Troy Bayliss

Infobox Superbike rider


Name = Troy Bayliss
Caption = Troy Bayliss
Nationality = flagicon|AUS Australian
Nickname = The Maestro
Birthdate = birth date and age|1969|03|30
Birthplace = Taree, New South Wales, Australia
Website = [http://www.troybayliss.com/ troybayliss.com]
Current team = Ducati Xerox Team
Bike number = 21
Championships = SBK|2001, SBK|2006, SBK|2008
Race Starts = 150
Race Wins = 50
Podiums = 80
Poles = 19
Fastest laps = 28
Last season = 2008
Last position = 1st (410 pts)

Troy Bayliss (born March 30, 1969 in Taree, NSW, Australia) is a professional Australian motorcycle racer. He has won the Superbike World Championship three times, as well as the British Superbike Championship and a MotoGP race and all on Ducati. He will retire at the end of the 2008 season.

Early life

Bayliss showed much promise as a youngster in the sport, however when he entered his teens his enthusiasm for racing waned. He commenced an apprenticeship as a spraypainter at Joe Berry's and commuted to work by bicycle. On this daily commute Bayliss would pass a motorcycle dealership and finally was tempted enough to obtain a loan to purchase a Kawasaki ZXR 750 which he commenced racing on. He won the first race he entered on the bike and performed well in subsequent events. As a result of this early success and despite the financial risk he was taking, Bayliss decided to compete in the Australian Supersport championship.

Early career

After finishing as runner-up in the Australian supersport championship in 1995, Troy moved up to the Australian Superbikes series the next year, finishing 3rd that year and 2nd in 1997.

His big break came that year - he was entered as a wildcard for the 1997 Australian 250 Grand Prix riding for the Dutch Arie Molenaar Suzuki team. On a significantly underpowered machine compared to his competitors, Troy finished in 6th despite exiting the final corner in 3rd place, such was the lack of power of his machine.

Bayliss's remarkable performance on a clearly underpowered machine earned him considerable attention, and he was subsequently offered a ride in the British championship with the new GSE Ducati team the next year. His first win came an in race 11 at Cadwell Park, but a large number of crashes and mechanical failures prevented a serious title challenge. This changed in 1999, Bayliss beating Chris Walker to the title.

uperbike World Championship

Bayliss began the SBK|2000 season competing for Ducati in the US's AMA Superbike Championship, but was called in to replace Carl Fogarty in the Superbike World Championship when the latter was injured at Philip Island. Despite missing the first 3 rounds and having a poor start at his first race in Sugo, Bayliss had a creditable season, winning two races and earning sixth overall in the championship.

In the SBK|2001 season Bayliss opened with four 2nds in 5 races, and took his first victory in race 8 at Monza. His consistent performances and six race wins paved for the way for the championship title, defeating reigning champion Colin Edwards. Bayliss clinched the title in the penultimate meeting at Assen when Edwards broke down, however he failed to earn any points in the final meeting after crashing in race 1 and suffering a broken collarbone.

Bayliss started SBK|2002 in dominant form breaking the record (at the time) for most race wins in a season, but Edwards thanks to his consistency in usually minimizing the points lost when Bayliss won by finishing second overturned the advantage, Colin won his second title at a thrilling final round in Imola. Troy crossed the line first in race one, but lost on aggregate, as the first part of race one being red flagged because of an oil leak by Peter Goddard's Benelli. Incidentally, Peter Goddard vacated his seat on the Suzuki superbike in the Australian series in 1997 and recommended Troy for his position.

In retrospect, the SBK|2002 season had been lost partially due to mishaps created by his own team. Troy was injured at Brands Hatch when colliding with his teammate Ruben Xaus, whilst Xaus was swerving to bring heat into his tyres, and after the Laguna Seca round, Ducati changed the frame. This frame change would prove costly as Troy consistently complained that the bike didn't feel like the same machine he had been riding previously. It was only at the final round in Imola that the team reverted to the original frame. Troy was very competitive all weekend.

MotoGP

Both Troy and Colin moved to MotoGP in 2003, and it was Bayliss who was initially more successful. In Ducati's first season in the class their bike was highly competitive, with Troy taking 3 third places and finishing 6th overall in the championship. He briefly led at Philip Island, Brno and Welkom, and only narrowly losing the rookie of the year race to Nicky Hayden. Team-mate Loris Capirossi took their first win at the Circuit de Catalunya.

