Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Edwards fails to budge Bayliss

Despite putting in a lap at 1:25.022–way under the track record–Edwards was still beaten to provisional pole by Troy Bayliss. The Ducati factory rider, who’s running away with all the honors this season, became the first rider to dip into the 1 minute 24 second zone at Laguna Seca on a Superbike by lapping at an incredible 1:24.833. He put the lap in with only just over a minute of the session remaining.

Neil Hodgson, who was recently named as a factory rider in the Infostrada Ducati team next season, was third fastest. He qualified just over a tenth of a second back from Edwards but ahead of fellow Ducati pilot Ben Bostrom. The American completed the provisional front row a tenth of a second back from Hodgson.

When Jiri Mrkyvka’s Ducati dropped the contents of its crankcases on the entry into a turn Edwards had a chance to try his hand being a racer, cornerworker and race director all in one. Edwards crashed on the 30-yard stripe of oil left by the stricken Ducati and took hold of a track marshal’s red flag and waved it to stop the race. He followed that with a hand gesture that made his feelings on the incident patently obvious!

Mat Mladin had a big spill when he highsided his Suzuki coming out of turn 10 causing the red flag to be waved for the second time. With only just over 11 minutes left in the one-hour session he wasn’t able to get out again and improve on his time and had to settle for 10th going into Superpole. Ruben Xaus also crashed; going down at the Corkscrew he jumped on his spare bike and qualified the factory Ducati way down in 13th.

Nicky Hayden was the fastest wild card rider in the last qualifying practice. He qualified a provisional fifth. Another wild card, Aaron Yates, made it into sixth. Noriyuki Haga and Chili were seventh and eighth, rounding off the provisional second row.

With Superpole still to come, any rider in the top 16 places has a chance to move up, or down, the grid.


1. Troy Bayliss, Ducati 998F02, 1:24.833
2. Colin Edwards, Honda RC51, 1:25.022
3. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 998F01, 1:25.138
4. Ben Bostrom, Ducati 998F02, 1:25.233
5. Nicky Hayden, Honda RC51, 1:25.553
6. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.604
7. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia RSV1000, 1:25.665
8. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 998RS, 1:25.672
9. Doug Chandler, Ducati 998RS, 1:25.678
10. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:25.834
11. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:25.875
12. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.129
13. Ruben Xaus, Ducati 998F02, 1:26.290
14. Gregorio Lavilla, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:26.336
15. James Toseland, Ducati 998F01, 1:26.337
16. Steve Martin, Ducati 998RS, 1:26.569
17. Chris Walker, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:26.666
18. Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC51, 1:26.703
19. Marco Borciani, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.071
20. Peter Goddard, Benelli Tornado 900, 1:27.104
21. Broc Parkes, Ducati 998RS, 1:27.451
22. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:27.640
23. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R7, 1:27.883
24. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:28.168
25. Serafino Foti, Ducati 996RS, 1:28.319
26. Alessandro Antonello, Ducati 998RS, 1:28.792
27. Mark Heckles, Honda RC51, 1:28.884
28. Bertrand Stey, Honda RC51, 1:30.304
29. Mark Miller, Honda RC51, 1:30.638
30. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati 996RS, 1:30.980