Race 1

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards took third place in the opening race of today's World Superbike fifth round here at Monza, Italy.

The 2000 world champion was embroiled in a thrilling battle with eventual race winner Troy Bayliss and runner-up Neil Hodgson in a 190mph slipstreaming tussle over 18 laps of the historic track.

But Edwards was disappointed with his finish after narrowly missing out on his second win of the year, even though he continued his running of finishing on the podium in every Monza race since he joined Castrol Honda in 1998.

"The race was more or less as expected but I didn't have the extra little bit I needed to make the move on Hodgson and Bayliss," Edwards admitted.

"When Troy (Bayliss) and me overshot the chicane on the 10th lap it threw me out a little, I wasn't sure what the ruling was on something like that. I decided to just get on with it, try to win the race and deal with all that stuff afterwards. It's a real disappointment not to have won. I thought I was in with a good chance in the early stages of the race but it just didn't work out.

"At least I've got another chance this afternoon and after Troy won the first I've got to beat him in the second for the sake of my championship chances."

Race 2

Colin Edwards took second place in today's second race of round five of the World Superbike championship here at Monza in Italy.

But the hard-riding American was forced to defend second place on the final 3.6-mile lap as held of the challenge of Neil Hodgson and Noriyuki Haga. The runner-up place, along with third place in the opening race, continued Edwards' run of podium finishes ­ nine from this year's 10 races.

Edwards said: "I was determined to try and make up for third place in the opening race by winning the second. I think Haga, Hodgson and me messed each other up and let Bayliss get away at the front.

"Monza is always a tactical battle out on the track and while I got into the middle of the fight for the lead Bayliss made the break, at exactly the same time. We've worked hard this weekend but, in the end, I suppose victory wasn't to be."

Edwards added: "Everyone's getting worked up about the championship situation but there's five of 13 rounds gone. At this stage last year I had 130 points, this year I've got 186 so I know I'm still capable of being world champion."