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/128164
World Superbike Championship Round 8: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seea bad luck, because Hayden crashed in front of me. It was impossible to miss him." Hayden escaped from the secondrace miscue and remounted to finish 13th. The Bostrom Brothers, Eric on his Kawasaki and Ben on his L&M Ducati, were sixth and eighth in race one and fourth and fifth in race two. Eric was particularly impressive in race two, leading the best in the world in the early stages as he strutted his stuff on his home track. Fading tires and maybe just sheer race overload did him in by the end, as he finished five seconds behind Edwards. "The bike felt real good during the AMA race yesterday, but we had problems with chatter in Superpole and again during this morning's warm-up session," said Bostrom E of (Left) The Fab Five: Edwards, Bayliss, Hodgson, Haga and Hayden go to war in the second of the two races. (Below) Early in the second race, Eric Bostrom (32) led the world, not giving an Inch to the likes of Edwards and Bayliss. watch, looked like an accident waiting to happen. It finally transpired in turn two, under braking, and he came worryingly close to taking out the then-leader Edwards. "I am completely angry with myself because we could have made a big result - instead of we have nothing," bemoaned Haga. "In the first race probably I was riding over my limit, but the second race was just Mr. Haga, meet Mr. Hayden. Hayden (69) tucked the front end on the brakes for tum 11 In the second race, crashed, and took Innocent bystander Haga (41) down with him. 12 JULY 24,2002' cue •• n _ vv s race one. "The front end still wasn't right for the first race, and it was only after we stripped the forks in the interval that we discovered that I'd busted the valves landing a big celebration wheelie after my AMA win yesterday. What an awesome feeling it is to lead a World Superbike race in the second. It felt like I was in front for an eternity, when in reality it was only for six laps or so. It felt real good to know that, for that short time, the World Champion was behind me. Obviously, I'd have preferred to finish on the box, but I was happy enough with fourth. I can't wait for my next World Superbike outing at aschersieben now." Big Ben was not too happy with another disappointing World Superbike weekend, especially as he scored a double here in 200l. "In race one, I chose the same tire as Neil [Hodgson], which was the one we'd been going well on all weekend, but it didn't turn out so good in the race," he explained. "I tried to ride 100 percent all the time, but just couldn't do anything about the guys in front. In race two, the tire was way better, but it didn't stop my chatter problem, which I only had today and not the rest of the weekend. It was like riding on an egg and it got worse as the race went on." Englishman James Toseland and his HM Plant Ducati had a great ride in race two to finish sixth, his best-ever Laguna result, with Pier-Francesco Chili taking seventh on the NCR Ducati. "I'm reasonably pleased with the result, especially considering the events that have led up to it," said Toseland. "My lap times were consistently good and although it's a long race - 28 laps - I didn't have any problems maintaining the high level of concentration that you need at this circuit. I had a good fight with Frankie in race two, but I never looked back, even when he was closing on me." The most consistent local wild-card rider proved to be Blimpie/Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates, with seventhand eighth-place finishes to his credit in front of a record home crowd of 98,000 (a three-day crowd count).