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/128121
World Superbike Championship Round 1 1 : Oschersleben, bike race. My team told me to go out and win the race or go home'" said the 23-year-old Xaus. "There is no attention on Superbike racing in Spain because of GPs, but I have always loved four-strokes. Now 1 want to be the first Spanish rider to win the Superbike Championship. I had to concentrate really hard on the last few laps of race one when I was following [Colin] Edwards, because I did not want to crash again when in a podium position, like I did in Monza." Just to make Xaus' weekend even more notable, it was his race win that· delivered Ducati the points they needed to clinch the manufacturers' trophy for the 10th time in 14 years of global World Superbike competition. Only Honda and Ducati have won the crown prized most by the factories, and until Aprilia floods the championship with RSVs, or lOOOcc By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE OSCHERSLEBEN,GERMANY,SEPT.2 R uben Xaus was the history man this weekend, for more than one reason. His rampage to a nine-second race win in the second outing was not only his first taste of victory champagne in the Superbike class, but the first occasion on which any Spanish rider had become a conquistador of the World Superbike world. Even once. He also stole Colin Edwards' race-one lap record, setting the new mark of 1:27.669 on lap four, after he had broken away from the pack chasing the fleeing Castrol Honda. Xaus was pleased about it but, surprisingly, not doing handstands down the pit lane. "For sure it is fantastic to be the first Spanish rider to win a Super8 SEPTEMBER 12,2001 • a U a erman I • n • ...,. Japanese fours come forth in significant numbers, it might just stay that way for a while. The Big Two World Superbike factories dominated at Oschersleben, with Edwards scoring a notable raceone win on his new and lightly modified (single exhaust pipe) Honda, holding off that man Xaus (who enjoyed his first trip to a World Superbike podium shortly before taking his first win). "I thought there was no way I was going to race to win today because I had two sets of tennis elbows from all the chatter we had been experiencing in practice," said Edwards after race one, "but a win always masks out the pain. There was nothing I could do about Ruben in the second race, even though I really tried hard. He just flew past and sucked off the paint when he passed. I thought he would be able to get two or three more laps out of The second Wortd SupeJ1)ike leg at Osche,.leben gets underway with Colin Edwards (1) leading Regia Laconl (55), Ruben Xau. (11), Aldra Vanagawa (5), Nell Hodgaon (100), Troy Corse, (3) and the real of the Wortd SuperlHke pack. the same tires I used and that's what seemed to happen." Third in race one was Ben Bostrom, his run of top-dollar rides ending as a single fistful of five. "I didn't get off the line the way I wanted to in race one and by the time I got up to third the guys in front were just gone," confessed Bostrom, still clearly happy to be in the hunt for the overall title - albeit mathematically. "The only good part was when I passed [Akira] Yanagawa and [Troy) Corser at the same time in the first corner. There is no way to save your tires around here, so you've got to push hard or everyone else will eat