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World Superbike Championship Round 7: Lausitz, Germany Troy Bayliss (1) was up to his usual tricks In the German round of the World Superblke Championship. The World Champion won both races, despite a battle with his teammate Ruben Xaus (11) in one of the races. By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS By GOLD [" GOOSE !AUSITZ, GERMANY, JUNE 9 he only thing towering higher than the vast grandstand complex at Lausitzring proved to be the old combination that has occupied the royal box in World Superbike racing for so long: The best rider in the series and his endlessly competitive Ducati. Honda and Ducati have always squabbled over the crown throughout World Superbike's short history, and this year it is no different. What is different is that Troy Bayliss and the Testastretta have pulled off a start-ofseason run that shows no signs of stopping. Crashes at Silverstone can't halt his rise, impudent passes from friend and foe alike at Lausitz bounced off his psychological armor, and Bayliss ripped to another pair of wins in peerless fashion. "I think that was the hardest race of my life," he said of the first. "1 made a good start, but Colin [Edwards] squeez.ed me out into turn one and then set a really hot pace in the opening laps and I started to get worried. There was absolutely no room for error out there at all - for sure we both made some tiny mistakes but, yeah, that was a hard race." r In race two, there was a mildly stinging criticism for his teammate. "When Ruben [Xaus] came by, it was a standard block pass, both him and Colin [Edwards] seem to be very strong on the initial part of braking, but I can run into the apex qUicker. When he got alongside me, there is nothing you can do, so if you don't want to crash, you have to give them a little bit of room. " He continued: "Ruben said he had a few problems in the first race, so I Ben Bostrom (155) leads the second race Into the first comer with Bayliss (1), Colin Edwards (2) and the rest of the World Superbike field giving chase. 32 JUNE 19, 2002' cue • _ n __ 50 told him to go and change something on the bike, he did and he's just a bit too quick now. The next round at Misano should be good. Colin tested at the same time as myself and Ruben, so I expect us three to be the frontrunners in two weeks' time." For the first time in what appears to be too long, we witnessed a completely dry race day, with only gray clouds left over from the precipitative practice sessions that made up days one and two of the Lausitz meeting. After the rains and frequent interruptions of practice, a dry track was a more-than-welcome sight for all the competitors, but the classiest combination on the track still made the most of them - or at least more of them than any other. The statistics should be enough to show the way things are right now, because Bayliss took his 10th and 11th wins of the season, and his fifth double-race win so far. Doohanesque you could call it, if Doohan had ever ridden more than a few Superbike races. Bayliss' stellar season has seen him finish no lower than fifth in any race and score double-digit points in all 14 races thus far. He did not have it all his own way throughout the 24-lap Lausitz events, with Castrol Honda's Edwards twice second, and twice a temporary thorn in Bayliss' side. Edwards, the nearly man again, had his list of excuses ready - but none were needed for those paying attention to the fact that Bayliss' bike seemed to have the edge when needed. "That was hard work. I think I had a bit too much beer and not enough sleep at the Isle of Man last week and I was just floating out there," he joked. "The bike's perfect, we've squeezed all we can squeeze from it