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/128175
World Superbike Championship Final Round: Imola, San Marino From the brink of elimination, Colin Edwards does the improbable tently, but chasing a phantom nonetheless. After the second race at Laguna, which Edwards won, things started looking up for the Texan, but not more than a few degrees of inclination. Eight races later, and nine straight wins to the good, Edwards clambered up the same steps that Freddie Spencer did in 1983, to lift his crown as the new World Champion - albeit in a diffe-rent discipline. The Spencer analogy is sound, because after winning the first race at lmola, Edwards found himself in exactly the same situation as Spencer did in '83. He needed to merely finish second behind Bayliss to take the title, and he had the possible spoiling rider from his rival's team a constant reminder of the potential fragility of his points lead (this time Ruben Xaus, and not Eddie Lawson) who could possibly ruin the weekend for Honda's lone hope. With Bayliss acutely aware By GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOS BY GOLD & GOOSE ~OLA,ITALY,SEPT.29 li t may have not started out as any- thing other than a somewhat processional series of races, but even the most hardened anti-Superbike cadres must agree that the 2002 season ended up as something of a minor classic. After the first race at Laguna Seca in July, the job was a bust for Colin Edwards. The ground he had made back up on runaway championship leader Troy Bayliss in some of the previous rounds was seemingly long gone after a home race in which he didn't even finish second. Some 58 points shy of Bayliss, well over two whole race wins worth, Edwards was fast, but not fast enough to catch the gritty Aussie, who was beating him on the win score at that stage by a massive 14 to two. He may have been chasing hard, chasing consisl' OrTnRJ:R. Q ?nn? ~ •• .... • _ of this need to beat Edwards and hope for his would-be magician's assistant to come through as well, it wasn't going to be easy for Bayliss, even if he did his best and won. As it panned out, the bit players Xaus and Neil Hodgson remained just that and, of course, the sight of the top two men battling it out at the front was only to be expected. Especially as it was another Michelin benefit, with Edwards and Bayliss the usual benefactors. The class, quality and sheer determination of the leading duo's display was maybe hoped for, but in reality, only dreamed of. The racing between the top two was true c1as.s, and brought the strong 97,000 (weekend) crowd to its feet. The racing ultimately brought Edwards to the top step of two podiums as the new champion - a sweet reward for his never-ending self belief and the efforts he's put into such boring but essential tasks as tire testing (Abovel Troy Bayliss (lett) and Ruben Xaus (right! are the bread in a World Superbike Champion sandwich. and the psychological solitude lonerider status. How hard has it been to slug out a Honda Championship win, with a bike only supposedly as good as Bayliss' since the Suzuka 8 Hour in August, and with a ton of Ducati riders getting in the way on occasion? His only "teammate" has been his mirror image, his soulmate in opposition, Troy Bayliss, with whom he has had more in common than any rider this year. They have both smashed through any previous points ceiling, with well over 500 points on their slates. The season-long rivalry between Edwards and Bayliss was even maintained right until the final corners of the second 21-lap race of the day, with Edwards the winner and thus the