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/128622
World Superbi k e C h a mpi o n s h ip R o und 9: L a g u na Sec a R a ceway us ex pe c ted in th e p ost - Fog a rty RC51 e ra . On e thin g is c e rt a in though, in te rms of World Sup erb ike vs . GPs , Am eri ca (which is st ill not sc heduled to get a GP until 2002) has no c ho ice b ut to come down o n the s ide of Su per b ike - b o t h Do m e st ic a n d Imported - more with every season that passes. RA C E ON E (Above ) Much to the delight of the partisan crowd, Bostrom (15 5) busted a m ove on Haga (41) t o take the lea d ea rly in the second leg. (Be low) Corser, however, ended up w inning the race after climbing back from a bad start. Haga repassed Bo strom for second p lace w ith the American e nding up t hird. manager, Wolfgang Pe rtner, dubbed Tum five "The Austrian Comer." On t he s urface th e La gu n a Seca ra ce ha d it a ll - a la rge crowd , perfect Ca lifornia weather, two d ifferen t winners a nd a na rrowi ng of t he gap at th e to p of the cham p ions h ip po ints sta nd ings . Wha t we re ver y notice a ble by the ir absence were motorcyc les . With s ev e ra l "regular" riders mi ss ing , and no fast AMA guys joining the party , the re were o nly 17 and 16 bikes c irc ulat ing at the e nd . Not what co uld be called a st rong field. And with th e AMA guys setting faster la p times (d espite Hag a 8 J ULY 19, 2000 ' c u e I e and Bostrom break ing the prev ious World S uperb ike reco rds in cons ec u ti v e ra c e s ) t h er e we re mutteri ngs fro m so me o f th e Am e ric an crowd ab out just wh ic h w a s t h e better se ries . No t th e fu ll story of co urse, but a gli mpse in to t h e real o ne m a ybe . Prim a rily beca use t h e te chnical differences be twe en t he AMA spec bikes , the c ost of com peting in an othe r e ve nt outside the ir o wn c h a m p ions hi p , p lus t he usua l fa mil iarity of th e local s with a very ta x in g a n d tricky c irc u it , mea n th a t any future a ma lga mation of the two race serie s n e vv s in o ne event - s e para ted by a co m m on la ng uage th oug h th ey a re .. may be d iffic ult in any case. With four World rou nds left to do , o r three if Imola is a bust , ther e is still time for anyone of the top fou r to win t h e c h a m p io n s h ip , es pecia lly n ow t hat the battl e has g ot tig hte r at the top . Great stuff for t he n e u tr al s , b ut despite his p odium and good po ints fo r his fourth pla c e , Edwards is tak ing o n a ll th e c h a racte ris tic s of a ma n under s ieg e , with e ithe r his bik e , tires o r m otiv ati on lett ing down his c ha m pionsh ip c a m pa ign. Not what a ny of Ho m e b o y Ed ward s hol e s h o t th e o pe ne r, with the Castrol Honda ma n looking dete rmined to t ake hi s, as a lways, p rom ised double win . It was , however, h is gr eat 2000 s eason rival , Ha g a , who ac c epted hi s ch all eng e a n d went with h im, a tte m p t ing a n ove rta ke on th e exit of th e Corkscrew on ea ch of th e first two la ps . His se c ond try was a s uccess , but Edw ards j us t h ook ed h im ba c k o n t he fro nt strai ght. Corse r, d own in s ixth after one la p, tried to pass Ba yliss at th e la st turn bu t found hi s fell ow Australian in a fighting mo od. By lap five Haga had just squeezed p ast Ed ward s a n d th en set ab out mak ing a small but s ignifica nt .4 of a se co nd br ea k o n th e Honda , whi ch wa s provin g to be more c um be rs ome th an th e li t h e Ya ma ha in th e Co rkscre w s ecti on . "No ri wa s do ing s ome things with h is bik e th at I ju st co u ld n' t do ," Edwards a d mi tt e d. "If I h a d tri ed to take th e line he d id o ut of the Cork sr ew and into the next co rn e r I wo uld hav e los t th e front. I knew that a goo d s t a rt wa s ess ent ia l h e re, bu t I j us t co u ld n' t s ta y w it h No ri a fter h e p a s s ed me . I w as aware o f Ben [Bo stro m ] a nd T ro y [Co rs e r] be hind me all the la st few laps , but the race was over fas te r t ha n I t ho ug h t. I t houg h t it was on ly a bou t h a lfway thr ou gh whe n t he c hecke re d fla g ca me o ut." Bo s tr o m , a p oo r sta rte r dow n in ei g hth, b e g an re-p a s s in g h is m a in co m pe tit io n , an d by lap eigh t had shot p a st S light , Ya na ga wa, Chil i, Cor ser a nd wa s saved th e c hore of p a ssi ng Ba yli s s whe n h e c ras h ed righ t in front of Cor se r, al m ost br ing ing t he Ap rilia down with him . "I wa s so clo s e to him I was co nvinc ed that I was going to hit h im just wondering wh ich part I was going to hit first ," Co rs er said. "I m ust have m issed his he ad by inc hes ." Vitto G uares c h i suffered a m ild conc uss ion afte r c rashing out on th e sa me lap , and failed to m a ke the race two sta rt. Bo strom capitalized o n Ba yli s s ' remova l t o ove rhaul Co rse r in th e aft e rmath , wh ile Ha ga had eked out a st eady four -se c ond le a d o ve r his mai n rival Edward s , setting a new la p rec ord of 1:26 .5 11. The c h a s e for E d wa rd s wa s on , with th e Texan one second ahead of Bostrom, with Corser right on his ta il,