2004 was a difficult year for the team however, with Troy only 14th in the standings. Despite (or perhaps due to) its prodigious straight-line speed the bike didn't handle well, with Troy often over-riding and crashing frequently, this led to Troy's subsequent sacking from the factory Ducati squad, a part of which Troy had been for five years previous. This move was considered an unpopular one by many, considering that neither Troy nor Loris were able to perform as well as they had the previous year.

According to some, confirmation that Troy's sacking was influenced by sponsorship pressure rather than any performance based reasons was seen in the appointment of Carlos Checa as Troy's replacement. However, Troy is much older than Loris, and had not been as close to him in 2004 as he had in 2003, so some questioned whether he had any more to offer the team.

However, good results near the end of the season earned him a ride with Sito Pons' Camel Honda team for 2005, but was not a frontrunner, despite promising speed shown in his first tests on the 2004 machine and Alex Barros winning in Portugal. A severely broken arm meant that Troy was unable to compete in the final 6 races, had he done so, the season ending Valencian Grand Prix would have been his 50th Grand Prix appearance. Troy did give an insight as to his inability to crack into the upper echelons of Grand Prix racing, describing the Honda MotoGP bike and MotoGP bikes in general as too inflexible, rigid, and like a 250 for his style.

After the success of SBK|2006, Ducati offered Bayliss a wildcard entry in the final MotoGP race of the year in Valencia, due to Sete Gibernau being injured. Remarkably Bayliss qualified 2nd and led the whole race, which ended in a Ducati 1-2. His impressive victory was somewhat overshadowed by the dramatic events involving Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden that ultimately determined the 2006 title winner.

uperbike World Championship return

After a rather unsuccessful journey in MotoGP and a particularly disappointing 2005 season, Bayliss returned to the Superbike World Championship in SBK|2006 and was reunited with factory Ducati team.

His pre-season form in testing for SBK|2006 showed much promise, with Troy topping the timesheets at both Qatar and Valencia. Even more remarkable is the fact that both he and Troy Corser were lapping faster at Qatar than many MotoGP contenders from the previous season, despite MotoGP bikes being purpose built racing prototypes and Superbikes being based on road-going machines. Troy's good form, the defection of former GP stars to SBK and the looming capacity change in MotoGP has certainly contributed to the re-emergence of WSBK once again as a contender for the title of the premier motorcycle racing category.

Troy started SBK|2006 in dominant fashion, leading the points table after the first 5 rounds with seven consecutive race wins and additional podiums.

His form continued to the point that he went into round 10 at Lausitzring with a chance of clinching the title with 3 rounds to go. A fall in race one prevented this, but he only required a 4th place in any of the final 4 races to seal the title. Bayliss duly won the title at Imola, in race 1 with a 5th place, which was enough as James Toseland did not win. He won race 2, to cement the title.

Although he scored an impressive win in the final MotoGP race of 2006 at Valencia, he continued to race in WSBK with the Ducati team in SBK|2007. [ [http://www.ducati.com/racing/home_news_popup_racing.jhtml?newsId=32035 Ducati.com - NEWS ] ]

On April 1, 2007, at Donington Park, Bayliss crashed at Coppice corner on lap six of the first Superbike race of the day. His right hand was momentarily caught under the motorcycle during the crash, and the injury required the surgical removal of the intermediate and distal phalanges of his little finger. Despite this amputation, Bayliss was able to continue riding and earned a podium in the next race. He finished the season 4th overall.

SBK|2008 sees Bayliss continue racing for the factory Ducati team, riding the new Ducati 1098. At the season opener at the Losail circuit in Qatar, Troy won the race one to give Ducati their first win with the new 1098 model. He also won both races at Philip Island on what is likely to be his final appearance at his home round. He came within three corners of clinching the title at Vallelunga, but crashed out at a low-speed corner to ensure that Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga retain a mathematical hope. He then clinched it by finishing 2nd to Haga at Magny Cours, and put the seal on it by winning race 2 - his 50th WSBK win in his 150th start.

At Misano he took his record to 9 podiums in 10 starts at the track. Conversely, his victory in race 1 at Donington Park was his first win at the circuit.

Family

Bayliss is married to Kim and has 3 children: Mitch, Abbey and Ollie. He is the son of Lorraine and Warren Bayliss, and has a sister called Jana.

References

External links

* [http://www.troybayliss.com/ Official Website]