Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ready to make a move on the last couple of laps. Then I missed a gear and made a real mess of Siberia on the 19th lap and lost the ground to Troy. 1 tried my best to close the gap again, but just ran out of laps. After two good days of practice and qualifying, I was certain the race was mine." After the second race, Edwards was equally forthright. "In race two, I lost a bit of rear traction," the Texan said. "I could see Troy was having similar problems, so I knew it was going to be about seeing the checkered flag. I ran a good race pace in practice yesterday, but that was at 29 degrees and the hotter weather today probably changed things." At this stage of the season - two down 11 to go - Bayliss is beginning to look like he will not just be hard to beat, but almost impossible to overhaul; such is his ability to ride around problems and opponents alike, even if few of the former have traditionally affected the number-one Ducati team in recent years. Baylisss' fans, all 57,000 of them over the race weekend, went duly ballistic at his wins, frolicking in the 30°C-plus temperatures. As well they might after last year's drowned out festival of disappointment and misery. The initiative that pushed the race forward three weeks was thus justified, and rewarded with three days of unbroken, glorious sunshine. Phillip Island was once more a Michelin track, especially in the heat, allowing Ruben Xaus to overtake the best of the Dunlop runners twice and hang on the coat tails of Bayliss and Edwards - for a period at least. Fading tires and his hard cornering style did him in eventually, falling back slowly to a safe and somewhat uneventful third places in each race. "It was difficult because I got not so good a start - it was a normal start," admitted Xaus. "It took me a long time to pass all the guys. Ben [Bostrom] was in charge he started really, really well and it was difficult to pass him, so they left me a little bit - maybe three seconds and a half. I recovered one second a lap but then I had no slipstream, no reference any more and I also got Ben, and I don't know who else, just by pushing a bit. I tried to go further and further forward, but I destroyed the tire. The tire was working well [until then], but I damaged it a bit qUicker than the others; maybe my style of riding is to blame, and then I just confirm my third place. I think it is a great result next to my teammate and Ducati. I think if we keep that concentrating at every race we can be fighting for the top three at the end of the year." HM Plant Ducati's Neil Hodgson and LE.M Ducati's Ben Bostrom swapped fourth- and fifth-place finishes, some way back from the podium trio on both occasions, with Bostrom winning the drag race to the line in the first race and a dogged Hodgson making it count in race two. really like to race to win. It takes a lot of fun out of it," said Bostrom, listlessly. PiayStation2 Aprilia factory rider Noriyuki Haga, the convincing double second-place finisher at the opening round in Valencia, suffered brake problems in race one this weekend and was forced out of the race. He improved to sixth in race two, but appeared to be struggling with rubber even more than the Ducati Dunlop duo in front. Both his chosen tires did not match Haga's obvious personal speed, and his general bike setup, leaving him disappointed if not visibly upset. "It wasn't a great day for us, and I thought I'd be able to come back with richer pickings," he said, ruefully. "But we've only just begun and I'm sure not going to let this get me down: this is only the second of 13 races. Aprilia's got a fantastic engine and a great frame, but the high temperatures put too much strain on the rear tire." Haga's countryman Hitoyasu Izutsu scored a fine sixth place in race one, but fell from grace by crashing his factory Kawasaki at MG corner in the second leg. He has already proved to have speed and aggression and his second-race showing, rolling forward like a small-scale bank of thunder, augurs well for the rest of the year. "It was good to finish as the top four-cylinder rider again in race one, but I was a bit disappointed with my crash in race two," said Izutsu. "I was The nice for the win in the first leg came down to Just two: BaylI. . ¥s. EdwlIrds, with Bayli.. coming out on top. With his pair of home-soli victories, Troy Bayliss became the first rider in Wortd SuperbIke history to win the first four races of the season. Both riders were mightily hacked off with their second division status, but could do little when their tires were the main cause. Hodgson was more verbose than his American cousin. "It was apparent at practice that it was a split between Michelin and Dunlop, we knew the Michelins had a slight advantage," he said. "It was two separate races and I wanted to win my race, which was the Dunlop race. I was so up and in control, but I had a big slide at turn two on the last lap. Bostrom came underneath me and I still thought pretty confident that I would pass him back on the last lap, but I didn't get the last couple of corners right like I thought I would. I couldn't do anything about it so I was really annoyed. The plan was for race two to make amends for that and win the Dunlop race, which I did. It was a good battle and the best race of the year - obviously for me the best result. " Bostrom was more restrained in his vocabulary, but equally disappointed. "Race one was very long and I was happy to finish fourth - but I only cue •• n e _ 50 • APRIL 3, 2002 15

• Cover