Motorcycling: Bayliss keeps ahead

JAMES HAYDON and John Reynolds each won a leg of the ninth round of the Motor Cycle News British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park yesterday. But a fourth place followed by a second place for Troy Bayliss, means that the Australian rider still leads the title campaign by 16 points.

Both races at the demanding 1.36-mile Leicestershire circuit were thrillers. In the first race, pole-starter Chris Walker set the early pace on the works Kawasaki, before Haydon charged the Clarion Suzuki ahead on the 11th lap, and then eased to a fourth victory of the campaign by half a second from Sean Emmett and Walker.

Walker again made the early running in the second 25-lapper, but the determined Reynolds, disappointed by a sixth placing earlier on, nosed his Red Bull Ducati ahead on the fifth lap. He then held off team-mate Emmett before Bayliss moved into second place with three laps remaining.

The INS Ducati rider closed within 0.137sec of Reynolds, the champion back in 1992, who collected his fifth victory of the season to chip a further two points off the lead held by Bayliss.

Walker, who finished third in each of the races, is also third in the overall rankings, ahead of Haydon, and 51 points now separate the leading four riders as they go into the final six races of the season.

Results, Digest, page 11