Ducati Corse

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) lost his championship lead to Colin Edwards (Honda) after crashing out of an action-packed race 2 at the Assen TT Circuit in the Netherlands. The Australian, who had already seen his points lead reduced to 24 after claiming the runner-up slot behind his Texan rival in race 1, had an identical crash at the De Strubben left-hander to the one during yesterday's afternoon practice session to DNF race 2, which saw victory again go to Edwards. With the final round remaining at Imola and 50 points to race for, Edwards and Bayliss are now separated by just one point.

"In race 1, the first few laps were worse than the last few because I was a bit unsettled and couldn't get into a rhythm" declared Troy. "I was much happier at the end and enjoyed myself in the final few laps. I had a few problems getting past Ruben, Nori and Neil early on and made a few little mistakes in the later stage but I'm pretty happy with the result. Right at the end I hit the brakes hard and my bike got into a bit of a shake and I ran out wide onto the marbles".

"I had exactly the same high side crash as yesterday, only smaller" added Troy after race 2. "I was catching Chili and I was going to have him, but the rear of the bike just went away from me. The whole weekend we've been struggling and the bike just hasn't felt the same. Now I've got to go out and do it all at Imola. I'm pretty mad with myself for the crash, but what can you do? I have to admit I'd rather be in front of Colin at this point though".

After finishing fourth in race 1, Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) also had a disappointing second race. His gearshift pedal broke on lap 2 and he came into the pits, but he was then black-flagged as his Ducati 998 had been pulled into the garage for repairs. "Fourth place is OK, the bike was running quite good, but when Troy was behind me I had no options to win, so one position here or there would have made no difference. In the second race I started quite well but the pedal on the gearshift broke and there was nothing I could do but come into the pits".

Two difficult races also for Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M), who finished eighth and fifth on one of his least favourite tracks. "The first race was a struggle but while I was out there I was thinking of how to make improvements for race 2. I was riding on the limit and nearly crashed three times so I don't want that to happen again. In the second race things were not much better. In the early laps I couldn't even pass Walker or flick the bike in the corner without it spinning away from me. Then when Haga passed me on lap 13, I followed him for a bit to set him up for the final lap and then eventually got him on the sweeping left-hander".