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/128105
"I know me and Colin [Edwards] had a bit of an elbowing match at the entrance to th e Pa rabolica in race o ne , but I had waited a lo ng time for this race win a nd I was going to get it no matter what , " said Ba yliss . "In race two, I just got my head down after Colin and I got away from the other couple of riders , and from then on I just went as fast as possible. This does~'t exactly make up for Sugo - I was riding as hard as I could at Sugo - but to be my first win this year and my first ever double is pretty special. To do it at Monza is even better. I know I wa s s liding q uite a b it , b ut that ' s jus t the wa y I ride. It was fun out there ." T he o nly pro b lem was that he ha d to wo rk pretty damned hard for fu n and ha d a few spectacular dan c es with the law s of gravity , not to m e n tion the rum ple strip on o ne occa sion, when his mach ine too k a c hunk of it on the wa y into one of the many c hic a nes which litter the cla ssic c ircu it of Monza . Everyone , it s eems , lo ve s Monza (even wit h a horridly mod ified first chica ne), es pecially when the sun shone like it did on race da y, and the spectators (a cla imed 90 ,000 of them over the whole weekend ) filled at least some of the grandstand areas with the ir pass ion and sheer enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm in fact that the World Superbike o rg a nization sold 7500 paddoc k t ic k e t s alon e , w ith most o f the entrants seem ing to stand beh ind the pit garages, getting in the way of riders a nd mecha nics . Akira Yanagawa continued to im press at Monza, scoring third -pla c e fi ni she s In both legs. The ol dest E uro p e a n shrine t o s peed was th e perfect ba c kd ro p for, not to mention a m ain contribut or to , ra cing of t his qu ality a nd co m p eti tiveness , e ve n if those who do get left by the s lipstrea m ing wh irlwind s have little chance of getting back with the group in front . B a y li s s didn 't have a perfect preparation for th e first ra c e , ram m ing into the back of Regis Laconi 's stationary machine on the ex it of pit la n e during morn ing warm up hard enough to beat -up h is fing er a n d break the end can off Laconi's p ipe , fo rcing him back for another. Bayliss' close st competitor in both r ac e s, World Champi on Colin Edwards , ran out a close s econd in race one after an old -fashioned barg in g session entering the cruc ial last corner, the Parabolica , went the wa y of Bayliss. It was a stunning e nd to a re al wa r of o verta king , wh ich started o ut with fou r ride rs ; Neil Hodgs on and th e n Ruben Xa us s upp ly ing the c ameo ro les. A m o re cle a r-cut win in ra c e two c a me afte r Ed wards ' cha llenge fad ed in th e last fe w lap s , a s hi s t ir e s , repu t ed to be of a diffe rent com pound than Bayliss' , gave up the m etaphori c gho s t . There was also , pla inly enough for anyone to see, th e fact that Bay liss cou ld pass on th e straights a t will , whe re a s Edwards could not. "J ha ve n 't been that us ed to having other riders going faster than me in a stra ight line much re c e ntly and th at wa s very hard t o ov ercome ," con firm ed Edwards. "Troy rod e two good races today , so there is no taking that awa y from h im . But I got 40 points out of it." Th e relative lack of speed from th e Hond a led m any to be liev e th at th ey ha d reverted bac k to an o lder, s low e r, cu e. e Both races came down to Troy Bayliss (21) ¥s. Colin Edwards (1) battles, and both times Bayliss came away the winne r. but mor e re li a b le RC5 ! t o tackle Monza 's flat -ou t blasts. Third on both occas ions was the Fuchs Kawasaki of Akira Yanagawa , who overcame his teammate Lavilla in race on e and hi s c o u n t r y m a n Tadayuki O kada in ra ce two . Okada had reputedl y d is located his s houlder in h is rac e -o ne cra s h of his Castrol Honda , bu t th is proved to be a false ru mor. This is the fo urt h stra ight race at Monza in wh ich Yanagawa has scored a t h ird pla c e, m aki ng o ne wonde r what he has to do to e ither im prove or demote hims e lf. "I know th e bike is ver y fast in a s tra ight line a nd now we have set it u p to be fast in the co rner a s we ll. So I am ve ry ha ppy to make the podium here ," he said . Lav illa had a m ixed day with a fine fourth pla c e , but had a terrible -looking c rash in the s ec ond e ve nt, whe n h is mach ine highs ide d and la nded o n top of h im after bounci ng th rough the g ravel at the Curva Gra nde. Luckily, the s afet y ba rr ier to o k th e br unt of the fa llin g mach in e , and a lt hough Lav illa was stretchered away and wa s badl y bashe d , he wa s later c hecked o ut to be basically okay. Regis La co ni p roved to be the be st of the thre e Ap rilia riders present a t Monza. with a fifth in race one - aft er Troy Co rse r crashed and then retired in race two to score no poi nts at all. Wild card rider Alessandro Antone llo finished ne ithe r race, re tiring his RSV with th e latest e ngi ne d e ve lo pm ent pa rts fitt e d . He also suffere d fro m a vibratio n th roug h t he fron t fo rk so severe th at he would h a ve sto p ped for that in itsel f. No t a happy day for t he Aprilia men a ll ro und, a fter Corser's cra s h in race o ne , when he bra k ed too n e _ s • MAV23,2001 '15