Former World champion Colin Edwards made me think this weekend. After another pair of second place finishes behind Ducati’s Troy Bayliss, Edwards said he was riding as well as he ever had, and his Honda was working fantastic . . . he just can’t beat Troy.
If Edwards feels frustrated, what about Ben Bostrom? After five wins in a row last year, he is having great difficulty just getting on the podium. What is going on here?
With eleven victories in fourteen races, Bayliss has taken superbikes to a new level. How good is Bayliss? No one wants to talk about a comparison with Valentino Rossi, or the other GP stars, but look at Aprilia’s Noriyuki Haga and think about it. Haga is a four-stroke specialist and, yes, he struggled on a 500 two-stroke last year, but he occasionally ran with the leaders. Haga can’t touch Troy Bayliss this year, even though Haga is back home on a four-stroke shod with Dunlop tires (he rode on Michelins last year, but he favors Dunlops).
Whatever you think about Bayliss, he is on his way to an historic WSB season.
