Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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deligh ted Haga . " B ut fi na lly it ca me together and I g ot my firs t podium in the wet. Rac e t wo wa s f an t a st i c . I rea ll y c a n say I enj oy ed i t. I don ' t usu ally e nj o y Assen , but t he eng ineers d id a good job here." A n ep ic con test w it h Tro y Bayliss in ra c e two was a cl assic rac e at a cl assic circuit, with th e fun only end ing wh en Bay liss suffered his second cras h of th e d ay - when what looked li ke a fl ui d le a k f ro m h is Du c a ti caused him to bin it in big sty le. "I p ush ed a bit too hard in the first race and t he crash wa s inevitab le ," said a ru eful Bayliss. "I st ill don't rea lly kno w my way aro und Assen t h at well. I h a d a fa n t as tic b at t l e wit h Hag a i n rac e two , but t h e ra in had bro ug ht sand o n to the circu it, so it was very slip py in some places - like the fina l chicane where Frankie [PierFr ancesco Chili ] fell. M y foot slipped off the peg shortl y before I fell off in (Above) Troy Corser (3 ) kept hi s title hopes alive w ith a fourth- pl ace finish in race one. Aaron Slight (1 1 1) put in strong performances· finishing fifth In both races · but took valuable points away from teammate Edwards in race two. (Left) Neithe r Pie r-Fra nc e sc o Ch ili (7) nor Troy Ba yl iss (fa r right) w e re able to do anything about NorlyukJ Haga's (4 1) Assen dominance - bo th ri ders DNF'ed in both leg s. rac e two, and I ran wide o nto the wet grass... once m ore t he two D uc at i Infost rada bo ys h ad a larg e d ifferential in t he ir relativ e fortun es . I am suddenl y on the pod ium her e, exc ep t that, like Vale nc ia , I kn ow t he track very well. " Much more of th at and there m ay be a po ssi bility that Bo rj a will st ay in th e Infost rada team - altho ugh it was int eresting to note th at As sen is a cir- T h is tim e th ough, it was B ay liss holding the short end of t he st ic k, and Bo rj a, whose second- and th ird -p lace fi nis hes wer e easi ly h i s b est ca ree r Wo rld Superbik e pe rfo rma nces , wh o ca me u p sm ellin g of roses. B ig r ed o nes, to m at ch hi s leath er s. "I tr ied to win rac e o ne, but I went c ui t ( u nlike m o st o t he rs Bo rj a has enco untered) the Spani ard has in t i m at e k now ledge of. At t h e b eg inn i ng of th e day, i t loo ke d li k e we we re about t o see a nev er -end in g and ma st e rfu l p erfor m a n c e f ro m t he Worl d Ch amp i on elect, as Co lin Edwar ds used h is new - of th e tr ack in the atte m pt so I deci d ed to sett le for sec ond , whi ch was m y sty le Mi chelin ra in t ir es to domin at e in th e fas hio n he had been pr omi sin g fi rst podium of the yea r. In rac e tw o , Bay li ss and Chi li cr as hed so I d idn't want to ri sk too m uch on a day t hat w as very impo rt a nt for m e and t he fo r so m an y rac es - bu t had not d ispla yed sin ce Monza in May. " I k new co m ing her e th at we need ed two w ins and noth in g less," said . Edwards after th e first rac e. "My p lan His ea rlie r cra sh c a me thr ough o ver - ex u be ran ce i n t he rai n , an d team . T her e is no special rea so n why h im m er c il essl y and beat him b y a sli m bu t te lling m argi n. "I' m pleased to ta ke m y best result of th e y ear and it gives m e hope for the last co up le of roun ds: Sli ght said . No te am o rders in th e Hond a camp th en . Sligh t wa s hav ing a g ood day by hi s most re c en t sta nd ard s, w it h his fo u rt h and fi fth leaping him over the soon- t o -be-go ne Katsuaki Fuj iwara in the cha m pionship tab le , ending t he day in eighth -p la ce ov erall. A strong ride to second in rac e two for Kawasaki's A k ira Yanag awa made him another cheery works rider, equa ling his best 2000 res ult - thus far . "I prefer t o ra ce in c onditions like the second ra ce and I am v ery happy to eq ual my best race of t he ye ar so far ," Ya n agaw a s ai d , " I c o u l d p u ll away from [Ju an ] Bo rj a, but it w as very hard work . I'm fi nishe d ." His t ea m mate , Greg ori o La v ill a , suff ered t w o D NFs - o ne d u e to a cras h in th e wet and th e ot he r du e to a m y stery rear -wheel vibration prob lem . "I felt a bad vibra ti on from th e rear o f t h e ma ch in e in rac e t w o a nd I pull ed in so that we could ch ange the rear whee l," t he Sp ania rd ex p lained . "T hen I co uld n' t sh ift ge ar s properl y an ym ore so I ga ve up ." A n even less happy man w as T roy Co rse r, who fe ll a m assive 38 po ints be h ind Edw ard s aft er a p oor Super p ole le ft h i m n i n th away in b oth races . (He c ou ld hav e h ad a worse da y , t h o u g h , l i k e h i s t eammat e wo rk ed o u t fi ne and I used th e new 16.5-in ch Mi chelin ra in tires ." A w in by al m ost 10 second s was an im pressiv e margin in such co nd itions , and with Edwards fa st in quali fy ing m an y ex pe cted a doubl e, wh at e ver t h e w ea th er i n th e f oll ow- up rac e. A poor c ho i c e of rea r t ir e scup p er ed hi s c ha nce s of a m ax im um po in t s sc o re and , with Hag a t ak in g th e win , Edwa rds is n ow o n ly o ne second -place fi nish ahea d of th e bat tli ng J ap ane se. " I w en t fo r a w rong r ear t ir e and pa id the pric e in rac e tw o ," Edwar ds sai d. " I f elt l ike t he machine was a gear out eve ry whe re . It's di sap pointin g fo r t he cha m p io nship gap to close up ." E d w a r d s ' cause was h e l p ed n ot much by lo si n g fo urth p la c e t o h is teammate A aron Sligh t, wh o atta cked eye I e n e _ S • SEPTE M BER 13 , 2000 27