Troy Bayliss put the icing on his second championship season by winning a thrilling final race of the year, at Magny-Cours in France.
"You are only as good as your last race and my last one was alright!"beamed Bayliss, "I've got a great team and they have done a great job. To finish the year off like this is good considering I've never been here before, and the guys worked hard to make the bike better every time."
The World Superbike championship is set to hit an all time high next season with lots of big names returning and Bayliss knows it will be tough, "I'm in for a hard time next year and whoever wins it deserves it. I'd like to take as many wins as I did this year but I think there will be many different winners." When asked if he would be partying tonight he quipped: "I have beer and pizza every Sunday, race day or not. We're Aussies we like to have a drink and nothing is going to stop us having one!"
Second place went to
Troy Corser on the Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki with
James Toseland riding the Winston Ten Kate Honda in third place. "A great way to finish the season and great way to finish with Suzuki," said Corser indicating his imminent move to Yamaha. "Francis and Patricia Batta have been great to work with and they have done so much for the championship in terms of sponsorship," Corser continued, "I'm looking forward to my new challenge and I want to win the world championship next year. The racing is getting more competitive, I mean we have five world titles amongst us (motioning to Bayliss and Toseland) and it is hard to find that in any form of motorsport."
Toseland's two podium finishes have secured him second place over all in the championship during his first year with a new team. "I enjoyed that one!" he enthused after race two, "Second place in the championship is the icing on the cake for the Winston Ten Kate Honda team. They welcomed me when I moved from Ducati and to finish runner up in the Championship is great. Charpentier is the World Supersport Champion and I'm runner up in the Superbike championship which is testament to the team."
