Results From the German World Superbike

Results World Superbike-Supersport, Oschersleben, Germany

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 11 / WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND10
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2002; OSCHERSLEBEN, GERMANY

Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature: 21 degrees centigrade
Attendance: 73,000

GERMAN JOY FOR EDWARDS AFTER DOUBLE VICTORY

Colin Edwards powered the Castrol Honda SP-2 machine to victory in bothraces of Sunday's 11th round of the World Superbike championship at thetight and twisty Oschersleben circuit in Germany.

Two wins for the American have left the battle for the 2002 title wide openas he now trails leader Troy Bayliss by just 29 points. Hard-ridingAustralian Bayliss took two second places in Germany.

Edwards was in determined mood in the opening race, smashing the lap recordthree times in the first five laps as he opened up a comfortable two-secondlead. He eventually crossed the line 1.7s ahead of his title rival.

"I knew the race for me was going to be all about the start," explainedEdwards. "I made the start I wanted then tried to open up a big enough gapto be able to control the race. I've felt confident here all weekend but a28-lap race seems to last forever so I was intent on not losing myconcentration. I can't do any more than win races and look behind to seewho's second even though I know Troy's always going to be there!"

Bayliss was forced to work hard to get the better of fellow Ducati riderNeil Hodgson, eventually passing the British rider with six laps remaining.Hodgson took third place aboard his GSE team machine and remainsconsistently the best Dunlop-shod rider.

Ben Bostrom watched team-mate Ruben Xaus crash out of fourth place withfive laps remaining, without injury, before taking advantage, crossing theline ahead of fifth-placed Pier-Francesco Chili.

Young British rider James Toseland Hodgson's team-mate pipped Aprilia'sNoriyuki Haga into the final corner to grab sixth place. Mark Heckles, onthe Castrol Honda Rumi kit SP-2 added to his points tally with 15th place,bouncing back from a spectacular crash in Saturday morning's finalqualifying session.

Edwards was out to repeat his victory in race two and the 1000cc V-twinrider made an almost identical start, edging out the opposition into thefirst corner. And once Edwards received the message from his pit crew thatBayliss was in second place the Honda star set an electric pace.

He again broke his own lap record three times in the first five laps withthe final record being actually faster than his Saturday Superpolequalifying time.

Bayliss battled hard but Edwards, armed with a new specification motor, atone point lapped almost one second faster than his rival as he stretchedhis lead. His new lap record is 1.1s faster than the old record set bylast year's Oschersleben second race winner Xaus.

The second race victory was Edwards fifth successive win, his seventh ofthe year and the 27th of his World Superbike career all achieved since hejoined Castrol Honda in 1998.

The victory also increased a run of successive podium finishes to 21 forthe 28-year-old from Conroe, near Houston, he commented: "The run we've hadis credit to the team everyone from HRC to our Showa suspension guy havemade this happen."

He continued: "All I can do is keep winning and keep the pressure on Troy.Honda, Michelin and Castrol are all playing their part with technicalimprovements and making my life easy. It's Assen next Sunday and I'm readyto keep my run going. I got the signal after the first lap that Troy was in second so I had tojust try that bit harder and open a bigger gap at the front. After that Iwas just concentrating on counting down the laps. It's great to get the winand I'm pleased for the team, when Troy was winning every race at the startof the year it was no fun for us."

Bayliss eventually crossed the line 3.8s behind Edwards with Hodgsonspending the second half of the race holding off Haga as the Briton onceagain took third his fifth successive podium finish.

Behind Haga came Xaus, bouncing back from his first race crash to takefifth after moving through from eighth place in the opening stages of therace. Heckles narrowly missed out on the points, ignoring the pain fromchest injuries sustained in his Saturday crash to cross the finish line in16th place.

Italian Yamaha rider Paolo Casoli took his first race win of the year inSunday's thrilling World Supersport championship race at Oschersleben asFabien Foret took his CBR600 Honda to an eventful sixth place to maintainhis lead in the series.

Winner Casoli was ninth on the opening lap and battled through to takevictory from Frenchman Stephane Chambon the former champion who bouncedback into championship contention with his 20 points for second place.

Katsuaki Fujiwara took third place and benefited from championship leaderForet's crash. Foret crashed while leading with a lap to go but remountedto take sixth place and retain his lead in the 12-round series.

"It was a stupid mistake," admitted Foret. "I went too hard into thecorner, ran wide a little but as I turned in the front wheel tucked under.There was only just over a lap to go and I should have stayed on, even itmeant settling for second or third place."

Foret's lead in the championship was reduced to three points, fromFujiwara, with just two rounds to go. Fourth place in the 28-lap battlewent to reigning champion Andrew Pitt with his fellow Australian KevinCurtain fifth.

Van Zon Honda's Chris Vermeulen was a last lap retirement from sixth placewhile Honda's Karl Muggeridge crashed, without injury, while holding sixthplace on the 11th lap.

Riders Championship Standings:1 Troy Bayliss 481, 2 Colin Edwards 452, 3 Neil Hodgson 289, 4 Ben Bostrom 229, 5 Noriyuki Haga 228, 6 Ruben Xaus 204, 7 James Toseland 149, 8 Chris Walker 134, 9 Pierfrancesco Chili 127, 10 Gregorio Lavilla 104, 11 Juan Bautista Borja 63, 12 Lucio Pedercini 60, 13 Hitoyasu Izutsu 55, 14 Eric Bostrom 49, 15 BrocParkes 47.

Riders Championship Standings:1 Fabien Foret 148, 2 Katsuaki Fujiwara 145, 3 Stephane Chambon 135, 4 Andrew Pitt 126,5 Paolo Casoli 112, 6 Christian Kellner 88, 7 Chris Vermeulen 74, 8 James Whitham 71,9 Jurg Teuchert 71, 10 Iain MacPherson 54, 11 Alessio Corradi 54, 12 Piergiorgio Bontempi 48, 13 Kevin Curtain 43, 14 Karl Muggeridge 33, 15Werner Daemen 28.