Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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World Superbike Championship Round 10: Brands Hatch Edwards does the double in England Making up a 39-point differential (with a possible 150 left to fight for) may be a hard task for any rider, but it is a lot more achievable now than his precarious position of two weeks before. He was pleased with his weekend's work, of course, but explained that it didn't come easy, especially in race one. "I made a bad start, popped the clutch and ended up spinning the rear tire on the rim, which caused a small vibration that got bigger as the race went on," Edwards said. "This is the first time this weekend that we've raced in these sorts of temperatures, so I just tried to stay smooth, not spin the tire too much and stay in control, BY GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD AND GOOSE UDNGAELD,KENT,ENGLAND,JQLY28 The Ducati domination was com2S prehensively broken at Brands, even if it did take another big prerace crash for this year's semi-automatic winning machine Infostrada Ducati's Troy Bayliss to be knocked off his workbench; once literally pre-race and twice figuratively during the races. The small matter of a couple of excellent rides from Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards was an equally significant contributing factor, just as the championship rounds clicked into double figures. And Edwards assuredly increased his number of consecutive podium finishes to a whopping 19. Because of this - the maximum score he achieved for the first time since Oschersleben in 2000 Edwards continued to pile the pressure on his main championship rival. Edwards' Brands Hatch double was his third straight win in World Superbike, following on from his recent race-two success at his home circuit of Laguna Seca. In the friendly crucible of his adopted home (Edwards rides for a British-based team, and Brands was a blistering 84 degrees after all), the Texan extended his wins for the season to five and cut into Bayliss' previously impressive championship lead. Edwards (21 is on a roll, winning three straight races, Including doing the double at Brands Hatch. Hodgson (1001 and BaylIss (11 give chase. 30 AUGUST 7, 2002' ." U ." • e n __ s and it all worked out. At the start of the race, I was all over Neil like a rash, which is unlike me as I normally sit back and set up the pass, but I was feeling good and just wanted to get out front and go." Doing it at Brands has special significance as well, like a GP win at Jerez, or Assen. Not only is Brands a true test of any rider, it was once more chocked out to the gates, negating any fears that because of MotoGP's increasing popularity in the UK it would somehow diminish SBK's. There's room for both series in the UK it seems, and hurrah to that. Edwards' wins also took his personal Brands Hatch SBK winning total to six, three more than any other rider in the history of the event in Kent. Nell Hodgson 11001 got the holeshot in race one, leading the pack Into Paddock Hili Bend. He's followed by Troy Bayliss (partially blocked), Colin Edwards (21, and Michael Rutter (541. The big three (Edwards, Bayliss, and Hodgson) slotted back into operation again this weekend, with Dunlop boy Neil Hodgson (choosing a weird, very-soft-compound-front/ hardest-possible-compound-rear tire combination in the opener) in with the fight in both races. So much so that each of the 25-lap races was led by Hodgson for a short time, contested race-long by him (and Bayliss in number), before Edwards eased past and maintained a safe margin all the way to the checkered flag. Hodgson was on pugilistic form at his home track, but had no answer