Rossi extends World GP Lead; Bayliss clinches World Superbike title
2001 FIM World Grand Prix, Round 11, Estoril, Spain, September 9, 2001 HONDA RACING PRESS INFORMATION Honda heroes Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500) and Daijiro Katoh (Telefonica Movistar Honda NSR250) won vital victories at Estoril today to give themselves comfortable advantages in their respective World Championships. Both men won their seventh race of the year at this 11th round of the 2001 World GP series, and both enjoyed dominant runs to victory. With five races remaining Rossi now has a 43-point lead over Max Biaggi (Yamaha) while Katoh has a 44-point lead over Tetsuya Harada (Aprilia). Rossi's win was typically convincing. Having worked hard with his crew to perfect the set-up of his NSR500s at this tight and bumpy circuit, Rossi survived a chaotic first corner to complete the first lap down in fourth. Two laps later he was in front, slicing past early leader Biaggi, with Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) following him through into second. Destroying the lap record time and again, the pair steadily dropped Biaggi, who eventually slid off with seven laps remaining, remounting to finish fifth. Capirossi never gave up trying, hounding Rossi all the way to cross the finish line 1.756 seconds down. Their pace was such that the race was a massive 42 seconds quicker than last year's Portuguese GP. "I think the team and I did a good job today," beamed Rossi, who started the race from third on the grid. "The machine was very good after yesterday's final adjustments and my only worry was the start. Luckily I escaped the first-corner crash and I found myself close to the leaders at the end of lap one, which gave me confidence. But once ahead I couldn't ease up, every time I was a tenth or two slower, Loris got closer. I never knew about Biaggi's crash, though his fall made this race very important for the championship. I feel we're over the bad patch we had in Germany and I'm confident about the next race." Capirossi's third runner-up finish of the year brings him to within 30 points of Biaggi. "I'm happy because I'm closer to Max in the championship," he said. "I stayed close to Valentino to keep my options open but lost time behind a backmarker and it was hard to close the gap after that. Then whenever I pushed harder, Valentino went even faster!" Despite the NSR pair's domination, this wasn't a great weekend for Honda's other 500 stars. Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) was the innocent victim of the first-turn pile-up, while Tohru Ukawa (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) crashed of his own accord at the same corner, a bitter disappointment for the Japanese who had started from the front row for the first time in his 500 career. Ukawa bravely remounted but fell again when he arrived at the next corner with no brakes. "Fortunately I'm not hurt but that doesn't mean I'm not bitterly disappointed," he said. Alex Criville (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) lasted just a few laps before pulling into the pits. "One of the worst weekends of the year," said the Spaniard who missed warm-up suffering a debilitating migraine headache. "Someone hit me at the first turn, then I ran into the dirt and lost a lot of time, then the engine faltered, so I had to retire." While Rossi was dominant in 500s, Katoh ran away with the 250s. Starting from second on the grid he followed Aprilia riders Marco Melandri and Tetsuya Harada for the first few laps before easing ahead and cruising to victory, 16.993 seconds ahead of Melandri. Pulling away from the pack at will and breaking the lap record whenever he felt like it, Katoh was in a class of his own. "I pushed as hard as possible, I never once thought about the points," said Katoh, who also won here last year. "The Aprilias seemed faster in the early laps so I knew I'd have to ride hard, so I rode as hard as I could. This win has a special taste because I've not won since Donington in July. I'd got beaten in Germany, Czecho and at the Eight Hours, so I absolutely wanted to win this one." Race Classification 500cc: (28 Laps - 117.096 km) 1. Valentino ROSSI/ ITA/ Nastro Azzurro Honda/ HONDA/47'25.357- 148.152 km/h 2. Loris CAPIROSSI/ ITA/ West Honda Pons/ HONDA/47'27.113- 148.060 3. Garry McCOY /AUS/ Red Bull Yamaha WCM/ YAMAHA/ 47'39.387- 147.425 4. Carlos CHECA/ SPA/ Marlboro Yamaha Team/ YAMAHA/ 47'49.694 -146.895 5. Max BIAGGI/ ITA/ Marlboro Yamaha Team/ YAMAHA/47'56.705- 146.537 6. Kenny ROBERTS /USA/ Telefonica Movistar Suzuki/ SUZUKI/47'57.282-146.508 11.Haruchika