Those who did venture to Europe's
oldest permanent race circuit were
treated to the curious dichotomy of
close, competitive racing at the sharp
end of both events, and yet one man
had the speed, balls and machinery to
make each race his own property when
the black-and-white cloth was hung
out at the climax of the 18-lap races.
lnfostrada Ducati's Troy Bayliss,
the double race winner and new laprecord holder, was almost perfect once again. Despite that pesky
upstart privateer Neil Hodgson and
his HM Plant Ducati winning the
Superpole competition, and being
faster than all in regulation qualifying
as well, Bayliss had it all under control, even if race one was awarded to
him in contentious circumstances.
Both Bayliss and Castrol Honda's
Colin Edwards ran straight on at the
infamous first chicane, outbraking
themselves on the approach. They
both allowed Hodgson and NCR
Ducati's Pier-Francesco Chili the luxury of overtaking them as they recovered the proper track and their combined composure, but for Hodgson
(and his interpretation of the pre-race
rules), they were now both going to
be penalized for time and all he had
to do was stick with them and he
would be the winner.
Wrong - because the Englishman could only manage second on
the track and second in the classification, and in fairness, the prerace memo from the Race Direction did preclude the possibility of
automatic punishment for anyone
who ran on in the dead-stop first
corner.
Hodgson made no criticism of his
fellow riders, but was irate nonetheless, clearly aggrieved at losing his
best chance of a win so far.
"I really thought I'd won the race,"
he moaned. "A memo had gone
around before the race saying that a
(Top) The big three at Monza: Bayliss
leads Hodgson and Edwards in front of
a packed house.
(RIght) Hodgson, Edwards and Hagahad an epic batUe for second place In
the second race, with Bayliss having
cleared off from their scrap.
cue
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MAY 22, 2002
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