By Suzi Perry BBC Grandstand's World Superbikes presenter reports from Laguna Seca

World Superbikes, BBC Two, Friday 19 July, 1135BST.

Laguna Seca threw up the best racing we've seen all year, with race two producing some non-stop action as Neil Hodgson and Troy Bayliss fought out a legendary battle.

It was a thrilling duel but the race win went to Colin Edwards, who looked the strongest rider throughout qualifying and psychologically was on top form.

He has just found out that he is to become a father and he also had a new Stars and Stripes livery on his bike and his leathers to celebrate racing in America.

In fact all his mechanics had Stars and Stripes kit - they were truly the star-spangled spanners this weekend.

Using race tyres he posted great times throughout qualifying and a lot of the paddock believed this would be the place that Edwards finally beat Troy Bayliss.

But it did not work out that way in race one as Edwards suffered a two-pronged attack from the Ducati duo of Bayliss and Ruben Xaus.

The American found it too hard to handle and ran out of steam to finish third, but although he was bitterly disappointed he managed to psyche himself up for race two.

The victory went to Troy Bayliss, and he deserves huge respect because he had a big crash during qualifying and tore a ligament in his back as well as banging his head.

Second thoughts

He really knocked himself senseless and was in such a bad way before Superpole qualifying that he thought twice about going out and doing the lap.

In the end he did and he finished third to get on the front row, which is more vital at this circuit than anywhere else.

It was hugely to his credit that he managed to put his injuries behind him and focus on the racing.

For spectators race two was an absolute spectacular.

Britain's Neil Hodgson battled with almost every rider in the race and finished off with a cat-and-mouse duel with Bayliss on his way to a highly-creditable third place.

The overtaking manoeuvres were simply breathtaking.

Crowd pleaser

But they spent so much time fighting each other they allowed Colin Edwards to stretch his lead and finally manage to get one over on Troy.

The result sent the team and the crowd wild and Edwards himself was ecstatic.

Even Troy Bayliss seemed quite pleased that Edwards had managed to win.

All in all it was a fabulous day's racing and I am really looking forward to Brands Hatch in a fortnight's time, when both races will be live on Sunday Grandstand.