A heavy crash in the opening moments of the final qualifying session yesterday, left the championship points leader with a fractured rib and bruising to his lower back. In typical Bayliss character however, he returned to the track later in the day to record the fourth fastest time during the Superpole session which determined the starting grid positions for today's races.

Determined not to give championship rival Colin Edwards an even greater advantage, Bayliss kept his Infostrada Ducati 998F-02 within the top three positions in both 25-lap races. With Bayliss nursing his injuries, Edwards went on to take victory in both races and has now reduced the point's deficit between the two to just 39-points.

"I was really sore after that I must say," said Bayliss afterwards. "Every time I come here I seem to have a difficult time for some reason. I need to get home and get myself back to full fitness and get ready for the last three rounds. I feel that I've been dealt a cruel blow for the last couple of rounds, so I guess I'm due for a change. I've been really sore at the last two rounds, at Laguna and here,"

"I had a few painkillers before the races, but it didn't seem to help that much as my whole lower back was sore," added Bayliss. "My back was already tender from the Laguna crash. Here there are so many dips and hollows in the track that it puts a lot of strain on your back."

"I couldn't do any more than I did in race one. I could have caught Neil, but I don't think I could have passed him, so I settled for third. I was trying really hard in race two and there was no way I was going to give Colin any additional points. I felt as though I was pushing the bike pretty hard and I guess we suffered from the missed practice time to get a better set up. I was having a lot more slides than Colin was having."

Edwards won the opening race by 1.173 seconds from British rider Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) with Bayliss a safe third. Race two saw Bayliss involved in a race long duel with Hodgson, but again it was Edwards who took the win, this time by 2.326 seconds clear of Bayliss, with Hodgson third. Bayliss did take consolation with a new Superbike lap record which he set on lap 11 of race one with a time of 1-min 26.690-secs around the 4.221km Brands Hatch circuit.

With a months break before the next round of the championship, Bayliss will be returning to his European base in Monaco to get treatment on his injuries and work at regaining his fitness. Even though he has scored fourteen race wins this season, he still wishes to add to that tally at the three remaining rounds of the championship.

The three remaining rounds of the 2002 SWC will be held at: Oschersleben, Germany (September 1), Assen, Holland (September 8) and Imola, Italy (September 29).