Race 1

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards rocketed to victory in Sunday's wet opening race of the sixth round of the World Superbike championship here at Silverstone, GB.

The hard-riding Texan sat behind leader Troy Bayliss for the opening two laps before Bayliss crashed on the third lap. Edwards was forced onto the grass to avoid making contact with Bayliss but the SP-2 rider held on and rejoined the circuit.

After controlling the race from the front, Edwards celebrated his second race win of the year with a 7.3-second advantage over Aprilia's Noriyuki Haga. Neil Hodgson took third while Bayliss remounted, moved through to eighth, crashed again then remounted to eventually finish fifth.

"I was quite happy to sit behind Troy in the early stages," admitted Edwards. "I knew the two of us were pulling away from the rest so it was
pointless me trying to get away on lap three of a 20-lap race in those conditions."

Edwards continued: "When I saw Troy crash I had no doubt at all that he'd be back on the machine and flying through the field so it came as no surprise to learn he'd finished fifth.

"I was very pleased with the SP-2 machine and the Michelin tyres. I went for a softer compound rear tyre hoping it wouldn't rain again so when it did start raining again I had to take it easy for a few laps."

Race 2

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards took second place in today's second race of round six of the World Superbike championship here at Silverstone, GB.

The Texan rider had a dramatic start to the race when his machine developed a phantom misfire on the sighting lap. He quickly changed to his spare machine which he then crashed on the warm-up lap for the 20-lap race.

Edwards remounted then powered off the startline and led the race into the first corner. After a battle with title rival Troy Bayliss throughout, the 28-year-old Edwards accepted runner-up place.

He said: "I had a bit of everything happen before the race and with all of that I thought it was better just to get to the finish and second place and 20 points had to do this afternoon.

"My biggest problem out there was visibility - I couldn't see a thing, which is why I made the move on Troy and led the race but even then I was struggling to see. It's not been a bad day overall though and I've closed the gap to the lead of the championship."

Edwards will now take a break from World Superbike action as he visits the Isle of Man TT races later this week as a guest of Honda.