Barros: I thought I could win.

Alex Barros returned to the scene of some of his greatest grand prix rides last weekend at Assen, but the Brazilian's Dutch World Superbike debut was to prove a disappointment - despite a promising start.

The Klaffi Honda rider set the second fastest time in Friday morning's first free practice session around the reconfigured layout and went on to qualify fifth in Saturday's Superpole session - leaving Alex to believe he could fight for his first WSBK win in Sunday's two races.

Race one rain looked likely to play further into Barros' hands - the rain specialist having beaten Valentino Rossi for victory in the damp Portuguese Grand Prix, among other wet weather achievements, last season - but Alex was frustrating forced to retire early on with front suspension set-up problems.

The dry second race saw Barros finish as the top Honda rider, but seventh position - and nearly 30secs behind winner Troy Bayliss - was a long way below his expectations.

"I'm very disappointed about the races because the beginning of the weekend went very well," confessed Barros, whose former MotoGP crew chief Ramon Forcada joined the team at Assen. "I think I could win a race. But in the first race I had a big problem with the front. I just dropped down. I'm sure I stopped some of the riders at my back because this was a bike you could not ride. I could have crashed any time. In the first lap I still tried to attack a little bit but then I was pushing and pushing.

"In the second race the dry line in the beginning was very small and had to pay attention not to crash. It was a hazard to overtake other riders. So I lost a lot and after this I had to overtake other riders later in the race. This cost me a lot of time. When the track was clean I was not able to ride faster because I had no grip on this surface," he added.

Barros now has three rounds and six races left in which to take his debut SBK win this season.