W orld S u p erbik e Cham pi o n ship
F in a l R o u n d : B r a n d s Haten
B y G O RDON R IT CHI E
P HOT O S BY G O LD & G O OSE
BRANDS HATCH, ENGLAND, OCT. 15
~ s rac es go, the second bite at
C7T the Bran d s H at ch c he r ry in
2000 will not be rem embered as o ne
of the classics , but some asp ects of
the weekend will tak e a long tim e to
di minish in th e m emory . Some, like
the at rocious p ractice wea t her, th e
bi ti ng co ld o f race day , the l ack o f
Noriyuki Hag a, and the g lo rified mud
bat h 75 ,0 0 0 b r av e souls w ade d
throu gh to wa tch th eir heroes, we re
far from pleasant.
O the r s , like a f ir st career Wo r ld
Superbik e wi n for the n ear -v et eran
John Reyn olds, or the send- off given
to Carl Fog arty , or the q uit e aston ishin g W orld Sup er sp o r t race , w ill be
more fo ndly rem em bered.
Aside from the o bvious enjoyment
the B ritish crowd had in seei ng their
boy s go well , in race one at least , the
various sideshows were finally overshadowed by the cro wn ing of the new
King of four -str o k e ra ci ng 's w ild fron ti er , the man from D avey Cr ockett's
hom e state , Texa s' ve r y o w n Coli n
Edward s . W ear ing go l d - in sc ri b ed
Wo rld Superbi k e Champio n leathers
and all.
Stum b lin g o v er h is n ew e rm ine
ro bes in race one, wh en it loo k ed as if
he wo uld prove to be the high -stak es
w inner of the tire gambling in dry in g
c ondi tions , Edwards finally took the
ultimate salute with his eighth win of
the 2000 season .
Hi s crown , which must hav e fe lt
li k e it was made of thorns at many
stages of the season , finally nestled
into pla ce ni cel y after he summoned
all his strength to lift the mighty
champ ion ship trophy over his head.
And th e end c a me in the way he
wanted , proving to be a w inner who
w ins races .
"I ran in te rmediates in race one,"
Edwards sa id . " It was defin itely the
righ t ch oice, even if I did fa ll off. Th e
back end had been comi ng arou nd
there a few times before. I'd m ade m y
m ind up that th e only way to go into
the winte r was with a win in race two. I
was so happy at the end of that seco nd
race . D ays like tha t do n't co me alo ng
too often, and it's been fantastic ."
Texan Colin Edwards finally got the
chance to celebrate h is World
Championship following his race win
in the second leg at Brands Hatch.
The series is over and Edwards Is the
2000 World Superbike Champion.
1 2 OCTOBER 25.2000 '
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