Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Edwards to slip away at a lightning pace. Xaus made his move stick on Yanagawa's Kawasaki down into the left at turn one, but by now Edwards was a full 2.449 seconds ahead of the Spaniard, who was pulling away gradually from Yanagawa, Corser, Bayliss and Laconi. Xaus relentlessly pursued Edwards, so that at the end of lap four, he'd cut the gap to 2.29 seconds. Corser was also on the move, easing past the Kawasaki of Yanagawa at the end of the start-finish straight. On lap six, Edwards - reading his pit-board - began to respond, by opening the gap a little to 2.6 seconds. Meanwhile, Bayliss had also passed Yanagawa down the main straight before taking Corser's Aprilia coming out of the chicane onto the back straight. Finally, around six laps into the race, Bostrom was also starting to make up for an average start from the second row of the grid, shadowing Laconi's Aprilia. It took him another few laps to finally pass him, once again down the start finish straight into turn one. By the end of lap 12, Edwards led Xaus by 2.4 seconds, with Bayliss third, Corser fourth, Yanagawa fifth, Bostrom sixth, Laconi seventh, Okada eighth, Hodgson ninth and Chili 10th. Coming across the line at the end of lap 13 came the move of the race from Bostrom. As Yanagawa slipstreamed Corser and his Aprilia, Bostrom gained the benefit of a double slingshot to take them both into the first left-hander. Corser had to pick his bike up half way around the first turn, losing his two places to Bostrom and Yanagawa. Chili also managed to get past Hodgson for ninth. By the end of lap 14, Edwards' lead was being eaten into by Xaus again, with the gap down to 1.9 seconds. The next couple of laps saw the pair battling to take the upper hand, although it seemed as if Edwards had it, keeping the gap to around the twosecond mark. On lap 18, Edwards led Xaus, Bayliss, Bostrom, Yanagawa, Corser, Okada, Laconi, Chili and Hodgson, with Chili really starting to pile the pressure on Laconi. Then disaster struck Bayliss, the championship leader. He held his arm up and began to coast in with a clutch problem, as the field streamed past. The next few laps saw the gap from first to second cut to around 1.7 seconds, and then to 1.28 seconds with seven laps of the 28 lapper to go. That's as close as Edwards let Xaus get, as the Texan began to take control again, eking his lead out back to a 2.3-second advantage with three laps to go. By now, Edwards was leading Xaus, Bostrom, Yanagawa, Okada, Chili, and Hodgson - who'd just slipped through on Laconi. As the field began the final lap, Edwards had a full three-second lead over Xaus, which he held to take his first race win since Lausitzring. RACE TWO Race two saw Edwards again take the holeshot. Laconi on his Aprilia slipped into second, with Xaus third and Yanagawa fourth. Polesitter Hodgson got a much better start in the second race - although he still only converted pole into fifth place on the first lap. On the penultimate corner of the first lap, Xaus slipped up the inside of Laconi's Aprilia to cross the line in second place. As they crossed the line for the first time, Edwards had managed to open up a 1.31-second advantage over Xaus, who had begun to quickly claw his own gap on the chasing pack of Laconi, Yanagawa, Hodgson, Bayliss, Bostrom and Yanagawa's teammate Lavilla. Yanagawa looked threatening as he tried to sniff out a way past Laconi going into the second chicane. As they entered the fina I turn on to the start/finish straight, to begin lap two, Hodgson went wide, allowing three riders through, demoting himself down to eighth. A lap later, as they flashed across the line, Edwards' lead had been cut by half a second to just eight tenths. Lap four saw Bayliss putting increasing pressure on Yanagawa, leading the Australian to finally pass the Japanese rider down the back straight. It was not a good lap for Yanagawa's teammate either, as Lavilia lost his seventh place to Hodgson's GSE Ducati on the last corner of the lap. By the end of the fourth lap, Edwards was coming under increasing pressure from Xaus, with the Spaniard right on the exhaust of the Castrol Honda through Oschersieben's many twists and turns. On lap five, he was looking for a way past on the back straight, after just setting a new lap record. Finally, as they streaked across the start/finish straight to begin lap six, Xaus found a way past, going into the first turn. A lap later and Xaus had pulled out almost half a second on Edwards. Behind them were Bayliss, Laconi, Yanagawa, Bostrom, Hodgson, Lavilla, Toseland, Chili, Okada, Stephane Chambon and Corser's Aprilia, that seemed to have engaged reverse. On lap II, Chili's mid-race return turn to form saw him demote Lavilla, while Giovanni Bussei was blackflagged. At the end of that lap, Xaus still led, with Edwards, Bayliss, Bostrom, Laconi, Chili, Lavilla, Yanagawa and Okada in his burgeoning wake. The Japanese riders were starting to fight together, with Okada finally getting the better of the Kawasaki rider along the back straight. Okada then started after The