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/128111
It may well have been not so much a Dunlop day, or a Michelin day, as a Ducati day, with Bayliss and Bostrom winners on identical bikes, but with different rubber suppliers and sponsorship packages. With dual and tri-compound tires on display, there was a bewildering choice of rubber, but the ones which appeared to work for the majority of the Dunlop guys were in such short supply that Troy Corser had to use the same set in the second part of the stopped and restarted second race, halted when Kawasaki privateer Ludovic Holon was left lying on the track for what was judged by all witnesses to be far too long, surrounded by straw bales as the pack came around for another lap. It was an unfortunate event, and one that could have been avoided with swifter action. And that was not the only contentious issue at Misano, not by a long steamy way. In race one, the yellow warning flag appeared just as Gregorio Lavilla was in Colin Edwards' slipstream at the end of the main straight. Even though it appeared as though he could pass at any time he wanted, he did so under a yellow, although it was so shortlived that he didn't know about it until he got onto the podium and accepted the prize for third - deserved in terms of gutsy and aggressive riding. (He was to get his green-tinged revenge on the Honda boys, as he watched Edwards crash out and gift him a real third place in race two.) Castrol Honda lodged a successful protest with the FlM, Kawasaki AkIra Yanagawa, Neil Hodgson and Troy Corser batUe in the first race. Yanagawa ended up f"Ifth, with Hodgson sixth and Corser seventh. accepted the decision as technically correct, if not in the interest of the rider or the sport, and the results were duly revised to show Edwards in third, behind Bayliss and Bostrom. Sporting a new helmet design at Misano, Lavilla was in top form with his answers. "I don't know if my new crash helmet design is lucky or not, but I will be using it from now on," he said. "I am bitterly disappointed about losing the podium from race one, and I didn't know that there was a yellow flag until I go onto the podium. If I had known that there was a yellow flag, I would have backed off and overtaken Colin the next lap." The once-missed glory would be short-lived for Edwards, with a crash in the second race putting paid to his chances of a trip to the post-race press conference. He ended up instead in the gravel - for the third time on the weekend - although he gamely remounted to finish ]] th and score five points. And he may well need everyone of them, as any repeat of his problems with cooking tires on his Honda will drop him behind still further, ~hile Bayliss seems able to deal perfectly well with the same rubber, allowing him to cu cle Gregorio Lavllla (6) had his best weekend of the season thus far. The Spaniard finished third in both races, though he was pushed back to fourth in race one after passing Colin Edwards under a caution flag. increase the advantage even more. Forty-seven points is a lot to make up, with races being scored off the calendar at an alarmingly qUick rate of knots. Bayliss, usually modest and understated, was positively ablaze with self-confidence and candor after the race. "Basically, I don't like to lose, so I stayed with Ben [Bostrom] in the first race and took the win: the Australian said. "I was happy enough to finish second in the second race - but I would have been much happier with first. I had a good start in the first section of the race, but the second one I got boxed in and was about seventh. So I couldn't quite get clear enough in the early stages. It's still a good result for the championship. I'll take second or third or ] Oth places if it isn't possible to win. I know 47 points is a big advantage, but there is still a lot of races to come. But I'd rather be in front by that amount than behind. Pressure? There is none." Bayliss may be feeling none but Neil Hodgson is, usually because of items out of his control. Looking good and fast after winning Superpole, the blonde bombshell was after some scalps again, and was a viable challenger to Bostrom in race two, until his rear tire simply shed half its tread into flailing strips, forcing the lad to skip and bounce around the n e _ S • .JULY 4,2001 7