Edwards double sets up WSBK championship battle.

Colin Edwards was in rampant mood as he scored a double win in the 10th round of the World Superbike championship at Brands Hatch, GB on Sunday.

The Castrol SP-2 Honda rider was determined to make the most of two days of solid, problem-free practice and his confidence was evident as he took the lead on the third lap of the opening race from Neil Hodgson, at the left-hand Stirlings corner.

Once ahead, Edwards built up a one-second lead which he maintained to the end of the 25 laps for his fourth win of the year. Edwards said: "I knew
that win was possible but then I made a mess of the start. I dug deep and managed to get ahead pretty early in the race. Once in front I just watched
the pit board and tried to keep the gap at about one second."

Edwards continued: "It was a tough race in the hot conditions and for 25 laps all I could hear was 100,000 screaming fans. We've hardly changed a
thing on the SP-2 since we got here on Thursday and Michelin have done a great job again with the tyres."

Hodgson held off the challenge of Troy Bayliss to take second place welcomed by a huge cheer from a section of the 126,000 partisan crowd as the British rider took the chequered flag.

Bayliss, battered and bruised following a practice crash after a collision with team-mate Ruben Xaus, completed the podium while Noriyuki Haga held
off Xaus and survived a final corner scare to secure fourth place.

Xaus, eager to pass Haga on the run to the finish line, ran into the Aprilia rider on the exit of the fast, sweeping final corner. Xaus held onto his machine and finished fifth having started from 14th place on the grid.

Edwards started race two as favourite after his opening race display and the buoyant Texan didn't disappoint as grabbed his second win of the day.
Again he took the lead from Hodgson and again at the tight left-hand Stirlings, this time on the fourth lap.

He quickly opened up a gap of four seconds and his fifth win of the year and the fifth double victory of his career never looked in doubt. The Castrol Honda ace eventually cruised across the line 2.3 seconds ahead of title rival Bayliss.

"It feels great to win the double again here," said Edwards after repeating his 1999 double. "I really felt like the double was on today and I'm so pleased to achieve it. I realised that Troy (Bayliss) may be struggling after his crash yesterday but if I started thinking too much about him I'd start forgetting how good Hodgson is around here. The team's worked hard for this and, after the Suzuka 8 hours race next week, I'm sure HRC will come up with something extra for the final three rounds."

Second place for Bayliss meant Edwards moved 14 points closer to the championship leader with a gap of 39 points now separating the two with three rounds remaining.

Bayliss held off Hodgson in the battle for second place while last year's Brands Hatch double race winner Ben Bostrom improved from a first race
seventh place to take fourth. Haga again won a thrilling battle with Xaus, this time for fifth place.