BRILLIANT BAYLISS TAKES A BRACE OF WINS FOR DUCATI XEROX
TEAM AT VALENCIA – DOUBLE PODIUM FOR LANZI
Valencia (Spain), Sunday 23 April: Troy Bayliss notched up
the 24th and 25th victories of his World Superbike career
with a double win at the Valencia circuit as the Ducati Xerox
rider and his fellow Australian Troy Corser (Suzuki) put on
a spectacular display of racing today. The Spanish Round saw
two similar races and identical podiums with Bayliss’s
young Italian team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi grabbing third place
on both occasions for his first podiums of the year.
“Everything went really well in both races” declared
Troy. “We thought about changing the tyre for race 2
but we didn’t and it was the right decision to stick
with the hard tyre. I didn’t think Corser was going
to be as quick as he was in that second race, I thought it
would be the same as the first but he went really well. I
know that the limit of my tyre on the rear is exactly 35.7
or 35.8, but it stays good for the whole race and when I saw
him pulling away it was disheartening. I just kept my eye
on the board and did every lap like a qualifying lap, just
hoping he was going to run into the same sort of problems
as the first one and he did. Then once I got there it took
me a long while to put it together and get past him. A big
thanks to the Ducati Xerox squad, Shell Advance and all our
other sponsors, with who I want to share the joy for this
double win today!”
“Two fantastic podiums today!” declared Lorenzo.
“I am pleased for Ducati Xerox and for me obviously
because this podium in race 2 is worth the win at Lausitzring.
It wasn’t a victory for but it was just as hard-fought.
I pushed hard from the first to the last lap, never gave in,
and to keep up with Abe I had to struggle because he had a
superior pace at the mid-race distance. Then I caught Haga
and managed to pass both of them, Haga on the penultimate
lap and Abe on the last lap. It was incredible! Troy and I
were the only ones to lap in 37.0 in the last few laps, so
the choice of tyre was the right one to keep up the same pace
until the very end. It is a perfect result for me in view
of Monza in two weeks time!”
RACE 1: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox); 2. Corser
(Suzuki); 3. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox); 4. Abe (Yamaha); 5. Haga
(Yamaha); 6. Kagayama (Suzuki); 7. Xaus (Ducati); 8. Laconi
(Kawasaki); etc. RACE 2: 1. Bayliss; 2. Corser; 3. Lanzi;
4. Abe; 5. Haga; 6. Nieto (Kawasaki); 7. Walker (Kawasaki);
8. Laconi (Kawasaki); etc.
POINTS (after 3 of 13 rounds): Riders –
1. Bayliss 125; 2. Corser 103; 3. Toseland 86; 4. Haga 64;
5. Barros 62; 6. Pitt 58; 7. Lanzi 47; 8. Abe 40. Manufacturers
– 1. Ducati 126; 2. Suzuki 113; 3. Honda 91; 4. Yamaha
84; 5. Kawasaki 40; 6. Petronas 4.
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