From a press release issued by the organizers of the Superbike World Championship Series:

Round 7 – Germany – EuroSpeedway
7-9 June 2002
Lausitz, 6 June 2002

Second Time Around

The Eurospeedway Lausitz race facility is truly impressive to behold, and on SBK’s first visit in 2001, which launched the new track to the world at large, all new visitors were impressed by the scope and scale of the entire project.

Designed from the outset as the most impressive new motorsports facility in Europe, Eurospeedway Lausitz is a venue worthy of this respect. The towering grandstands, vast site area, Daytona-style Tri-oval layout and impressive facilities – for fans and the travelling paddock circus alike – put it on the cutting edge of modern circuit design.

Not a natural motorcycle track, due to its almost flat topography, continuous slow turns, and the need for car-racing barriers in some strategic points, the Lausitzring is nonetheless a tricky circuit to get right for even the best competitors on only their second visit.

Despite the many corners, the average speed is somewhere in the region of 150km/h, no slower than most other SBK tracks.

The 4.265 km track, with a 650m front straight, is mostly based on the infield of the huge encircling tri-oval, used by the open wheel racecar fraternity.

The Lausitz tarmac, proved to be highly abrasive in the dry but curiously less than porous in the wet, provided a unique challenge for the competitors and made for some unexpected results in qualifying.

Steve Martin (DFX Ducati) is the current holder of the fastest qualifying lap, with a 1:40.036 (153.480km/h) but in race conditions, the official lap record stands to Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) at 1:40.599.

The same two men who shared race wins at Lausitz in 2001, and battled it out for that year’s championship, are the same two who have been putting so much into their campaigns this year. Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) have been not just fast, but fast every single weekend, in every session, in every possible way.

The other championship challengers may have been dismayed by the consistent brilliance of Bayliss (nine wins from 12 attempts) and the dogged excellence of Edwards, but seldom have the leading duo had their own way throughout an entire half season.

Many have tried, however, and many more will doubtless continue to try.

Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) is using last year’s factory Ducati this season and despite any performance differentials, has been fighting hard throughout to keep his receding hopes of an eventual top two finish alive. Sitting third at present, 74 points behind Edwards, he has had dramatic on-track battles and feuds with those in front and behind him.

Closest chaser is the ebullient Japanese Samurai Noriyuki Haga (Playstation2 Aprilia) who has yet to win this year but has shown it is more than possible, if circumstances would allow. First time at Lausitz for Haga may count against him, but for fifth place man Ruben Xaus, Bayliss’ team-mate, he knows his way round. A mercurial genius on his day and a self-destructive force of nature when it’s not, Xaus is nonetheless one of the most popular men in the paddock. Coming from a podium finish in Silverstone, he may just be a threat in Germany; Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati) may also challenge, if his Dunlop-shod Ducati can perform at its best – and the rider can rekindle the kind of staggering form that gave him five wins in a row last season.

James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) has been learning the ways of top-level Superbike racing for two years now, and learning pretty quick. Despite a single podium finish, his consistency has been immense, with only one no-score for one so young.

Three Brits in the top eight means that Chris Walker has jumped up the table after his fourth place finish at Silverstone. The Kawasaki Racing Team pilot has had many problems, medical and otherwise this season, but his sheer will to kick-start his career has been a feature of his debut SBK year. It has also made him the top four-cylinder competitor in the SBK Championship, ahead of Spain and Alstare Suzuki’s Gregorio Lavilla, his compatriot Juan Borja (Spaziotel Ducati) and the still-injured Hitoyasu Izutsu. Possibly the most popular man in SBK racing even now is Pierfrancesco Chili. The veteran Italian on the NCR Ducati has been impressive enough but recovery from a broken collarbone has halted aspirations for the podium positions this season.

A whole phalanx of fast Ducati-equipped privateers have made themselves occasional thorns in the sides of the factory-equipped men this year, but for high flier Bayliss, on 260 points, he has only been rivalled by one man, Colin Edwards, on 231.

In the Supersport Championship, the three way fight for the lead has been joined by a few others recently, with James Whitham (Yamaha Belgarda) winning at Silverstone, but it appears that (season-long at least) the title will be decided between Stephane Chambon (Alstare Suzuki), Fabien Foret (Ten Kate Honda) and reigning champion Andrew Pitt (Kawasaki Racing Team).

At Lausitz last year rain-specialist Kevin Curtin won the event for Honda, and he returns this season on an OPCM Yamaha.