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/128102
pla yed by their rid er s . Edwa rds , once m ore clearly the faste st man on th e t rack , pe rfo rm e d a m inor m iracle of con ce ntra tio n to run at th e fro nt fo r alm ost th e whole race , avoid in g a huge oil sli ck which appeare d on the entrance to turn one, thinking himse lf around its swelling, spreadi ng m a s s on a lap-by-Iap basis. Concent ra tio n personified was he . And confidence, for that m a tte r. "Rac e one was probably th e hardest ra ce I have ever had in terms of m ental c hallenge to the finis h ," said the c ha m p . "It wou ld h a ve been s o easy to m ake a m ist ake. I wa sn't that wo rried a bo ut not going out to race in the second race . They a ll know who th e Kin g Ding -a-l in g is a nd th e y 're just go ing to have to beat me if they want to win th is c ha m pions hip." Ok ada , swift a n d su re- fo o t e d in trul y aw ful c ondition s , was a worthy second-place man , a tt a c king the c irc u it a nd Troy Ba ylis s hard enough at ha lf d istan ce to make the Austra lian settle fo r a lowe r podium place and (Left) Troy Bayliss (2 1) tried unsuccessfully to ho ld off Tad;Qukl Okada (8 ) for second place. The J a pa ne se ri de r was able to move around the Australian to give Castrol Honda a one-two finish on the da y. (Be low) Neil Hodgson crashed, remount ed and finished a n eventual 11th on th e day. ern most tip of Australia at th is time of year. But, q u ite why the rain Gods saw fit to expe l a whole yea r's supply of rain from their heavenly hoses at one si tting was beyon d most mere morta ls , especially as the Aussies are s till one of the most enthusiastic b unc h es of race-going human ity on the p lanet, and s imply didn't deserve th e ins ult. Or the 3D -odd marsha ls who h a d to be treated for vary ing stages of hypothermia for that matter. Yep , it was that bad. The end result of the la rge -s c a le acts of God and the actions of men was the fact that 50 percent of the field was either blown or tricked off their bikes b y the wind and rain , respectively, and the second Superb ike race was not so much cancelled as boycotted by the participants , under the influence of that walking perso nific ation of riders' rights - Troy Corser. The first race , a 22 - lap affair , s t a rt e d claiming victims early enough , although th is weekend it was to be Honda laughing at others ' misfortu ne s , as th e y took a really q uite amazing one -two . With t h e ir m a c h in e s blowi ng u p le ft, right an d cen ter recently (a n d still it is a n e lectrical pr ob lem ), th e reliabilit y the b ike s dis played in Aus tra li a wa s on ly ou tdo ne b y t he s u p e rb r id in g a n d t h e a lwa ys req u ire d sm all portion of lu ck d is c ue I n e "" "" • M AY 2 , 2001 15