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Victory
for Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards in last week's German round of the World
Superbike championship has thrown the championship wide open as he heads
for Assen in Holland this week and the penultimate round of the
championship.
Edwards took first and second place finishes at Oschersleben last Sunday
while series leader Troy Bayliss was forced out of the first race with a
mechanical problem before taking third place in race two, reducing the
points difference from 53 to 24.
Edwards believes: "I need to keep the momentum going at Assen. Winning in
Germany was my first win since June but HRC and Michelin have done so much
work and we've had lots of tests so everyone's commitment to win this
championship can never be doubted."
He adds: "I've always liked the Assen circuit and I've no reason at all to
believe I can't win there on Sunday. The circuit is a real riders circuit
and - especially after Oschersleben - I'm confident we can get the SP-1
dialed in to win there."
Edwards was a race winner at Assen last year in wet conditions and won
pole position in dry conditions. In addition to closing the gap on Bayliss
in the championship last week Edwards also extended his lead to 19 points
over third-in-the-series, Ben Bostrom.
Edwards' team-mate Tady Okada maintained his ninth place in the standings
with fifth and eight place finishes in the two German races but the
Japanese rider is quietly confident of better finishes at Assen.
"I've always liked the Assen circuit and I'm hoping to challenge for wins
there," says Okada. "I'm also intrigued to find out how the superbike goes
there compared to the 500 machine as the lap times are about the same."
The World Supersport championship battle is heading for a final round
showdown with the champion hopefuls keen to stack up the points in Holland
before the series concludes at Imola, Italy on September 30.
Paolo Casoli leads the way but the 1997 champion has Andrew Pitt six
points behind him and defending champion Jorg Teuchert just three points
behind Teuchert.
BKM Honda's Kevin Curtain is fourth in the championship but now just seven
points ahead of Spain's Pere Riba, runner-up in Germany last week. Riba
and team-mate Fabien Foret will be hoping for success on the home circuit
for the Dutch G. Ten Kate Honda team they represent. Both Riba and Foret
will arrive at Assen well prepared after contesting a Dutch national
championship
race at the track last month.
Riba said: "I'd like at least fourth place in the championship, but at
present I think winning races is what I need to focus on and I know it
will be important for the team that we do that at Assen."
Assen data:
Superbike:
Circuit length: 3.76 miles - 6.049km
Lap record: Carl Fogarty (Ducati) 2m 03.914s (1999)
2000 Superpole: Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) 2m 02.678s
2000 Qualifying: Pier-Francesco Chili (Suzuki) 2m 02.936s
2000 Winners: Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
World Superbike championship points after 11 of
13 rounds
1 Troy Bayliss/ Australia/ Ducati/ 319
2 Colin Edwards/USA/ Castrol Honda/ 295
3 Ben Bostrom /USA/ Ducati/ 276
4 Troy Corser /Australia/ Aprilia/238
5 Neil Hodgson/GB / Ducati/ 232
6 Pier-Francesco Chili/ Italy/Suzuki / 199
7 Akira Yanagawa / Japan/Kawasaki /152
8 Ruben Xaus/Spain/ Ducati/151
9 Tady Okada/Japan/ Castrol Honda/137
10 Gregorio Lavilla /Spain/ Kawasaki /136
Supersport:
Lap record: Iain MacPherson (Kawasaki) 2m 11.031s (1999)
2000 pole: Stephane Chambon (Suzuki) 2m 08.607s
2000 winner: Ruben Xaus (Ducati)
World Supersport championship points after nine
of 11 rounds
1 Paolo Casoli/Italy/ Yamaha /122
2 Andrew Pitt /Australia/Kawasaki /116
3 Jorg Teuchert / Germany /Yamaha/113
4 Kevin Curtain/Australia/ Honda / 90
5 Pere Riba/ Spain/ Honda/83
6 James Whitham/ GB / Yamaha / 74
7 Karl Muggeridge /Australia/ Suzuki / 72
8 Fabien Foret /France/ Honda/ 59
9 Fabrizio Pirovano/ Italy/ Suzuki/ 51
10 Katsuaki Fujiwara /Japan/ Suzuki / 50
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