thing that nobody has realized up
until now is that we've been able to
run a softer tire than the Ducatis all
weekend. Whatever tire we've put on
the bike has worked, and for the first
six, seven, eight laps, it was really
good. It's fairly obvious that the bike
is better now and I can sit in the draft
of Troy or Ruben [XausJ and it's comfortable. The changes may be too little too late, but all I can do is win
races."
On the scene of his 2001 championship victory, Bayliss was an
(Left! In an amazing tum of events,
Bayliss threw away his championship
points lead with a crash In the second
leg.
(Below) Edwards' two victories and
Bayliss' crash means that Edwards
leads the title chase by one point with
Just one round remaining In Italy on
September 29.
at the start of the year, so Colin can't
have another one!"
He was wrong, for a change.
The fact that Edwards' Honda was
also easily the best bike out there,
per se, was other factor which maybe
clouded the judgment of Bayliss and
others in his team in qualifying, especially when Ducati was the machine
of choice for all at the start of the
year.
As Edwards described, he also had
another advantage, after stating the
usual platitudes. "I always felt I could
win, but that opening lap was a bit
dicey. I knew once I was in front I
could make the break, and I was kept
in touch with Troy's progress - in
fact, I had just about every detail
except the lunch menu on my pit-signal
board! I couldn't fault the machine at
all, it ran perfect and, despite a bit of
trouble with tire selection yesterday,
Michelin came up with the goods. The
impressive second in race two, but
watched in immediate anger and
mental anguish as his 24-point prerace points advantage disappeared in
one millisecond in the second leg, as
he highsided without injury from his
Ducati on the exit of the De Strubben
hairpin - his second such crash of the
weekend.
With Edwards taking his seventh
straight race win (a World Superbike
first) his ninth win of the year, and his
23rd consecutive podium, the American rider eked out a single-point lead,
502-501, over Bayliss at day's end.
The scene is now set for the closest of grandstand finishes at the final
round in (mola.
Only these two remarkable riders
are in the running for the championship itself, although HM Plant
Pier-Francesco Chili had his best race
of the year, finishing second to
Edwards In the second race.
cue' •
n
e
_:IS .
SEPTEMBER 1 8, 2002
17
