1. Ducati's Troy Bayliss wins Superbike World Championship

Australian Troy Bayliss saved Ducati from losing hell caused by Foggy retiring by assembling a consistent season where he raced to win at almost every round. Critics who said he was too old, crashed too much or simply wasn't good enough were made to eat crow when Bayliss delivered the goods on a world championship scale.
And on the personal side, Bayliss winning the title killed the axiom that nice guys finish last.

2. Honda loses the World Superbike championship

Honda, a definite superpower in motorcycle racing the world over, showed that even the biggest make grave errors of judgment sometimes when they installed unproven parts in the RC51/SP2 early in the season, parts which caused a number of DNFs, which in turn killed reigning world champ Colin Edwards' early season drive.
Honda managed to lose the world Superbike title to a smaller manufacturer using a motorcycle with parts in its cases from 1982 and a rider frankly no one on the world scene had heard of two years ago. Amazing.

3. Mat Mladin wins the AMA Superbike championship

A thoroughly tumultuous yet dominating season by Mladin and Suzuki showed astonishing drive by the man and his team. A broken leg, a bad crash in the rain and one in the dry could have cost him the title, but Mladin's early season push made the last half of the season a foregone conclusion. Or was that at Daytona?

4. Scott Russell's season and perhaps his career end at Daytona

The winningest rider ever at Daytona, Scott Russell, suffered season ending injuries during a re-start at Daytona, injuries which may have now ended his career.
Ultimately heartbreaking, Russell's horrific collision was too so ironic: that a rider who experienced unparalleled success in Daytona Beach, Florida suffered his worst injury to date at the same place. Anyone who saw him dominate any of his five Daytona 200s can never say he can't do it again; yet coming back now will be the biggest uphill climb of Mr Daytona's career.

5. Ducati's Ben Bostrom wins five World Superbike races in a row

Not since the time of Polen and Foggy had anyone nailed five World Superbike wins in a row, but Ben Bostrom did it in 2001, including two astounding wins at Brands Hatch, a racetrack he said he was never comfortable on previously.
Bostrom winning five races at any time in 2001 seemed questionable early on, let alone five in a row. But the return of Ernesto Marelli to his crew (they worked together at Vance and Hines Ducati) put Bostrom straight and the winning began.

6. Harley-Davidson pulls out of US Superbike racing

After seven years of struggles and a roller coaster ride to competitiveness, Harley-Davidson decided they'd had enough and pulled out of AMA Superbike racing at the end of 2001, saying, essentially, that it was pointless for them to continue.
In the end, the team was a quagmire of politics and disheartenment, yet what will haunt it forever is the prevailing opinion that if Harley had only fired the crew after five years and hired Muzzy/Leonard/Kanemoto to take over, the sport would be reveling in a Harley-Davidson Superbike championship by now.

7. Anthony Gobert hands Yamaha their first Superbike win since the mid-1990s

Proving he is back, Anthony Gobert and his Yamaha beat Nick Hayden and his Honda at Sears Point to take Yamaha's first US Superbike win since the mid-1990s.
Gobert's season soon degraded into healing from injuries and trying to win the 600 Supersport class, but his win at Sears showed that the most talented rider in the world isn't on cruise at this stage of his career.

8. Nick Hayden goes four in a row in America

After dealing with some of the same mechanical problems that plagued world champion Colin Edwards II early in the season, Nicky Hayden-with help from new chassis parts via HRC-pulled free from the confusion, the despair and the immense suckage there is in racing for third or fifth to win four in a row. The run for the championship was gone, but the end of season glory was all Hayden's.
Gobert, Yates, Picotte, DuHamel and Eric Bostrom may try to stop Mladin from a fourth title, but Hayden seems to be the man most feel will be there with Mladin in the end.

9. Kawasaki beats Yamaha and Honda for the 600 Supersport title

Since 1994, the 600 Supersport title in America has been the property of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki with Miguel DuHamel and Muzzy being the last persons to deliver the championship at Team Green (1993). That changed in 2001 when Eric Bostrom, Al Ludington and Kawasaki ripped the 600 title from Honda's hands. The fact that Bostrom, Ludington and fellow crew-man Joe Lombardo had been shown the door by Honda several years ago was not missed by many. Revenge is a dish best served on a cold plate.

10. Al Ludington splits with Kawasaki and re-joins DuHamel and Honda

After two years on the green team and bringing Eric Bostrom back to competitive form on both the 600 and Superbike, ex-DuHamel wrench Ludington was approached by Honda and offered his old crewchief position on the factory Honda team.
Ludington says he offered Kawasaki the chance to simply meet the Honda offer and he'd stay, but Kawasaki's racing manager had little interest in that.
So now DuHamel becomes a stronger package by being reunited with Ludington, and everybody gets to wonder if the information that Eric Bostrom's results when he is without Ludington have not been fantastic is simply a past trend or a current factor.

11. Kawasaki splits with Doug Chandler

After three US Superbike championships, John Douglas Chandler and Kawasaki go their separate ways. This much is for sure: if given the chance to win again on a different bike it will the people at Kawasaki in Santa Ana who will cheer it the loudest.

12. Loudon is pulled from the AMA Superbike schedule for 2002