Silverstone was wet, very wet but, despite the weather, the WSB riders put in some heroic laps, Just 9 eventually going the distance to finish the race.

Round 1 saw Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) starting from the front – his sixteenth pole in his WSB career – but managing to finish just two seconds in front of second place Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia). Picking up third place was Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) who was four seconds off the pace. James Toseland made an excellent recovery after sliding off on the 3rd lap found him back in eighteenth place. He was soon back on the track and in the thick of the action, fighting his way through the pack and up to tenth place. After some crashes from further up the field he was finally able to clinch eighth.

Round 2 of the weekend's racing was called off due to the heavy rainfall.