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/128146
World Superbike Championship Bayliss even survived a second race scare, when he was forced to use his second-choice machine, rather than his number-one unit, which developed a coolant leak on the warm-up lap. This, as much as anything, made Bayliss' confidence soar, as the rest of the season approaches rapidly. Race one was a full-distance affair, 23 laps of hell for the left-hand side of tires around the stadium sized Valencia track, which packs in a lot of turning and precious little rest for the riders through its 4.005km (2.48mile) length. Bayliss, fully fit and totally charged, was awarded the win in race two after leading on lap 20, shortly before-the race was stopped when gravel was dragged onto the circuit by Mark Heckles, a Superbike rookie making a name for himself he did not expect - or desire. To Bayliss, it was the second drama of the afternoon. "The second race showed how good my team is. We had a problem on the grid so I had to swap to my number-two bike, but there was no panic and it all turned out pretty sweet. 10 the race, Ben and Norick [Haga) were going By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE VALENCIA, SPAIN, MAR, 8·10 eigning World Champion Troy ill Bayliss commenced his title defense in more than perfect style at Valencia, winning both Superbike races from Noriyuki Haga's Aprilia, around a sun-kissed Ricardo Tormo Circuit. The stadium may have been relatively sparsely populated (given that the crowd was claimed to be 41,000 all weekend) but for Troy Bayliss - he could still have been in a world of his own, racing in front of millions. He was simply on a different planet compared to bis peers, and controlled both races in his own style - from the front and riding hard, just how he likes it. "I got a good start, but myself and Ben [Bostrom) came pretty close to hitting on the way to the first turn,' said Bayliss. "My team have done a great job with the bike. It felt that I just had to sit on it and the bike did the rest. The only problem I had was in the last tum where I lost concentration. I'm an aggressive rider and sometimes this takes over and I have to be careful.' rn 22 MARCH 20, 2002' cue • e n __ s qUick early on and I was getting frustrated and making silly mistakes. I knew Colin was coming so I had to make a move, which I did, and was able to lead when the red flags came TI"OI' BaylIss (11. Ben Bostrom (1551. NorIyuId IIlIga (411. and Colin Edwards batIIed in both races at Valencia. The out." vantage he suffered compared to Bayliss as well. "It was a difficult race the first one, but fun. It's good to have Norick back in Superbikes and we had a good battle, unfortunately our fight was fun but not fast, on some laps we were doing high 36s and Troy just left us. In race two, I found it harder to pass Norick. His lines were good but I just couldn't match the way his bike fired out of comers. My tires were well off by that stage and I was sliding around a lot. I got passed by Troy on the straight. Does his bike seem to be faster than mine? Yeup." Bostrom had to settle for leaving the Valencia weekend with his name in the record books for setting the fastest race lap ever at Valencia, of 1:35.306, in race two. Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards, the other American in the field, was third in the second race, swapping places with Bostrom after race one. Edwards was again suffering from having experienced pretty good testing in the off season, and less than Bayliss' closest competitor, consistently, proved to be Noriyuki Haga, with the reformed slide-meister now opting to use the power and positive tracking abilities of his Aprilia to its full potential, rather than force it from its harmonious path. But he was only second best on the day, and he knew it. "My feeling for the first race is that it's very tough," Haga said. "After six laps my tire starts sliding and while I fight with Bostrom, Troy gets away. I enjoyed the race very much. For the second race, we changed some settings and the bike is a little better. The problem is that Troy is too fast and I cannot keep up with him.' Ben Bostrom (third in race one on his Ducat; L&M 998F02) could only manage fourth in the second leg, after he used up his tires trying to pass Haga, whom he claimed was holding up their joint escape from Baylis~. He was distinctly unhappy about what he reckoned was a speed disad- World Champion took both wi....