WSBK » Troy Bayliss - Q&A

Bikes seemed pretty evenly matched to me. Bayliss was typically the only Ducati rider towards the front, the others were in top 10 sometimes, but not always at the far pointy end. And like the others have said, a lot of riders have just crashed out or made stupid mistakes. Some were taken out by others, etc.

But, Ducati wasn't really off the pace with the 999 so going to 1098 would have been fine I think. The 1200 is a bit dumb, but overall they don't look too different on track (the 1098/1200 vs the other bikes).

Bayless won 4 races in the last 10, at least get your facts right Doodaa..

Hope this helps.

Ok....this subject has been done to death about the so called advantage etc of the 1098 over the other bikes, and i aint gonna get in to the difference in power etc.

But what i will say is that if eveyone was kicking up such a huge stink they could have used the desmosedici instead.Its homologated through retail sales easily, and after a mild tune would have left everything for dust.
The difference here is the rider. Troy is an immensely fit guy with amazing focus and drive.The other 1098's werent exactly crowding the top of the leader boards now were they.
I am lucky to have worked with Troy and the team at several races and on other events.
He is an amzing guy.

He will be missed

I'm with thunderace and DFH on this imho the reason that Bayliss won the championship was that he was the best rider simple as otherwise why were Fabrizio, Biaggi, Xaus and Smrz and the like at the sharp end? Bayliss rode hard (as he always has) and as a result he won and why he was winning races last year on what was effectively an old bike! As far as BSB goes Shakey won because he was consistently....er consistent! Had Cal stayed on a bit more often or Leon got to grips with developing the Blade a bit quicker the championship might well have been different. I'd also thought about the desmo which surely would qualify, although it would'nt really encourage Ducati sales ltd run and all that!

Get to facts guys:
Haga - 7 crash, 3 really bad performance (Losail race 2 & Australia)
Corser - 3 crash, poor performances when Haga won (like Monza)
Checa - 2 crash, 1 offtrack @ Losail, 2 technical failure (Monza @ Brno), sometimes lack of track knowledge
Neukirchner - 0 points thanks to Checa @ Valencia, disastrous Donington
Nieto - inconsistency
Kiyonari - lack of track knowledge

Bikes
Honda - late developing...
Yamaha - probably the best bike from the start - Corser was on podium at Losail & Australia while Nori just crashed, etc...
Suzuki - on the top at the first half of the year, with Biaggi they could have won

11 wins for Ducati - 15 for the fours

The Yamaha looked like the best bike to me, Nori needed to get is act together sooner

Extra food for thought...

I do not know if the BSB rules mirror WSBK rules so I cannot comment on the BSB results, but the 1200cc allowance was granted to the twins to maintain parity AND contain costs - no more need for exotic engine internals with a short lifespan in the twins

Here in Oz our Superbike rules are closer to Superstock than WSBK, hence the lack of Oz wildcard riders at the Phillip Is WSBK round.

What this means is because there is no 1000ccFour/1200ccTwin parity rule on Oz Superbike there are no Ducatis racing in our premier series.

So what, you may say. Except that Australian riders won the 06 WSBK, 07 MotoGP & 08 WSBK crowns yet we cannot see a Ducati race locally.

Great effort by Troy to win his 3rd championship .

How good was his ride in the 2nd race @ Magny Cours once he had sown up the championship.

I rate Troy up with Valentino as a rider & great sportsman & person & certainly will miss him .

He has always been approachable @ the track unlike many riders & without having his head up his **** i remember him coming out of his pit box after finishing 2nd in a race @ Phillip Island laughing with a huge smile on his face actually i have pic of this where as for most riders it is all doom & gloom to finish 2nd.

A highlight from his career for me was his winning the Motogp race @ Valencia 2006 ? in a one off ride.

don't ever criticize Troy Bayliss. Those are fighting words. Bayliss won because the others couldn't stay on their fken bikes. If the 1200 was that good where was the rest of them on the grid?? Fabrizio/Lanzi on the 999..where were they?? Just accept the fact that Bayliss has out ridden everyone this year! Even if they put you on a 1200..you wouldn't win. REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!! Everyone else has an extra cylinder or TWO!!!!!!!!!

Cashman while I'll agree with you that Bayliss is a great rider in SB and a great sportsman with an equally great spirit and personality he's no Rossi in terms of achievements. But I will miss watching him do battle at WSB.

In terms of the bike I do think the 1198 has a very slight advantage to the other bikes especially earlier in the season but the Yamahas have been no slouches in the second half of the season. I do agree with others that the championship points would be much closer if others didn't crash along the way but Bayliss would still have won it.