WSB Results From Laguna

Excellent performances were put in by the series regulars as well as some American wild-card riders...

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) and Colin Edwards (Honda) took a win apiecein a superb day of racing at a scorching Laguna Seca, California in front ofa record 98,000 fans. In race 1 the Australian headed home his DucatiInfostrada team-mate Ruben Xaus, who earned a well-deserved second place,while race 2 saw an extraordinary three-way battle in the final few laps asEdwards, Bayliss and Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) fought it out for the win.

Troy's win, his first-ever at Laguna Seca, takes his season total to 14 andhe now leads Edwards by 53 points with four rounds still to go.

Bayliss, still sore after his Saturday crash, shadowed his Honda rival for22 laps in race 1 before he and Ruben charged past the Texan to complete aDucati Infostrada 1-2. "First of all a big thanks to the Clinica Mobilebecause they really looked after me this weekend. The best thing about thiswin is that we scored a Michelin 1-2-3 at Laguna.

"My back is a bit soreafter the crash but it's OK, you just forget about that when you win. I justsat behind Colin and waited but then when I started to have a go at him itwas difficult to pass, then when he did make a mistake Ruben was there aswell. It makes me really happy to win at Laguna, which hasn't been very kindto me in the past."

In race 2 Troy hounded Edwards for 22 laps beforebriefly getting his nose in front but was then involved in a fight forsecond place with Hodgson as Edwards took the win.

"That was an awesomerace, both Neil and Colin were riding really good. Anyway things panned outfor themselves and I did the best I could. I only made a couple of points onColin today but that's what it's all about and I'm happy with a win and asecond place".

Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) rode the best race of his season to finishrunner-up behind Troy. "We got a good result in race 1, I was second and it's good for my championship. On Friday I wasn't satisfied with the set-up andwasn't riding very well, so I took things calm. We did a lot of work onSaturday then in free practice I was in the top 5, Superpole was good and Ifound a really good tyre and set-up for the race. These points are goodbecause they made up for the ones I lost in Misano."

Ruben then blotted hiscopybook with an unfortunate crash during the installation lap for race 2.On the exit to Turn 2 he had a big slide and finished on the gravel but keptcontrol of the bike. Everything seemed OK but probably some gravel went intothe air-box and the throttle remained open at the Corkscrew where Rubencrashed out.

A disappointing weekend for Bostrom (Ducati L&M) who was unable to repeathis last year's race-winning form. The American could only finish eighth inrace 2 and went slightly better in race 2 with a fifth position.

"In race 1I chose the same tyre as Neil, which was the one we'd been going well on allweekend but it didn't turn out so good in the race. I tried to ride 100% allthe time but just couldn't do anything about the guys in front. In race 2the tyre was way better but it didn't stop my chatter problem, which I onlyhad today and not the rest of the weekend. It was like riding on an egg andit got worse as the race went on".