BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) BACK WITH A VENGEANCE TO TAKE BRILLIANT
RACE 2 WIN AT ASSEN
Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) came back with a vengeance to
take a brilliant race 2 win in glorious weather conditions
at Assen. The 70,000 strong crowd were treated to some fantastic
racing on the day and Troy bounced back from a disappointing
result in the first race, when his front tyre went off with
six laps remaining, to take his second win of the year from
James Toseland. The margin of Troy's victory, his first since
Phillip Island in March, was just 0.009 seconds and it was
earned with an incredible dive inside his Honda rival at the
final chicane just metres from the line.
"It was an incredible race and there was lots of action.
I take my hat off to James, he's riding stronger and is getting
more and more confident all the time" declared Troy.
"I'm happy to take a win but I'm also very frustrated
because in the first race I thought I could possibly have
taken a win and we really struggled in the last six laps with
the front tyre. We just made a mistake and didn't use the
hard tyre but then we did use the hard tyre in the second
race and the last three laps I was really struggling again
so we have to put our heads together and work a bit on the
setting because you just can't ride like that all the time.
We were both over the limit in those last few laps, I was
trying to cover my lines, slowing down in some corners and
speeding up, and James was doing the same. At the last chicane
the win could have been anybody's!"
Lorenzo Lanzi ran well with the leaders in both races but
suffered similar problems to his team-mate in the first encounter,
in which he finished fifth and then crashed out of fourth
place four laps before the chequered flag.
"The crash in race 2 was my fault because I made a mistake
while I was pushing really hard to try and catch Max"
declared Lorenzo. "I didn't want to miss out on the podium
because I had an excellent feeling with the bike and was going
well. Then I had a slight problem with the rear tyre, I was
losing in the first sector and then gaining on Max in the
second and third split, there were just four laps to go and
I just tried to catch him. Pity, but the important thing is
I wasn't hurt. In race 2 I used the same tyre as Troy and
I was going much better than in the first race. Pity because
I was running at a good pace and could have scored a good
result. I didn't realise that Ruben had crashed alongside
me, I just heard the noise when he tried to pass me on the
inside. However I'm pleased because I found a good feeling
with the 999 once again and I'm looking forward to the next
round at Monza."
Race 1: 1. Toseland (Honda); 2. Haga (Yamaha);
3. Xaus (Ducati); 4. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox); 5. Lanzi (Ducati
Xerox); 6. Biaggi (Suzuki); 7. Kagayama (Suzuki); 8. Nieto
(Kawasaki); 9. Rolfo (Honda); 10. Neukirchner (Suzuki). Race
2: 1. Bayliss; 2. Toseland; 3. Biaggi; 4. Corser (Yamaha);
5. Rolfo; 6. Fabrizio (Honda); 7. Neukirchner; 8. Nieto; 9.
Smrz (Ducati); 10. Laconi (Kawasaki).
Points (after 5 of 13 rounds): Riders -
1. Toseland 196; 2. Biaggi 164; 3. Haga 144; 4. Bayliss 128;
5. Corser 114; 6. Xaus 99; 7. Lanzi 98; 8. Neukirchner 71.
Manufacturers - 1. Honda 185; 2. Yamaha 154; 3. Ducati 148;
4. Suzuki 148; 5. Kawasaki 61.
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