Ducati Infostrada's Ruben Xaus the local rider best-placed to take a
popular win at Valencia - had a torrid
day, finishing fifth in the first event
and crashing while closing in on the
leaders in race two in the last corner
on lap seven. His dejection walking
away was plain, and his championship start is now less than ideal for
a rider beginning the season at his
home venue.
Juan Borja was the best Spanish
rider overall, finishing 11th and
eighth on his private Spaziotel Ducati.
Not too bad for a rider who was nearly not racing this year at all.
HM Plant Ducati's Neil Hodgson
filled the fifth slot in race two, having
been sixth in race one. He was seriously miffed after the opener, but still
left the day fifth overall in the championship battle.
"Its very frustrating," Hodgson
said. "With my experience at this circuit, my bike and my tires I can't
think of any part of the track where I
can go any faster. I'm not happy, but
there was nothing else I could do. At
the end of the day, after race two, I
suppose fifth is a good result at a
track I don't like."
Hitoyasu Izutsu gave the Kawasaki
Racing Team an encouraging pair of
results, with a seventh in race one
and sixth in the second. The Japanese rider is proving to be a factor
already and is already one of the
favorites to compete in GPs next season on the new Kawasaki MotoGP
machine.
Gregorio Lavilla joined his countryman Xaus on the list of retirements
in race two, clashing with HM Plant
Ducati's James Toseland and running
off track on his Alstare Suzuki. He
had finished eighth in race one, but
compared to his podium finish in
(Left) After getting clear of the
HagalBostrom battle, Bayliss was able
to set it on cruise control and easily
take the victory.
(Below) Neil Hodgson (100) finished
the day with a sixth and a fifth in the
two races, while Ruben Xaus (11) took
a fifth in race one and threw it down
the road for a DNF In the second race.
100-percent effective races, complaining that his machine once again
felt different from the one he had
grown close to in the off-season test
schedule.
"It was hard work out there,"
Edwards said. "We couldn't get the
thing working in the first race and the
setup we achieved here in the tests
did not work. In the first race, I
couldn't get the bike to steer, but we
made some changes and fixed it a little, but we've still got a lot to do."
cue' e
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MARCH 20, 2002
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