Troy Bayliss

Troy Bayliss (born 30 March 1969 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian motorcycle racer. During his career Bayliss won the Superbike World Championship three times and a MotoGP race, all with Ducati. He finished his career after winning the 2008 World Superbike title. His 52 World Superbike victories ranks third all time in the history of the championship behind Jonathan Rea and Carl Fogarty.[1]

Troy Bayliss
Bayliss in 2006
NationalityAustralian
Born (1969-03-30) 30 March 1969
Taree, New South Wales, Australia
Current teamDesmosport Ducati
Bike number21
Website
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1997, 20032006
First race1997 250cc Australian Grand Prix
Last race2006 MotoGP Valencian Community Grand Prix
First win2006 MotoGP Valencian Community Grand Prix
Last win2006 MotoGP Valencian Community Grand Prix
Championships0
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
45 1 5 0 0 288
Superbike World Championship
Active years20002002, 20062008, 2015
ManufacturersDucati
Championships3 (2001, 2006, 2008)
2015 championship position24th (15 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
152 52 94 26 35 2442

Early life

Bayliss did much of his growing up in the Northwest NSW town of Warialda. His father, Warren, was a baker, and his mother Lorraine drove a local school bus part-time. The family lived across from the local high school. By age 10, he was an accomplished motocross rider, and could often be found riding through the local bushland which surrounded the town and came right up to the back of the family house. The family moved to Taree when Bayliss was about 11 years old.

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 on which he commenced racing. 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, Age 26.

Career

Early career

After finishing as runner-up in the Australian supersport championship in 1995, Bayliss moved up to the Australian Superbikes series the next year, finishing third that year and second 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, Bayliss finished in sixth despite exiting the final corner in third 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 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.

Superbike World Championship

Bayliss began the 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 three 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.[2]

In the 2001 season Bayliss opened with four seconds in five 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 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, Edwards won his second title at a thrilling final round in Imola. Bayliss 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 Bayliss for his position.

In retrospect, the 2002 season had been lost partially due to mishaps created by his own team. Bayliss 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 Bayliss 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. Bayliss was very competitive all weekend.

MotoGP World Championship

Bayliss in the 2005 MotoGP season on a Honda RC211V

Both Bayliss and Edwards 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 Bayliss taking three third places and finishing sixth 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. Teammate Loris Capirossi took their first win at the Circuit de Catalunya.

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

According to some, confirmation that Bayliss' sacking was influenced by sponsorship pressure rather than any performance based reasons was seen in the appointment of Carlos Checa as Bayliss' replacement. However, Bayliss is much older than Capirossi, 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 Bayliss was unable to compete in the final six races, had he done so, the season ending Valencian Grand Prix would have been his 50th Grand Prix appearance. Bayliss 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 2006 Superbike, Ducati offered Bayliss a one-off 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. This was the first time any rider had won a race in both the Superbike and the Grand Prix world championships in the same year, and the first by a reigning champion.[3] His impressive victory was somewhat overshadowed by the dramatic events involving Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden that ultimately determined the 2006 title winner.

Return to Superbike

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

His pre-season form in testing for 2006 showed much promise, with Bayliss 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.

Bayliss started 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 fourth place in any of the final 4 races to seal the title. Bayliss duly won the title at Imola with a fifth place in Race 1, 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 2007.[4]

On 1 April 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 eventual surgical removal of a testicle [5] and of the intermediate and distal phalanges of his little finger. Bayliss' injury prevented him from competing in the second Donington race. He finished the season fourth overall.

2008 saw Bayliss continue racing for the factory Ducati team, riding the new Ducati 1098. At the season opener at the Losail circuit in Qatar, Bayliss 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 was his final appearance at his home round. At Misano he took his record to nine podiums in ten starts at the track. Conversely, his victory in race 1 at Donington Park was his first win at the circuit. He came within three corners of clinching the title at Vallelunga, but crashed out at a low-speed corner which meant that Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga retained a mathematical hope. He clinched the title in the next round by finishing 3rd at Magny Cours, and put the seal on it by winning race 2 – his 50th World Superbike victory. He took a double victory in his final World Superbike meeting at Portimão.

Bayliss tested a Ducati 1198 in a special private test at Mugello in May 2010, setting impressive times and leading to speculation that he would make a comeback to racing [6]

In February 2015 Bayliss made the comeback, when he was called to replace injured Ducati rider Davide Giugliano at Phillip Island opener, riding the unfamiliar 1199 Panigale R.[7]

Touring/GT Cars

Bayliss has since embarked on a new career after signing to drive as co-driver for Triple F Racing in the domestic V8 Supercar touring car series. He teamed with their regular driver Dean Fiore at the Phillip Island 500 and Bathurst 1000 long distance events.[8] They broke an alternator and did not start the Phillip Island race and did not finish the Bathurst 1000.

He also has raced as a co-driver in the 2013 and 2014 Australian Porsche Carrera Cup Championship.

