Laconi wins race one, Vermeulen leads.

Fila Ductai's Regis Laconi took the first race ahead of Ten Kate Honda's Chris Vermeulen at the tenth round of World Superbikes from Imola, Italy.

Chris Vermeulen led for most of the race ahead of Laconi, Renegade's Noriyuki Haga and Laconi's team-mate James Toseland.

Laconi left it to the penultimate lap to put a move on Vermeulen, where he out dragged the Honda rider and cut across in front to stop the Austrailian coming back at him.

Laconi made his move early, risking a come back manoeuvre from Vermeulen, however the French rider was able to pull a slight lead over the remaining two laps to take the victory.

Toseland managed to take a slowing Haga on lap 15. Haga seemed to have a problem, dropping one second off the pace of the top riders, which allowed the hard riding Toseland to get passed. Toseland was then over three seconds behind the top pair of Vermeulen and Laconi so was unable to challenge for the lead.

Vermeulen now leads the championship on 272 points with Toseland in second with 271 and Laconi only one point behind in third with 270 points.

Race one top ten
1. Laconi
2. Vermeulen
3. Toseland
4. Haga
5. McCoy
6. Martin
7. Chili
8. Borciani
9. Nannelli
10. Haslam