2001: A year to remember - WSBK pt1.

The 2001 World Superbike Championship saw Ducati Infostrada's Troy Bayliss complete assent to an Australian motorcycling plateau reserved for names such as Corser, Doohan and Gardner as he became World Champion in his first full season on a bike that continued to outstrip its rivals on almost every track and in almost any conditions.

Troy Bayliss' World Superbike career with Ducati Infostrada could not have started any worse than it did in Sugo 2000 when he failed to complete a racing lap in either heat thanks to the opening lap over-exuberance of others. However that memory was soon erased and on circuits not occupied by kamikaze Japanese wildcard riders eager to make an impression in front of their factory bosses, Bayliss and his red No.21 Ducati 996R were the perfect couple. Of course the 32 year-old Australian wasn't a stranger to the Ducati 996 having won the 1999 British Superbike Championship on an INS/GSE prepared example but the ease with which he acclimatised himself to the new circuits and the standard of competition was astounding.

After his first career victory at Hockenheim and a string of podium finishes left Bayliss an incredible sixth in the overall standings despite missing eight of 26 races it was clear that both he and Ducati would take some stopping in 2001. They would have taken some stopping, but no one could and by season's end Australian fans had yet another bike racing hero to add to their country's proud resume. Bayliss had something special he could add to his resume too - a World title and the No.1 plate in 2002.

The 14th season of competition for the official 'World Superbike Championship' was a 26 race affair spread over 13 weekend beginning at Valencia in Spain in mid-March and ending at the historic Imola circuit in Italy (San Marino just to please the Formula One fans) on the final weekend of September. In between, the 11 regular factory riders (13 with Antonello and Izutsu) and 20 or so loyal privateers plus a usual selection of local wildcard riders would take in stops at Kyalami, Phillip Island, Sugo, Monza, Donington Park, the brand new Lausitzring in Germany, Misano, Brands Hatch, Laguna Seca, Assen and Oschersleben. With full, colourful and talented grids and competitive racing, the World Superbike Championship certainly did not look like a series painted by some as being in a crisis when 32 bikes showed up at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia to begin practice.

Pre season testing had gone well for Ducati with Bayliss consistently quick everywhere he went. Ben Bostrom on the satellite L&M sponsored bike had also looked impressive while Spanish World Supersport graduate Ruben Xaus had shown tremendous speed between crashes. However around the sinuous Valencia track it was a different Australian on another Italian bike who left everyone standing.

Troy Corser's second season with the factory Aprilia team started perfectly with victory in Superpole and then two unchallenged race victories on the nimble RSV1000. The 1996 World Champion's only scare came on the penultimate lap of race one when he tripped over the ultra-slow Johann Wolfsteiner as he came up to lap the Austrian but despite the delay he still headed home duellists Bayliss and Bostrom by nearly four seconds. Corser's new Aprilia teammate, Frenchman Regis Laconi, finished a gritty fourth in his maiden WSBK ride after qualifying a sensational second and leading the race for a brief period in the early laps. Making the Frenchman's achievement even more remarkable was the fact that this was his first competitive race on a four-stroke bike and that in the morning warm up he was struck in the legs by Bertrand Stey's crashing privateer Honda that caused no serious injuries but inflicted some painful bruising.

Corser's margin of victory was extended to five seconds in race two as he once again headed home Bayliss and Kawasaki's home-circuit favourite Gregorio Lavilla. Defending World Champion Colin Edwards finished fourth to add to his race one fifth on a circuit both he and his Castrol Honda VTR1000 detest while Neil Hodgson made amends for a race one accident with sixth place on his GSE Racing Ducati. Laconi was eliminated in a nasty first lap crash with the second Castrol Honda of fellow 500cc Grand Prix outcast Tadayuki Okada. Xaus managed one crash and an eighth place finish while Juan Borja, the man who ended the 2000 season as Bayliss' Infostrada teammate, salvaged a pair of points paying finishes aboard the ambitious, if eventually laughable, Russian backed Panavto Team Yamaha R7.

Whereas the Aprilia was expected to be a dominant force on some of the more 'Mickey mouse' circuits on the calendar, high altitude and fast sweeping circuits do not favour the RSV1000 and so it was proved in round two at the high-altitude Kyalami track in South Africa where Corser could only qualify fourth and finish with a pair of third place finishes. Not shabby by any means but he was certainly not on a real par with the Ducati's and Honda's of this world and if the world's most famous Wollongongian wanted a second WSB title those were the bikes he would have to beat.

In race one it was Colin Edwards' turn to shine and his calm-under-pressure victory over Bayliss eased the tension caused by some mis-placed comments over South African townships that found their way into the local news on the weekend of the event. A tension easer it may have been - a calming spirit it was certainly not.