AOKI /JPN/ Arie Molenaar Racing/ HONDA/ 48'52.496- 143.749 12. Anthony WEST/ AUS/Dee Cee Jeans Racing Tea/ HONDA/48'52.816- 143.734 Fastest lap: Loris Capirossi, 1m 40.683s - 149.530 km/h (Unofficial new record) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS: 500cc 1 Rossi 220 2 Biaggi 177 3 Capirossi 147 4 Barros 107 Nakano 107 6 Abe 100 7 Criville 91 Upcoming Rounds: Sept. 23 Valencia, Spain Oct. 7 Twin Ring Motegi, Japan 2001 FIM World Superbike, Round 12, Assen, Holland, September 9, 2001 Troy Bayliss won the World Superbike championship with two victories in Sunday's 12th and penultimate round of the series at Assen in Holland. Bayliss was followed across the line closely by Ruben Xaus in both races. The opening race was led by Bayliss with pole position rider Ruben Xaus in his wheeltracks, the Spaniard even taking the lead to demonstrate his potential amid his directive to assist teammate Bayliss. After 13 of the scheduled 16 laps rain hit the Dutch track and the race was red flagged. Australian Bayliss - the 1999 British Superbike champion - took the checkered flag from Xaus while Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards took third to maintain his challenge for the title. Edwards said: "I did what as much as I could in the early stages of the race and was watching Troy (Bayliss) and Ruben (Xaus) and their tire situation. In the end I think all three of us were sliding around as much as each other. The conditions were tricky and we've had hardly any dry track time this weekend so I had to settle into a groove and hope I could challenge in the latter stages of the race. Who knows what would have happened with Ruben and Troy towards the end of the race - they were really going at it." Suzuki's Pier-Francesco Chili took fourth with Neil Hodgson improving from 15th place on the grid to fifth. Troy Corser came out on top of a four-way battle for sixth with Castrol Honda's Tady Okada seventh. He said: "The conditions were always going to be difficult because of the lack of set-up time in the dry and tire choice was a gamble. The rear was sliding around almost from the start of the race then the front developed a chatter problem after about six laps." Bayliss and Xaus again hit the front in the second race and fought out the 16-lap race with Xaus again conceding to his team-mate and title contender. Victory for Bayliss, coupled with disappointment for Edwards, handed the Ducati rider the championship as he takes an unassailable lead to the final round in Italy in three weeks. Corser improved to grab third from Chili on the final lap with Hodgson repeating his fifth place finish of race one. Akira Yanagawa added to his opening race eighth place with sixth while Regis Laconi also improved two places on his opening race display as the French Aprilia rider took seventh. A dejected Edwards crossed the line in 10th place, he explained: "The only thing I lacked with the front tire in the first race was a little stability at the end of the back straight. We decided to use another front tire which we knew wouldn't turn quite as well but would be more stable. It was a bad choice and cost me any chance of a win and of the title. We used the same tire yesterday but I never experienced anything like the feel I had in that second race today." Edwards added: "The championship's gone now but we've still got two more races to look forward to at Imola and I'll be going all out for two wins. Troy (Bayliss) deserves the title, he's ridden hard all year and been consistent." Tady Okada - 10th at the start of the last lap - slowed to let Edwards through to give the American more championship points. Okada commented: "The machine actually felt better than the first race but the result was a lot worse. I could probably have finished 10th but I had to help Colin (Edwards). In the end it didn't matter for him but it was no problem for me." World Superbike, Assen, Holland - First race result: 1 Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 27m 08.793s 2 Ruben Xaus, Spain (Ducati) 27m 08.959s 3 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 27m 09.875s 4 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 27m 13.860s 5 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 27m 21.544s 7 Tady Okada, Japan (Castrol Honda) 27m 24.051s Second race result: 1 Bayliss 33m 31.896s 2 Xaus 33m 32.117s 3 Corser 33m 36.471s 4 Chili 33m 36.672s 10 Edwards 33m 52.961s 13 Okada, 33m 54.233s World Superbike championship points after 12 of 13 rounds: 1 Bayliss 369 2 Edwards 317 3 Ben Bostrom 286 4 Corser 264 5 Hodgson 254 9 Okada 149 Final round: September 30 - Imola, Italy END