Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

World Superbike Championsh ip Round 8 : V a le n c ia, Spain Troy Corse, {31leads Ben Bostrom {1551. Norlyukl Haga (411 and the rest of the Wortd Superttike pack in the first race of the Spanish round of the series, held In Valencia, Spain. B Y G ORDON RITCHIE PH OT OS BY G O LD £, G OOS E VALENCIA, SPAIN, JUNE 25 y the this season's previous standards, it was a dull day, but by any other standards the Spanish rou nd of the World Superbike Championship was another intriguing contes t of wills be tween the o utsiders and the more established men. It looked for a while like it was going to be another Misano, with Troy Corser simpl y steaming off i nt o a clear lead in race on e , only shadowed in th e early laps by the new ly pa int ed black bomber, Ben Bostrom. "T he plan was to get to the front of th e pack and stay there and it worked perfectl y : sa id Corser. " I d idn 't go that quick early on , then I decided to go a bit faster than I normally would and that got me well ahead . I' m sure I could have gone faster. " Cors er ' s w in b y eight seconds bodes well for ti g ht eni ng the champi o nshi p gap to Edwards, but i n race B 12 JULv 5 , 2 000 ' c u e I e two his m att bla ck expr ess came right off th e ra il s and he only managed a fift h place, lo sing two of the points he'd earlie r clawed ba ck . Tires, a dodgy g earshift mechan i sm and warmer temperatures were blamed . For the second -successiv e weekend, the A merican star of the World Sup erbike show was not the Wo rld . Championship leader Edw ard s - but instead it was Bostrom . In stunn ing form , the Ca lifornian rode to a pa ir of p opu l ar and w e ll -ridden se cond pla ces . " I wa sn 't su rp rised to l ea d th e race, and wh en [Troy ] Corser ca m e past me I was only able to follow , bu t n ot pass h im : Bostrom said aft er race one. He was a s happ y a s No ri yuki Haga, Who took third in race one and a grea t win in ra ce two, pa ssing Bostrom's faster Ducati with his usual audacity . " In race one I cou ldn 't co ntr ol m y rear slide and I lo st grip after half dis n e _ s renee. " Haga said . "A ft er 10 laps of th e second rac e , I was in second pla c e an d I f elt I was lo sing some grip agai n. I c o u ld n 't pass Bostrom on th e stra ights so I spent the next few laps work ing out wh ere I cou ld get by him. I realized that I co uld get him o n turn fiv e o r six . I was satisfied with my pass an d ju st kept my head down . After such a b ad F r id ay and Saturd ay , I felt really goo d to win tod ay. " It was Ha ga 's second win of the seaso n - in post ban terms - and it was c ertainly a joy to watch , even if on ly he and Bostrom slugged it out at th e fr ont. The other Troy, Bay li ss this time, was as loose and energetic as eve r, m issing th e podium in ra ce one bu t scoring a thi rd in race two . "I got 2 9 points at a track I don 't know very well , so I' m pr etty satisfied abo ut that," Bayliss said . "We go to Laguna next and then Brands Hatch, wh ich I know very well ." Bayliss ' p erforma nces f irmly eclipsed those of his teammate Juan Borja , who ran off tw ice , and got dubbed as " d ang e ro us" by at least o ne of the c o m p eti t o r s (A lessand ro Antonello , w ho he hit from beh ind ) , and ge nera lly had a bit of an off day in fro nt of his home crowd. "In race one I made co ntact with Antonello and ended up in the grav el ," Borja said . "I got going again, but I decided to retire. In the second race I ran off again an d l o st about four seconds. I ke pt going at a hard pace and that at least let me know that I ca n be competitive at the front when I don 't make any erro rs . This race was im port ant fo r m e, m ay be too important ." His disappointing results were sad for th e se ries ' ho pes of pe ne t ra ti ng i n to S p a i n , but B ostro m h a d h is ch an ce to i nheri t the right to light Borja 's c el ebrat or y f irecracke rs, wh ich boomed aro und th e amphitheatre of Valencia in practiced style.

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