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/128157
World Superbike Championship Round S: Silverstone SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND, MAY 26 ormally, the English weather has an adverse effect on the traditional pastimes enjoyed in an outdoor setting. At Silverstone, however, the frequent and often violent rain showers, which affected all of qualifying so badly, merely sparked off what was to become an unpredictable afternoon of kinetic watersports. Weather conditions conspired against all the combatants on race day, with both legs declared wet and both being affected by the cold and wet track conditions - which frequently changed with each new shower that passed overhead. So grim was the rain-reaper that the Superstock race, traditionally the first race on the card on Sunday, was postponed until the end of the second Superbike outing. Thus, the longer wait for the first World Superbike action to start, at high noon local time, had the effect of a drenched track being the backdrop for the first 20-lapper, and full wets for almost all the Superbike riders. A game of skittles ensued for some riders, including Troy Bayliss, although the World Champion ultimately salvaged a race win from an otherwise difficult race day - a day which saw him fall twice in the treacherous conditions of race one and eventually finish fifth. • Having to give best to Colin Edwards and Co. in the first running, the Australian rider scored his ninth race win in 12 attempts in the second race and celebrated with a single finger and clamped arm gesture as he stood on the footpegs - all of which earned him a sanction of 5000 Swiss Francs for "a gesture prejudicial to the sport." Edwards was, after the first exit of the mercurially brilliant Bayliss, the clear winner of the first race, although he had to fight to get away after the 26 n By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE JUNE 5, 2002· cue I e e _ so first of Bayliss' two race-one slippages put the following Edwards on the grass. The 2000 World Champion navigated his way across the slick greenery in delicate style to win from Noriyuki Haga by seven seconds. "That's some of the worst conditions we've raced in," said the Texan. "At the beginning of the first race it looked okay, but when the sun came out a bit you could see the sheets of water on the track. I nearly crashed three times in a row at the long lefthander because the bike was aquaplaning. I was thinking, 'This is not good,' and decided to slow the pace after Troy [Bayliss] crashed. I don't think it was a good decision to race, but as far as I know everybody is back in one piece." For some, like Bayliss, they were lucky that their bikes came back in about one piece. Bayliss had fallen for the second time while lapping over two seconds faster than anyone and had just rid- den round the outside of three worldclass riders in one lap before ditching his factory Testastretta for the second time. Questions were asked about why Bayliss' bike had not cut out when lying on its side, as all bikes are supposed to, but a post-race enquiry found nothing amiss and Bayliss kept his fifth place - but still lost 5000 Swiss Francs for his flamboyance over the line later on. PlayStation 2 Aprilia's Noriyuki Haga took advantage of Bayliss' problems to score an eventual clear second place in race one. "A good battle, but unbelievable conditions," stated the Aprilia rider. "You open the gas and it is so slippery you almost crash. The worst conditions I have raced in." The battles he was referring to were with HM Plant Ducati's Neil Hodgson and he had some excellent jousts with the Englishman until he decided that discretion was the better part of valor in front of his home crowd.