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
~-'I -, --, ,r-) ''1 . _.. -' ~ -..~ World Superbike Championship ...-.~ - road race ~ _._,---~- Final Round: Imola, San ~---- Ruben Xaus (11) tries to hold back Hodgson (100).and Nori)'uld Hap (41) In the first race. He did Just that, finishing third, with Hodgson fourth and Hap fifth. eighth straight win on the board - and knowing that it would leave him in a commanding position, needing only to finish behind Bayliss in race two. The intensity of racing between the two continued thereafter in the second 21-lapper, with occasional flurries from the once-more out-tired Dunlop guys, and the looming specter of Xaus playing his own small part. Edwards' last race win came only after a fearless lap from both men, during which buddies Colin and Troy risked all, almost touched and/or fell three times, and simply attempted to beguile and bully each other into submission. Neither was having any of it from the other, and only a mistake at the last significant left of Tosa gave Edwards a micron of breathing space in which to exploit his cool head and balanced race package, allowing Bayliss no chance to come back before the second flag. Bayliss' teammate Xaus attempted to get on terms with the duo during the race, to assist his team leader, making the tension in the mid and later sections of the race intense in extremis. Bayliss was clearly trying to slow the pace to allow Xaus to catch up, and although the Spaniard never quite managed to reel in Edwards, it was a close thing on one occasion, as Edwards pointed out. "I knew what game we were playing out there, and I knew Troy needed Ruben to finish in front of me. When Troy was leading, I could see my pitboard, and first it was three seconds, then two, and then one, and I thought, 'Jesus Christ, this is no good'. So I got my head down and passed Troy and upped the pace. We played around for a while and I realized that I either put in the pass or take us both down trying because I had nothing to lose. It wasn't like I wanted us to crash, it was just good, hard racing." For good, read breathtaking stuff, gambling with full risk and repeated record-braking speed from both men. James Toseland (52) continues to prove he's one of the best. The young Brit finished sixth in both races. Here, he holds off Pier-Francesco Chili (7). 14 OCTOBER 9. 2002' cue •• n e _ s Edwards gambled best, and was crowned champion in a year when it simply seemed impossible at one stage. Imola was the packed backdrop for Edwards' second championship win, his ninth race win in succession and his 11 th of the year. He lost more battles (14 wins for Bayliss) but he won the more important war. Xaus (as in race one) finished third, some way down, with PlayStation 2 Aprilia's Noriyuki Haga overturning the first race result to put himself fourth, with Hodgson and his HM Plant Ducati fifth. The Dunlop men were, as usual, split into the have as and have nots have got a full factory bike on Dunlops or haven't got a factory bike on Dunlops. Hodgson doesn't, yet still held Haga off to take overall third with a margin of safety running to 48 points. Hodgson's teammate James Toseland was sixth in both races, and seventh in the overall championship, behind only one non-factory machine. AJstare Suzuki's Gregorio Lavilla went seventh in race two and eighth in race one, making him easily the top four-cylinder rider on the day. Fifth in the championship after Imola, L&M Ducati's Ben Bostrom was an unhappy competitor, in ninth and 10th, and leaving the big pond of the World Superbike world to cross the pond to the lucrative but lesser body of water in AMA racing. Many will be sad to see him go, but it was obvious for some time that his talent, or motivation, or focus, had left sometime before the man himself. He hopes to be back, and most hope to see him back - but only the way he was in 2001, not 2002. Local Ducati hero Pier-Francesco Chili and his NCR Ducati was seventh in the opener, a retiree due to electrical problems on his big twin in the second outing. Eighth in the series, we may have seen the last of Chili,