Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards has put the events of the season so far to the back of his mind and is concentrating on repeating last year's dominant double win at Oschersleben when the World Superbike championship returns there this week.

Edwards is 53 points behind series leader Troy Bayliss with three rounds, six races and a total of 150 points at stake. Edwards started last year's Oschersleben race from pole position, took start to finish wins in both races and set a new lap record.

"It could not have been better there last year but a lot has happened since that day," says Edwards. "The machine has been improved and Michelin have been really trying hard to get the tyres to suit in recent weeks."

"I'm going to Oschersleben knowing I'm starting over with the machine set-up but it's a circuit I like and a circuit I've been strong at before - that's always in the back of a riders' mind."

Since the last World Superbike round at Brands Hatch, UK five weeks ago Edwards paired up with 500cc grand prix championship leader Valentino Rossi to win the Suzuka 8 hours race for Honda.

In addition to Edwards' relentless chase of series leader Bayliss the American rider is also looking to stay ahead of on-form Ben Bostrom - winner of the last five races and now three points behind Edwards. Edwards' team-mate Tady Okada heads for his Oschersleben debut in confident mood after taking second place in the recent Suzuka 8 hours race.

Ninth in the championship, Okada reckons: "Most riders were new to Oschersleben last year and the one fact which stands out is that the VTR Honda worked well for Colin - hopefully that will be the same for me on this weekend."

Okada adds: "Having a strong ride at Suzuka is important for lots of reasons but as far as my own personal performance and confidence is concerned I'm really happy to be returning to World Superbike competition after a podium finish in Japan."

World Supersport action resumes at Oschersleben, the scene of one of the most remarkable races in the class when team-mates Christian Kellner and Jorg Teuchert took each other out of the race at the final corner last year - while battling for victory.

This year the Supersport title hopefuls arrive with the top four separated by just 27 points, little more than a race win (25 points). Defending world champion Teuchert heads the way after a dramatic last lap win at Brands Hatch. The German is four points clear of Italian Paolo Casoli with young Australian Andrew Pitt moving to third place after taking third in the last round.

BKM Honda's Kevin Curtain - winner of the Australian and first German round this year - heads for the second German round hoping to rekindle his title challenge.

"I've had a few problems in recent rounds but I'm confident I can put all that behind me when we get to Oschersleben. The championship's far from dead for me and a podium finish on Sunday will make all the difference for me as we head to the Dutch and Italian final rounds," claims Curtain.

Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen - 17th in the series - is hoping to make amends for a disappointing Oschersleben race a year ago. He explains: "My team-mate Pere Riba and myself both had great race set-ups and good race tyres from Michelin and I was confident of a top three finish, then I was taken out at the first corner of the race. Pere was in a comfortable third, about halfway through the race, when he was taken out."

Riba is currently joint sixth in the series with James Whitham and a win on Sunday could hoist the Spanish Ten Kate Honda team rider back into title contention.


Oschersleben data:
Circuit length: 2.27 miles - 3.66km
Lap record: Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) 1m 28.294s (2000)
2000 Superpole: Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) 1m 27.799s
2000 Qualifying: Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1m 27.823s
2000 Winner: Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) x 2

Supersport:
Lap record: Jorg Teuchert (Yamaha) 1m 31.947s (2000)
2000 pole: Karl Muggeridge (Honda) 1m 31.291s
2000 winner: Stephane Chambon (Suzuki)