World SuperBike 2000 - Round 8 - Valencia

Edwards got the jump and leads them in to the 1st corner, Corser gets him on the exit, Edwards back under, then Bostrom through on both of them! Bostrom, Edwards, Corser, Borja, Haga, Bayliss, Slight, Fujiwara.

As they commenced lap 2 Borja tried to get under Corser but could not make it stick. Edwards trying to get past Bostrom. Chili 9th, Goddard 10th.

Corser set the fastest lap on the 2nd time around in his efforts to chase down Bostrom & Edwards. Borja wide and in the dirt, gets back on track after losing around 5 places. Americans are 1 & 2, I can't remember that happening before in World SuperBike. No doubt we will get numerous e-mails correcting me on that point.

Lap 5 - Bostrom, Edwards, Corser, Haga, Bayliss, Slight, Fujiwara, Chili, Goddard, Aoki. Haga is pressuring Corser and looks to have the speed to take 3rd place from the Australian. Antonello had a huge crash.

Haga took Corser on lap 6 and set out after Bostrom and Edwards. Chili through on his team-mate Fujiwara and stating to harass Slight for his 6th position. Goddard is catching that 6th/7th/8th bunch of Slight, Chili & Fujiwara.

Bostrom now has a full second on Edwards but Haga is starting to catch both of them. The Yamaha rider now right up Edwards' tailpipes on lap 8, and he is through but the Honda has enough speed on the straight to get him again. Haga under Edwards and holds it, the Japanese pilot is closing on Bostrom immediately. Bayliss through on Corser for 4th.

Bostrom is responding to the Yamaha challenge. The battle for 6th is still going hard, Slight, Chili, Fujiwara & Goddard the combatants. Haga is making ground on Bostrom now and sets the fastest lap on the 11th time around. Chili has got that 6th position from Slight.

Haga starting to show Bostrom a wheel now but Bostrom responds again. Bayliss looks to be closing on Edwards slightly, yes definitely it looks as though Bayliss will get him with in the next couple of laps, he has 10 left to do it.

Edwards has responded to Bayliss' challenge a little but I think the Australian will get him before this race is done. There it is, Bayliss up to 3rd but they are nearly 3 seconds down on the leaders, can he do it?

Haga backs it in but Bostrom shows he is well endowed in the testicle department by not baulking at the move and holds his line, the American is fighting hard here at Valencia today. Goddard up to 6th by getting through on Chili and Slight.

Haga through to the lead in a totally awesome, no make that bloody incredible, move. Goddard is having a great showing here today, in front of Slight, Chili, Fujiwara and Borja.

Bayliss has closed down on Bostrom and Haga a little, now only 2 seconds behind the leader. Bayliss went a few feet off the track and in to the dirt but he got back on track without losing too much time but surely this would have cost him the chance of getting up to that battle for the lead.

5 laps to run and Bayliss has not given up the chase and looks to have recovered from his little excursion to start really closing on the leaders again but he did lose around a second so that has put him 2.7 seconds behind Haga and 1.6 seconds behind Bostrom with only a few laps to run.

3 laps to go and Bayliss has only made a couple of tenths on Haga, the gap now 2.5 seconds so it doesn't look as though he can catch the Yamaha man but there is still a good chance he can catch Bostrom but he is going to have to let it all hang out in order to get there and Bostrom is not easy to pass even if Bayliss can get up with him.

2 laps to run and Bayliss has to gain around 7 tenths a lap in order to get Bostrom, Haga has the win wrapped up if he can hold it together. Final lap - Haga is still spinning it up but has around 1.5 seconds on Bostrom who in turn has over a second on Bayliss who is drifting out of the corners with the front still in the air to try and catch the American, I could watch mono-drifts like that all day!

Haga gets there, Bostrom 2nd, Bayliss 3rd.