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Race One
Troy Corser took the early lead on his Aprilia RSV1000SP, clearing an on the line incident when Baylis banged into Ulm and sent him flying off his bike and tumbling down the track. He visibly took several hard hits to the helmet as he rolled and was extremely fortunate not to be stuck by any of the back markers. Ulm was taken to hospital for scans etc, later reports said he had escaped with just a concussion.
Corser took the early lead followed by Bostrom and Haga. These 3 pulled away from Fujiwara, and Bayliss who were scrapping over 4th. Slight Edwards and Antonello were the third group. They made no real impression on the leaders.
Borja was making attempts to progress up the field when he ran off the track, he then returned slowly to the pits. Chilli, riding bravely with his broken collarbone was getting settled to make a move when he blew his engine again.
Back at the front though it was Bostrom all over the back of Corser for a while with Haga slowly dropping off the pace.
Corser was able to crank it up a notch and Bostrom couldn\'t hang on, from there the battle was for minor places only, as Corser made it look easy with a perfectly judged race.
A battle for 6th between Edwards, Slight, Fujiwara, Aoki, and Goddard as Allesandro dropped of the pace. Aoki charged past the three in front of him giving Edwards a real surprise. But it was not to last as shortly he took a trip into the kittty litter.
Bostrom was delighted with his second. Beating Borja on his home track must have been sweet judging from the smile on his face. Any second thoughts yet Ducati
Edwards put his somewhat disappointing results down to bike problems \"The rear of the machine was really bouncing about and juddering,\" the Texan said in a Castrol Honda press release. \"I thought it may have been a problem with the tire, but we checked that out and everything was okay. \"We\'ll make some changes to the rear suspension for the second race and try and cure the problem. I\'m sure it can\'t be that bad again,\"
Slight had this to say about his race, towards the end of the race he lost the front wheel and almost crashed \"After that I slowed and lost a couple of places but there was nothing I could do about it,\" Said Aaron.
The 2 Honda pilots would have been hoping for better results as all the Honda Racing big brass were in Valencia to see the race.
Race One placings
1) 3 CORSER Aprilia RSV1000SP,
2) 155 BOSTROM Ducati RS996 8.703
3) 41 HAGA Yamaha YZF R7 13.934
4) 21 BAYLISS Ducati 996 18.190
5) 2 EDWARDS Honda VTR1000 21.205
6) 14 GODDARD Kawasaki ZX-7RR 21.334
7) 111 SLIGHT Honda VTR1000 22.335
8) 9 FUJIWARA Suzuki GSX-R750 22.382
9) 30 ANTONELLO Aprilia RSV1000SP 31.102
10) 4 YANAGAWA Kawasaki ZX-7RR 31.650
11) 13 MEKLAU Ducati 996 32.026
DNF 28 OELSCHLAEGER, 12 AOKI, 44 JAGGI, 19 BORJA , 11 PEDERCINI, 35 BUSSEI, 7 CHILI, 65 SARTONI, 33 ULM
Race Two.
Ulm did not line up for the 2nd race.
With the green light Bostrom got a flyer of a start followed by Edwards and Corser.
Bostrom was riding like his life depended on it, Haga was also a rider possessed as he set out in pursuit of the front 3 passing first Corser and then Edwards on the same corner a lap later. He set sail after Bostrom who was making every inch of his tyres work as he slid sideways through the corners.
Haga, using the Yamaha power caught Bostrom, and climbed all over him for 6 or so laps. Probing and pushing and having Bostrom shut the door on him time and again. But Haga couldn\'t be held out for ever and finally he slid past Bostrom while they were both going hard into a turn.
Haga\'s superior power then controlled the gap to Bostrom with Bayliss in 3rd.and closing but he ran wide on a corner and kicked up a shower of dirt which slowed him has he cleared his tyres.
Borja again ran off the track, not falling but taking a trip through the gravel. He managed to get back on and finish in 8th. Salvaging some pride in front of his home track
So it was Haga, Bostrom and Bayliss on the podium .
Edwards, Corser, Goddard and Slight filled the next few places, Edwards got some points back on Corser with his 4th to Corsers 5th
.Edwards now leads the championship from Corser, 232-206
Race Two
1) 41 HAGA Yamaha YZF R7
2) 155 BOSTROM Ducati RS 996 1.227
3) 21 BAYLISS Ducati 996 3.056
4) 2 EDWARDS Honda VTR1000 10.455
5) 3 CORSER Aprilia RSV1000 12.966
6) 14 GODDARD Kawasaki ZX-7RR 16.512
7) 111 SLIGHT Honda VTR1000 16.677
8) 19 BORJA Ducati 996 17.015
9) 7 CHILI Suzuki GSX-R750 18.632
10) 9 FUJIWARA Suzuki GSX-R750 19.703
DNF 35 BUSSEI, 13 MEKLAU, 23 MRKYVKA, 32 DE SILVESTRO, 44 JAGGI, ANTONELLI , 30 ANTONELLO.
My two bobs worth. I said already Ducati must be having 2nd thoughts about stripping Bostrom of his Infostrada ride and giving it to Borja, If they are not they should be. Next round at Laguna Seca is Bostroms home track and he will be hard to beat. Will he front to the grid still on the NCR Ducati or maybe on his earlier ride? Can Ducati Infostrada say \"Come home Ben we made a mistake\"?
