Mirco Lazzari’s ML Magazine
Issue 4 – 2020
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm
– Winston Churchill
ML Magazine is Mirco Lazzari’s new feature of photography, sports, travel and culture. A new amazing point of view on Motorsport and Life, ML is the new adventure of one of MotoGP‘s most respected and well-known photographers. You can read the complete issues of the magazine at the following link.
Bayliss ed Edwards
The story of this great undertaking seems almost trivial: two very strong riders who race for two great manufacturers, challenge each other in the last race to win the title. But banal is the worst adjective that can be associated with the grand finale of the 2002 Superbike world season. In front, divided by a single point, there is the Texan Colin Edwards, 2000 world champion and official Honda rider and Troy Bayliss, Australian, reigning champion and heart and soul of Ducati. Two champions, but above all two real men. Two who came up without too many upward currents, who do not need organi- zed fans to feel appreciated. They are not two angels but they enjoy unlimited trust on the part of managers and people. Troy was caught on the outskirts of motorcycling that matters, but whoever chose him immediately understood that he was a star, perhaps rough but precious. Colin is one of the last flashes of the great American school and is the man on which Honda built the challenge for Ducati: to beat them in Superbike with a twin cylinder. A decidedly sensational challenge.
Bayliss and Ducati live a great first half of the 2002 season, then Honda unleashes its R&D that uses “revolutionary” material for the VTR which has just won the 8 Hours of Suzuka with Edwards and Katoh, the most important race for Japanese manufacturers. Nine wins in a row in 2002 for Colin but Troy is at just one point behind him…
We are in September, in Imola, one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, there are over 100,000 passionate spectators. Because when there is a big show, the problem is to accommodate people, not make them come.
The tension is cut with a knife, it is a duel to the death that the two face with great calmness. As tense as violin strings, but ready to play it on equal terms and without hysterics, as in a duel in the old West. And here we understand that Edwards, as a good Texan lover of weapons, has some advantages. But the Australian does not tremble and has the same strategy in mind: beat the rival and win the title.
It went well for Edwards and Honda, twice first, but people applauded both. In that western there was no bad guy, even if the Bayliss motorcycle factory is less than fifty kilometers (via Emilia) from Imola. It was one of the most beautiful races in the world for content and emotional tension. The two of them, needless to say, led by champions, so much so that the only possible ally of Bayliss, the teammate Ruben Xaus that day only managed to join the two teachers, as a good schoolboy.
On the evening of 29 September 2002, Troy and Colin were no longer two rivals: they had become two people deeply con- nected by having participated in the most beautiful Superbike battle. In a season in which, out of 26 manche, they only let one win the others, the humans …
A few months later their career changes suddenly: both switch to MotoGP. Bayliss with the overpowering Ducati, Edwards with the unmanageable Aprilia RS Cube. They are no longer two tops, but two great riders loved by the public remain and above all two great men. We are in Motegi, it is October 5th and the Pacific GP is taking place. Ready away, the first corner arrives and John Hopkins decides to delay the braking beyond all limits, hitting Carlos Checa. A “bean” is triggered which leaves Bayliss on the way out, reali- zing that his race ended in an amen. But the attentive eye sees Colin’s Aprilia planted in the gravel that cannot get out. “No marshall has come to help me” – declares Edwards – then I felt a vigorous push and I managed to start again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that it was Troy, thank you very much! “
For the record, Edwards finished in 17th pla-ce one and a half minutes from Biaggi, winner of the race. But he did his utmost effort, also to honor the friend who had helped him. Fair play, please. And you will see, dear young riders, that even after twenty years they will remember you!
Jorge
Lorenzo
June 27, 2013
Assen’s Circuit, Hoge Heide corner, free practice on Thursday: Jorge Lorenzo falls at 238 km / h breaking his left collarbone. Taken to Barcelona by private flight, he was operated on in the early hours of Friday (with the insertion of a titanium plate and eight screws in the bone) and brought back to Assen in the afternoon of the same day.
After the doctors’ ok, he returned to the track for the warm up and the Saturday race, completing a feat: running after 48 hours from an injury and after 36 hours from undergoing surgery, arriving in fifth position.
All the photographs and content of this page are property of Mirco Lazzari and are here published with the consent of the author and his associates.
