilla (Honda)
10 Max Biaggi (Ducati)

Race Two

1 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2 Nori Haga (Yamaha)
3 Carlos Checa (Honda)
4 Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
5 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki)
6 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
7 Gregorio Lavilla (Honda)
8 Jakub Smrz (Ducati)
9 Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki)
10 Troy Corser (Yamaha)

Championship Standing after four rounds:

1 Troy Bayliss 178
2 Carlos Checa 108
3 Troy Corser 89
4 Fonsi Nieto 85
5 Ruben Xaus 81
6 Noriuki Haga 67
7 Max Neukirchner 66
8 Max Biaggi 54
9 Gregorio Lavilla 48
10 Lorenzo Lanzi 42

SB