up his inside at the fast Meeuwenmeer corner (Turn 13) for fourth position, relegating Rossi from third to fifth in just a few corners. However, just before the entrance of the Geert Timmer Bocht (Turn 16), he makes a late lunge and dives up the inside of Bayliss to take back fourth place in the process. On lap two, Barros is now close to Bayliss at the S-Bocht but does not yet make a move. At the Ossebroeken (Turn 4), Biaggi makes his move and takes the lead from Gibernau by passing him via the inside, with Rossi trying to catch Jacque in the meantime. At the Stekkenwal, Barros tries to dive down the inside of Bayliss but fails and has to stay behind for the time being. Behind barros is rookie Colin Edwards on the Alice Aprilia in seventh place. At the Geert Timmer Bocht, Rossi outbrakes Jacque and passes him entering the right-left-right hander to take third place. Exiting the corner, Jacque has a slight wobble which allows Bayliss to get close to him and pass him for fourth at the start/finish straight. Lap three and Biaggi now sets the fastest lap of the race. Barros also passes his teammate and takes fifth position. The top six now consists as follows: Biaggi, Gibernau, Rossi, Bayliss, Barros and Jacque. Edwards is now also closing the gap on sixth place Jacque. Gibernau's gap back to Rossi is +1.239 seconds in sector one, increasing to +1.364 seconds in sector two. At the short, unnamed right-hand kink before De Bult (Turn 10), Gibernau goes alongside Biaggi and passes him for the lead. However, exiting De Bult, Gibernau has a slight wobble and loses the place back to Biaggi. Jacque has also repassed Barros earlier on for fifth. On lap four, Gibernau goes again side-by-side with Biaggi on the start/finish straight, forcing the Italian to go onto the grass almost and back off slightly at the S-Bocht, aggressively taking over the lead once more. Gibernau also sets the fastest lap, only for that honour to fall to Noriyuki Haga down in eighth place. A bit further behind, Rossi is now under pressure from Bayliss in fourth, Jacque is riding away from teammate Barros, who himself is now coming under pressure from Edwards. Rossi is starting to open up a slight gap back to Bayliss. Lap five and Gibernau now sets the fastest lap