By GORDO N RITCHIE
& GOOSE
PHOTOS BY GOLD
ASSEN,HOLLAND,SEPT.9
ome riders achieve World Championsh ip status, some are born
World Champ ions, and some have
S
World Champ ionship status thrust
upon them.
Well, Troy Bayliss may claim to
have had little World Champ ionship
ambitio n as a younge r rider, and he
may have had a gift thrust upon him
this weeken d by his main rival Colin
The rest of the pack gives chase to
Bayliss and Xaus, among them Ben
Bostrom , who gets the bad news from
his pit board • Plus 0, Positio n 10. It
wasn't a good day for the Callfom ian.
Edward s, but the most laid-ba ck and
ever-sm iling man in the paddoc k is
indispu tably the new World Champ ion. Deserv edly so, said even his
biggest rivals, if only for his uncann y
mix of speed and consis tency althoug h his cool head under pres-
sure was someth ing no one mentioned, but he demon strated that on
more than one occasio n this season .
How did he feel about winnin g? By
his easygo ing standa rds, he was
hyperv entilati ng.
"When I started out riding in
Britain in 1998, I didn't really think
that I would ever becom e World
Champ ion,· Bayliss said. "1 was in it
to get a good job riding bikes for a
.couple of years. I can't believe it.·
A double victory for him and a double one·tw o for his Infostra da Ducati
team (thank s to their latest desmo
protege , Ruben Xaus) was what delivered Baylis s his first-e ver World
Superb ike Champ ionship - or at least
played their part in delivering it.
Xaus, cheeky pranks ter that he is,
could easily have passed his more
senior teamm ate, and let everyo ne
know it when he shot past Bayliss in
race two, made some instant ground ,
and then slid back a little bit, indicating the place that Bayliss would be
permitt ed past again with a point of
the boot waved in the air stream .
Xaus let his feelings show before slipping back into teamsp eak.
Aprllia' s Troy Corser (3) and Suzuki' s
Pler-Fr ancesc o Chili (4) battled to the
bitter end of the second race with
Corser taking the final podium
_positi on.
cue ••
n
_ _ os
•
SEPTEM BER
19, 2001
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