Career statistics

By season

Season Class Motorcycle Team Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
1997 250cc Suzuki 1 0 0 0 0 10 27th  
2003 MotoGP Ducati Ducati Marlboro Team 16 0 3 0 0 128 6th  
2004 MotoGP Ducati Ducati Marlboro Team 16 0 1 0 0 71 14th  
2005 MotoGP Honda Camel Honda 11 0 0 0 0 54 15th  
2006 MotoGP Ducati Ducati Marlboro Team 1 1 1 0 0 25 19th  
Total 45 1 5 0 0 288 0

Races by year

(key)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Pts
1997 250cc Suzuki MAL JPN SPA ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER BRA GBR CZE CAT INA AUS
6
27th 10
2003 MotoGP Ducati JPN
5
RSA
4
SPA
3
FRA
Ret
ITA
Ret
CAT
10
NED
9
GBR
5
GER
3
CZE
3
POR
6
BRA
10
PAC
Ret
MAL
9
AUS
Ret
VAL
7
6th 128
2004 MotoGP Ducati RSA
14
SPA
Ret
FRA
8
ITA
4
CAT
Ret
NED
Ret
BRA
Ret
GER
Ret
GBR
5
CZE
Ret
POR
8
JPN
Ret
QAT
Ret
MAL
10
AUS
9
VAL
3
14th 71
2005 MotoGP Honda SPA
6
POR
11
CHN
Ret
FRA
10
ITA
13
CAT
8
NED
11
USA
6
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
9
JPN MAL QAT AUS TUR VAL 15th 54
2006 MotoGP Ducati SPA QAT TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER USA CZE MAL AUS JPN POR VAL
1
19th 25

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
1997 Suzuki AUS
5
AUS
5
SMR SMR GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA USA USA EUR EUR AUT AUT NED NED SPA SPA JPN JPN INA INA 20th 22
1998 Ducati AUS AUS GBR
Ret
GBR
Ret
ITA ITA SPA SPA GER GER SMR SMR RSA RSA USA USA EUR
13
EUR
15
AUT AUT NED NED JPN JPN 40th 4
2000 Ducati RSA RSA AUS AUS JPN
Ret
JPN
Ret
GBR GBR ITA
4
ITA
4
GER
1
GER
4
SMR
2
SMR
2
SPA
4
SPA
3
USA
Ret
USA
7
EUR
1
EUR
2
NED
Ret
NED
Ret
GER
3
GER
2
GBR
2
GBR
Ret
6th 243
2001 Ducati SPA
2
SPA
2
RSA
2
RSA
2
AUS
3
AUS
C
JPN
13
JPN
15
ITA
1
ITA
1
GBR
13
GBR
9
GER
2
GER
1
SMR
1
SMR
2
USA
4
USA
4
EUR
5
EUR
3
GER
Ret
GER
3
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
Ret
ITA
DNS
1st 369
2002 Ducati SPA
1
SPA
1
AUS
1
AUS
1
RSA
1
RSA
1
JPN
5
JPN
4
ITA
1
ITA
1
GBR
5
GBR
1
GER
1
GER
1
SMR
1
SMR
1
USA
1
USA
2
GBR
3
GBR
2
GER
2
GER
2
NED
2
NED
Ret
ITA
2
ITA
2
2nd 541
2006 Ducati QAT
2
QAT
2
AUS
6
AUS
1
SPA
1
SPA
1
ITA
1
ITA
1
EUR
1
EUR
1
SMR
1
SMR
12
CZE
Ret
CZE
8
GBR
1
GBR
2
NED
Ret
NED
1
GER
7
GER
3
ITA
5
ITA
1
FRA
4
FRA
1
1st 431
2007 Ducati QAT
5
QAT
8
AUS
1
AUS
2
EUR
Ret
EUR
DNS
SPA
3
SPA
6
NED
4
NED
1
ITA
2
ITA
3
GBR
1
GBR
C
SMR
1
SMR
1
CZE
Ret
CZE
6
GBR
Ret
GBR
7
GER
4
GER
1
ITA
2
ITA
1
FRA
2
FRA
5
4th 372
2008 Ducati QAT
1
QAT
4
AUS
1
AUS
1
SPA
2
SPA
2
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
3
ITA
Ret
USA
Ret
USA
22
GER
2
GER
4
SMR
3
SMR
3
CZE
1
CZE
1
GBR
2
GBR
11
EUR
1
EUR
Ret
ITA
6
ITA
16
FRA
3
FRA
1
POR
1
POR
1
1st 460
2015 Ducati AUS
13
AUS
16
THA
9
THA
11
SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA GBR GBR POR POR SMR SMR USA USA MAL MAL SPA SPA FRA FRA QAT QAT 24th 15

Complete V8 Supercar results

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Pos Pts
2009 Triple F Racing ADE
R1
ADE
R2
HAM
R3
HAM
R4
WIN
R5
WIN
R6
SYM
R7
SYM
R8
HDV
R9
HDV
R10
TOW
R11
TOW
R12
SAN
R13
SAN
R14
QLD
R15
QLD
R16
PHI
Q

29
PHI
R17

DNS
BAT
R18

Ret
SUR
R19
SUR
R20
PHI
R21
PHI
R22
PTH
R23
PTH
R22
SYD
R23
SYD
R24
65th 27

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Car Co-Driver Position Laps
2009 Triple F Racing Holden VE Commodore Dean Fiore DNF 59

References

  1. "The World Superbike Championship Statistics and Race Records: 1988 – Present". devittinsurance.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  2. Troy Bayliss career World Superbike statistics at worldsbk.com Archived 8 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Scott, Michael (2006). Motocourse. Silverstone: Crash Media Group Ltd. p. 200. ISBN 1-905334-16-8
  4. Ducati.com – NEWS Archived 13 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. http://www.visordown.com/features/hard-man-bayliss/4009.html
  6. Bayliss fast in test, comeback imminent?
  7. Troy Bayliss to replace injured Davide Giugliano at Phillip Island World Superbike Race
  8. Gunther, Briar (21 August 2009). "Bayliss teams up with Fiore". Official Site of the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
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