World Superbike Championship
Round 8: Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca
By
GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 14
r;\ fter practice, it looked like there
W would be the mother of all battles
for the win at Laguna Seca. With the
championship battle inexorably heading the way of Ducati lnfostrada's
Troy Bayliss - yet the venue being the
home track of Castrol Honda's Colin
Edwards - it certainly appeared that a
war on wheels was about to develop.
Especially as Edwards, not Bayliss,
was on pole, and Bayliss was hurt
after a big practice highside.
It actually developed into a strange
race day in some respects, a predictable one in others. The statistics
say that Bayliss and Edwards took a
win apiece during what was a highly
competitive Laguna Seca championship meeting. What they don't say
is that, once more in a race, Bayliss
toyed with his prey before slaughtering any chance Edwards had of tak-
After disposing of Edwards, Bayliss (1)
managed to hold back his teammate
Ruben Xaus (11) In the first of two
10
JULv24, 2002'
cue I
_
n
__ s
thrillers
at Laguna Seca.
A three-day crowd of 98,000
spectators witnessed Wortd $upertJike
racing at its very best at Laguna Seca.
How's this for a lineup of stars? Colin
Edwards (2), Troy Bayliss (1), Nell
Hodgson (100), Nortyukl Haga (41), Eric
Bostrom (32), Nicky Hayden (69), Ben
Bostrom (155) and the rest of the crew
head toward tum two.
ing his first Laguna win. Instead,
Bayliss took his own first Laguna
Seca victory, and the opening podium featured three Michelin riders
once more (the second race, two out
of three). Another Michelin bogey
track overcome as the French Vulcanizers storm inexorably on. Bayliss'
win in race one also gave him the
second-best record for race wins in
any World Superbike season, 14, as
he approaches the absolute record of
17, set by Doug Polen.
"First of all, a big thanks to the
Clinica Mobile, because they really
looked after me this weekend," said a
battered but unbowed Bayliss. "The
best thing about this win is that we
scored a Michelin one-two-three at
Laguna. My back is a bit sore after
the crash, but it's okay. You just forget about that when you win. I just sat
behind Colin and waited, but then,
