News

In race 2 the track was dry and at the start Corser did it all wrong: the Aussie after a few meters hit Haga, puncturing the Japanese rider's rear wheel and damaging his front brakes. At the first braking point Corser braked but nothing happened, he fell and collected Haga and Toseland in the process. All three were out of the race and Bayliss was left without any real threat: he placed himself on Kagayama's tail until he decided to pass him and pulled away to win. Andrew Pitt was second and Nieto was third after a good climb up the field and recovery from an off-track excursion on lap 15.

2007 - The early stages of race 1 saw a hard fight between six riders: Toseland, Bayliss, Xaus, Lanzi, Haga and Corser. After some laps the situation was more clear as Toseland and Bayliss were on their own in front. Starting from lap 17 however, Bayliss had to slow down due to a drop in tyre performance, leaving the win to Toseland. Troy only finished fourth, and it could have been worse if Corser hadn't retired with a mechanical failure two laps from the end.

Race 2 was a close fight between Haga, Toseland and Bayliss. The Japanese rider went into the lead at lap 9, but after only a couple of laps in front he was forced to retire with a blown engine. It was up to Toseland and Bayliss, who played all their cards in the last three laps: Toseland started attacking Bayliss on lap 20, in the part of track that goes from Meeuwenmeer turn to the last chicane. His Honda's higher speed let him pass Bayliss under acceleration, but Troy was in front again under braking. The couple exchanged places four times in this piece of track and on the following lap they repeated the same show, turn after turn. On the last lap Toseland was more determined and was able to keep the lead at the entry of the last chicane. Sadly for him the race didn't end there: Bayliss had a better acceleration out of the corner and pipped James at the finish line by nine thousandths of a second.

2008 - In Assen Troy Bayliss scored his first Dutch pole since 2001 and took the lead after a perfect start, followed by Kagayama, Haga, Xaus and Checa. During the first lap Xaus was able to pass Haga for second, but the Japanese rider was having none of it and tried to take the place back on the following lap. The move didn't work and Noriyuki clipped Xaus on a slow left-hander: they both slid out of the race. On the fifth lap Kagayama hit the front and was able to set the pace in the central part of the race, with Bayliss, Neukirchner, Checa and Corser queued up behind him. The turning point was a small mistake by the Japanese at the exit of the chicane on the twelfth lap: he lost the rear momentarily and Bayliss took the opportunity to take the lead. Troy immediately set a higher pace, stretching the front runners: Kagayama and Corser fell back, with the latter suffering from rear-end grip, while Neukirchner and Checa had a slightly superior pace, but lost contact with Bayliss after a handful of laps. The Ducati rider went on to win all alone, while Checa took second from Neukirchner on the eighteenth lap.

In race 2 Bayliss took the lead at the start, followed by Haga and Xaus; the latter fell into the clutches of Max Neukirchner, who took third on the third lap, joining the leading duo, that was gradually pulling away from the rest. Towards mid-race Neukirchner had to slow down due to front-end lack of grip; Bayliss was able to lead Haga comfortably, a few lengths separating the two. This situation changed in the following stages, when Bayliss dropped his pace, allowing Haga to close in. The Japanese rider tried to take the lead up to the final corner: the pair came out towards the finish line side by side and Bayliss won by only 0"082 over Noriyuki. The third step of the podium was taken by Checa, who had a better pace than the fading pair of Xaus-Neukirchner in the final stages.