A look back at Kyalami - the last 3 editions
2001 - Ben Bostrom took pole at Kyalami, but in race 1 Edwards was out on his own; Bayliss stayed with him for half of the race, then gave up the fight, leaving the American to cruise to the end. Third was Corser and fourth Bostrom, who in race 2 took the lead immediately at the start, while Edwards had to pass Bayliss and Corser before starting to chase him. Colin had another pace in Kyalami, caught Ben and managed to pass him, but suffered a mechanical failure soon afterwards and Bostrom won unchallenged, since Bayliss was not able to catch him and Corser was too far seconds behind. Edwards' failure put the spotlight on Honda's poor reliability in the first two races: the American had lost a win and his team-mate Okada suffered three failures in four races (he was still at zero points after a clash with Laconi in Valencia that completed the series of retirements).
2002 - At Kyalami there were few changes in the finishing order from what the Championship had shown so far, as it was a two-man duel between Bayliss and Edwards. In race 1 Bayliss won from Edwards and Xaus, in race 2 from...Xaus and Edwards. All three were on Michelin rubber in a year where the tyre war was crucial for performance: the Dunlop riders were not so far behind, but not in a condition to fight for the win. Haga was a clear example: the Japanese rider twice started well and was even able to take the lead, Bayliss had only to wait for the Dunlops to wear out and then passed Haga, who wasn't a problem anymore for the rest of the races.
