With two days having passed since Sunday's never to be forgotten showdown at Imola,
Troy Bayliss – who lost out to
Colin Edwards in a fight neither deserved to lose – has had time to reflect on the greatest World Superbike finale in the history of the championship.
“Well, we wanted the biggest showdown for the last round and that's what we got,” wrote Bayliss on his official website. “I was really glad that it did turn out to be a two horse battle up at the front. With the two front guys having a head-to-head clash. It was real sweet, real clean and just how it should have been. But at the end of the day, the rider who deserved the Championship won it.”
The Australian then revealed that right from the start of the season he'd had his eye on the American, despite the Castrol Honda star struggling to match factory Ducati in the early part of the season.
”Colin was the one guy that I had my eye on right from the start of the season, I never even thought about anyone else during the year, he was the only I was worried about at all, and I guess I was right all along,” stated Bayliss.
Turning to the race day itself, Troy explained how he was able to make such a dramatic improvement in speed: “On Sunday I ended up going 1.6 seconds faster in the race than I had on my qualifying tyres… I pulled a rabbit out of my arse and just went quicker! We just got on with it and I gave it everything I had.
“I've only been in World Superbike for two full seasons, so 1st and 2nd isn't so bad. I'm pretty happy with that. I really loved the following I had over the weekend. When you're riding a noisy bike, wearing ear plugs, and you can still hear the crowd cheering and screaming it's just an incredible feeling - that was some atmosphere for sure,” recalled Bayliss.
The Australian will team up with
Loris Capirossi on a Ducati in
MotoGP next season.
