Sunday's World Superbike races as Assen could be summed up in the ways Colin Edwards and Troy Bayliss disposed of their gloves. Ducati's Bayliss angrily hurled his against a barrier after crashing out of race two and tossing away his once-solid championship lead. Edwards pulled to the side of the track and tossed his racer's mittens into the crowd in celebration on his cool-down lap after a yet another consecutive victory.

Honda's Edwards was leading the second race and missed the race two fireworks unfolding behind him -- first Troy running wide trying to pass Neil Hodgson, Nori Haga and Hodgson running through the gravel after touching, and Bayliss's crash. Colin built a big lead and took the checkered flag without much opposition on the way to his record seventh consecutive WSC victory. He now leads Bayliss by a single point in the title chase, 502 to 501 heading into the final round. And Colin figures he has the advantage going into Imola.

"Troy's been riding really well this year, but at the moment I think I'm riding that little bit better," Edwards commented.

Bayliss, who lost ground on lap three when he ran off-course trying to pass Neil Hodgson, emerged unhurt after he made a second mistake when he highsided out of the event on lap nine while in third place.

Taking his anger out on his gloves was a rare display of frustration for Bayliss, a rider who keeps his composure to a maximum and his mistakes to a minimum. His angst was understandable. Bayliss would have likely finished second in the race and left the Netherlands leading the championship by 19 points if he had just kept his machine on two wheels to the flag, even considering his first off-course excursion.

Instead, Bayliss -- the winner of 14 races this year -- does not lead the title hunt for the first time since the 2003 season began.

Troy was philosophical afterward. "I'm pretty mad with myself for the crash, but what can you do?" he said.

Now the championship comes down to the final two races at Imola in two weeks. Both men are already the first riders to score over 500 points in a WSC season this year, breaking Carl Fogarty's previous record of 489 set in 1999. But the previous 24 races -- held on five different continents over the past six months -- have settled nothing between the two previous World Superbike title winners. So who is the favorite to take the title?

Edwards is the hot hand, winning the last seven races as mentioned previously. But can Bayliss and Ducati be considered underdogs at a track just a few miles from the Ducati factory in Bologna?

Last year's inaugural races at Imola were won by Xaus and Laconi. In fact, Bayliss and Edwards both crashed last year at the Italian circuit, with Troy skipping race two after breaking his collarbone.