Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127805
(Left) Troy Corser (2) stands on the pegs to celebrate his two race victories In the Spanish round of the World Superbike Series. (Right) Colin Edwards II (45) leads John Kocinski in one of their two race battles. (Below) Corser leads Carl Fogarty (1) and the rest of the pack in the second race. World Superbike crown, Corser holds a comfortable 26-point lead over Slight, 353-327. Kocinski is 36 points behind the Australian while Fogarty has dropped to 45 points behind as his hopes for defending his title have been all but dashed. Edwards is fifth with 212 points. RACE ONE After two days of practice in warm and dry weather, a sudden drop in temperature and a cloudy sky welcomed only some 15,000 race fans to the La Torrecica circuit. The unexpected change of weather provided an extra challenge for the teams, many of which had to gamble on both tires and carburetion. Andreas Meklau didn't have to worry much about that as he crashed out on the warmup lap. The Austrian ran back to pit lane, but arrived too late to get his spare bike out and running. By that time, Kocins~ had grabbed the holeshot from Corser, Fogarty, PierFrancesco Chili and the rest of the pack. By the end of that lap, Corser already had taken command, determined to take maximum advantage of the fact that Slight would have to get by a horde o( riders before getting even remotely close. By the fourth lap, Corser already had a three-second lead over a chasing group led by Kocinski, Chili, Fogarty and Edwards. For Suzuki's Kirk McCarthy, his race was over three laps later when he wa's hit by countryman Craggill. • "it doesn't seem to be a great weekend for me," McCarthy said. "1 think Martin (CraggilJ) missed a gear. 1 thought 1 could go past, but he came back and pushed me off the track. 1 could have gotten back on the track if it hadn't been for the joint between the old and new surface. The bike isn't too damaged and it should be okay for the second race. 1 definitely want to use this bike again, as the second one isn't really set up as 1 like." CraggilI also retired two laps later. "1 had a lot of problems with the bike jumping out of gear," he explained. "Finally, after I sent Kirk flying into the kitty Ii tter, the engine stopped. The mechanics will put a new one in for the second' race." By the 10th of 28 laps, Corser had further extended his lead, with a small group now forming behind him, consisting of Kocinski, Chili, Edwards and Fogarty. Behind them, John Reynolds was doing a great job showing the way to Neil Hodgson, Slight, Mike Hale, Crafar and Yoshikawa. Kocinski, however, was struggling to hold on to second and was SOOn forced to let Chili by, only to see him crash a couple of laps later. At the halfway mark, Corser seemed out of reach with Edwards now charging past Kocinski. And Fogarty also was getting clqser to the American duo. As the race drew to a close, it was getting clear that the Dunlop riders had an advantage over the Michelin men: not only did Edwards firmly establish him- \0 (j\ (j\ ~ \0' ~ """ C1) "2 u o 25