In race two Edwards and pole sitter Ben Bostrom waged war in the early stages with Edwards finally snatching the lead with a truly brave, trusting move on his foe through the demanding right left flick after the start line. A second victory and a South African clean sweep it had to be, but no. Less than half a lap after taking the point, Edwards was out with a dead engine and Bostrom was away to capture his first victory as an official factory World Superbike rider. The smooth but spectacular Bayliss was second with Corser third and Hodgson, who was black flagged and then retired in race one, fourth. Xaus did all his crashing in practice and qualifying and finished ninth and fifth while Laconi, whose bruised knees were still causing considerable discomfort, braved the pain to take eighth and sixth.

From South Africa the WSB circus headed to the beautiful Phillip Island circuit where, unfortunately, the weather gods did not see fit to supply the track with conditions that complimented its almost unparalleled setting. On race day there was a deluge of biblical proportions. Perfect Edwards weather.

The Texan Tornado certainly didn't disappoint and after toying with early leaders Okada and Bayliss he calmly accelerated away to record a faultless victory in torrential conditions. The fact that third placed Bayliss was still more than 20 seconds behind Edwards at the flag after several 'slow' laps from the Honda rider when victory had been assured (Okada was in second and was never really going to pass his teammate) shows the pure dominance he has when conditions are at their most foul.

Akira Yanagawa, another noted wet-weather expert, was the only other rider to finish within a minute of Edwards on his venerable Kawasaki but in fifth place on home territory and in just his fifth WSB race came teenager Broc Parkes aboard the best of the two NCR Ducati's. A candidate for ride of the year without question and just a small glimpse of the amount of talent that Wayne Gardner's prot?g? possesses. Corser splashed home an unhappy sixth while the two Alstare Corona Suzuki's of Frankie Chili and Stephane Chambon were the only other two riders on the same lap as Edwards. Just 15 of the 29 starters made it to the flag, the rest (including Laconi, Izutsu, Lavilla, Xaus and Bostrom), either crashed or were lost at sea.

There was no second race at Phillip Island due to the ever worsening conditions although had certain members of the WSB hierarchy had their way, the race would have at least started despite there being rivers gushing openly across the grid and pools of water best described as small lakes, covering various parts of each and every turn on this daunting circuit. It was sad to see that Troy Corser was forced into the position where he felt it necessary to stop riders one by one in the pit lane as they went begrudgingly went out on their citing laps to say that this race should be called off immediately. One meeting with the stewards later and one citing lap from Edwards and DFX Ducati's Steve Martin saw to it that the riders got their way and the organisers saw sense. And all this at the same track where Carl Fogarty's career ended just one year ago in conditions much more savoury than those experienced even in the first race.

Next up was Sugo and once again the entire weekend was a wildcard benefit with Cabin Honda rider Makoto Tamada sweeping the entire event from practice to qualifying, Superpole and then both races. For Troy Bayliss Japan 2001 was only marginally better than Japan 2000 as he, like many others, found his Michelin's to be no match for the rubber used by the Japanese Championship regulars. After suffering the ignominy of failing to even qualify for Superpole Bayliss started 17th alongside Xaus, Parkes and GSE Racing rookie James Toseland and simply spent Sunday clinging on to a bike with rapidly disintegrating tyres and very little in the way of handling but through patience and perseverance he came away with two points finishes, albeit 13th and 15th.

Corser's Dunlop's on the other hand seemed to be working fine around the undulating Japanese circuit and he gave Tamada a real run for his money in the opening race before settling for second. In the second race however Corser's Achilles heel, a seemingly built in ability to switch off during a race, struck and he came home sixth.

Hitoyasu Izutsu, the man who swept both 2000 races at Sugo as a wildcard, was technically the best of the WSB regulars finishing third in race one and a fighting second in race two on the third Fucks Kawasaki but other than that, Corser and Bostrom's front row starting positions (3rd and 4th), Corser's race one podium and Bostrom's race two fourth place were all the WSB regulars had to shout about. Neil Hodgson however had plenty of reasons to be pleased as he and his GSE team showed off the clearest signals yet that they had the potential to be real championship contenders as the 2000 British Superbike Champion came away from Japan with a seventh and a fifth under his belt.

So with nearly a quarter of the Championship already gone Corser still clung to a 22-point lead over Bayliss at the head of the standings, 122-100. Edwards, who toiled to 12th and 13th at Sugo, had 80 points and was third with Bostrom a further six points in arrears in fourth. Now it was back to Europe, where the Championship would really be won and lost.