World Superbike Championship
Round 2: Kyalami, South Africa
By that stage, the leaders, covered
by a gap from first to last of .8 of a
second, had made a slight escape,
pulling .6 of a second over the chasing bunch of Hodgson, Chili, Yanagawa and Laconi, with the latter battling against his injured leg.
Yanagawa, who had been climbing
all over the back of Hodgson but was
unable to pass, took his chance on
lap three as the Englishman dropped
back like a stone. Rallying shortly
before he was forced to retire on lap
12, black flagged for leaking oil from
a split cooler line, Hodgson had gotten himself by the blue-and-yellow
Suzuki of Chili.
Slowly and inexorably the leading
riders, and their pursuers, distanced
themselves from each other with
monotonous results.
Only small asides, like the jumpstart penalty imposed on Toseland,
(Left) Troy Corser (3)
left Kyalami with his
points lead still intact,
finishing on the podium
in third in both races.
(Above) Ben Bostrom
(155) got a great start
In race two, and stayed
out front for the first
third of the race before
Edwards (i) forced his
way past, only to retire
with engine problems
almost Immediately
afterward.
(Rght) Bayliss shows
why he's second in the
championship points standings· his aggressive riding style
earned him a pair of second places in South Africa.
(Below) Australian NCR Ducati rider Broc Parkes (36) goes
around Edwards' (i) dying Honda in race two.
enlivened the proceedings, although,
in fairness to the usual all-action style
of Bayliss and Bostrom and the lurid
tails slides experienced by Edwards
as he exited the downhill Wesbank
Corner and the fast Goodyear Sweep,
there were individual moments worth
watching.
We also had the pleasure of seeing
Edwards break Carl Fogarty's lap
record of 1 :43.224, with his best
mark of 1:43.101 coming as he
charged away to a two-second lead
over Bayliss.
Honda's happiness at Edwards'
impending race win was soured
somewhat by yet another mechanical
DNF suffered by Okada, with his bike
giving up the ghost on lap six.
Edwards, who looked to be having
tire problems with the amount of sliding he was doing, was in an unopposed lead, maintaining his advantage seemingly at will.
Bayliss, pushing hard but unable
to make any inroads, nonetheless
had a go on the last couple of laps,
but Edwards was in no trouble.
S
APRIL 11, 2001 '
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