next couple of laps saw things stay static, until Bostrom came through on Yanagawa on lap nine - again on the drag across the start-finish line, everyone's favorite place to pass. With Bostrom closing, Laconi felt the heat and went wide at the Hasserider turn, but managed to get it back on line without losing out to the American. Back at the front, Edwards was starting to get back on terms with Xaus, but couldn't find a way through to get back in the lead. f'!ll®[J{}@] @[JfJ[iJ@fJfj)®f?f1 ©[Juff1[JiJiJ[JJfJ®[Ji)~[JufJ[JJg fX1®[JfJ[Ji)@] ® {P@[f@U \!ll!JfiD~g A superb Supersport race went the way of Fabien Foret, the pole· position man, after a stunningly close 28 laps of action, during which the lead was shared by anyone of five riders at any time. Foret's win was his first in World Supersport, after many close attempts in the past. The biggest story, beyond the personal joy of Foret at least, came behind the leading trio, as Paolo Casoli retook the championship lead after a lackluster ride to fourth place. The reason for his move back up was Jorg Teuchert's move out of the race altogether, being clattered from behind when he and Katsuaki Fujiwara were part of the eight-man leading group. Bunched close together, Teuchert appeared to lift up a bit as the riders in front went into the comer a little slower than before. Despite losing the title lead he came out of the fracas in better order than Fujiwara, who suffered a severe enough concussion to rule him out of the Assen race next week. second in the race, after some close moments which included hitting his own team· mate, was Pere Riba, on an identical Honda to Foret. Some eyebrows were raised when Foret did not allow Riba past at the end (given their relative championship positions), but the team appeared to be cool about the whole affair. Lone Kawasaki gunman Andrew Pitt led on the last few laps, but a double whammy of yellow-painted Ten Kate machines lost him the chance of his first Supersport race win with three to go, forcing him to settle for third. His rear tire was in too much of a state to put up more of a fight on the final few comers. His teammate lain Macpherson crashed out of the race on lap 12, with his position in the Eckl team for next year now under further question. Paolo Casoli may have regained his World Championship lead after he finished fourth, but he looked nothing like his awesome early season self. James Whitham, his teammate, made it plain that he could have passed him at any time; such was his lap-record pace. His new record of 1:30.806 was well inside Jorg Teuchert's previous best of 1:31.947 and was set when he was breaking away from the second bunch of riders, chasing the leading dragons. Whitham made it look good, but it was plain he was frustrated to have to sit behind Casoli. In a bizarre twist in the tale of the race, Casoli later declared that he had not been able to see his pitboard, because he was concentrating on the race itself, and when the winner crossed the line he felt that there were still two laps to go. Just as well for Casoli's championship hopes that Teuchert exited as he did. The tall German was distraught at Oschersleben for the second year in succession, feeling aggrieved that he had been taken out again in front of his home fans. Christian Kellner, Teuchert's Wilbers Suspension Yamaha teammate (and the cause of his literal downfall last season) finished sixth, only 2.2 seconds off the winner's time after a race which he led at one point. Close and frantic, Supersport racing was a joy to watch at Oschersleben. The trio of Fabrizio Pirovano, Karl Muggerldge and Christophe Cogan caught back up to the leading bunch in the later stages but could not pass any of the top six and had to watch helplessly as the flag came out, while they were only a second back from Kellner. Adam Fergusson. so close to the pole was down in tenth. His stand-in Alpha Technik Castrol Honda teammate, Steve Plater, crashed out on lap two. Dean Thomas proved to be the fastest Ducati rider, in 11 th, after his teammate Vitto Guareschi crashed into his fellow Italian, Vittorio lannuzzo, on the opening lap. Despite jamming his hand in the Ducati's back wheel, lannuuo did not suffer any broken bones in what could have been a much nastier incident. Twelve riders failed to finish the race, with only 20 making it across the line. "I tried to break everyone behind from the first lap, but it wasn't possible because they were so fast." Foret said. "I decided to conserve my rear tire a bit for an attack on the final few laps and that plan worked out very well. I was happy to follow Andrew Pitt for a whlle because it was easier to follow him than Pere Riba. To win for me is fantastic because before I have been in the position of knowing I could win and then losing. So it is good for my head to know that now I can win when it is possible. I cannot wait for Assen now." F8blen Font (71 . . . . the Worlel Supe...port I'lICe _ route to his t1rst_ victory In tile dRs. cue. _ n _ _ S • SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 11

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