Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

also at less well-known venues like Knockhill and Thruxton and Cadwell Park. Bayliss won nine of the 24 races and finished within a second of the leader in five others. He beat Kawasaki's Chris Walker for the title, 394-366. One of the differences between the two seasons was the legendary British climate. "I had virtually no experience in the rain, and most of the riding was in really cold conditions, really cold and a little bit of rain in the first year," Bayliss said. "The second year was good, not much rain and the weather was a lot better this year." The last race was at Donington Park. Bayliss finished sixth and second. Not stellar, but the championship was secured. Racing wasn't the only thing on his mind. "I was at Donington, I was just gearing up for my last race and I heard it sort of second hand; actually, I didn't really know much about it," Bayliss said of the rumors he'd be coming to America. "Just a little bit of gossip. Then things just followed on from there. I was keen to come here because I'd done like we'd won the championship in England - I'd done what I set out to do." In a perfect world, Bayliss would have stayed with the GSE Racing INS Ducati team and they would have gone World Superbike racing. But the money wasn't there, though it might be in 2001 and Bayliss wants in. Ducati wanted Ben Bostrom, but they also wanted a strong contender in the U.S., and Bayliss was the perfect fit. "This deal came up and I'm keen to come over here," Bayliss said. "I've never been to America before." But he's been keeping tabs on the racing here, monitoring the exploits of Gobert, Mladin and Buckmaster. "Every weekend, there was probably five guys that had a chance to win, I suppose," he says of racing in Britain. "Definitely five guys had a chance to win. Over here, well I don't know much about it, but I guess it's pretty much the same." Winning means learning the team and learning tracks and getting acclimated. Except for Canada, there is no country on earth that is more similar to the U.S. than Australia. Part of it has to do with the fact that both countries are young, both infused with the pioneering spirit, both still growing rapidly, both dominated by large metropolitan areas on their coasts. Getting used to the Southern California lifestyle, even with two small children, won't be difficult. Learning the bike won't be, either. "It's not a lot different from what I'm used to. A few little things. It's a Ducati on Dunlops," Bayliss says matter-offactly. ""m used to that." Even though he only rode it at Daytona, with its unique banking and dualcompound tires, Bayliss said he could "tell it's going to be not far off what I was riding." Good riders learn tracks quickly, and Bayliss has a different perspective. "It's good going to new places because you learn more and you don't want to get stale riding the same places all the time," he said. "I think I can handle it. There's definitely going to be some tricky ones out there." From watching the videotape he'd been sent, Leonard had his own view of the tracks Bayliss grew up on. "One of the things I saw when I looked at the tracks in Australia is that a lot of them were comparable to Loudon," Leonard said. "If a guy can go good there, he can go good anywhere." What Leonard also saw was how Bayliss approached racing. "I guess if I had to pick one guy that he's closest to it'd be Ben [Bostrom)." Leonard said. "Troy really, really attacks the corner on the entry and it seems when he calms down on that, then he's better on the exit and the lap times drop. He's a charger, and I don't think I'm going to have any trouble motivating him at all. From what I'm told, he's like that from the beginning to the end of the race. I think that's positive." The level of competition is higher in the U.S., Bayliss believes, as is the factory support. "We had a good team, but I think it's a bit more important for the factories here," he said. "It's definitely growing, though, in England. It's getting better every year. They have got rea Jly good bikes, [they're] getting good bikes now and they're getting really good crowds as well." Though he's kept tabs on what's going on in America, Bayliss says he doesn't know a lot about the people he'll be racing against, or even his teammate. That will come with time as they learn about him. For the time being, he's an unknown quantity. Being fastest at Daytona was impressive, but no machine has gone around Daytona faster than the V&H Ducati which Anthony Gobert set the pole position with this past March. Bayliss had used dualcompound tires before at Phillip Island, though the disparity between the two compounds wasn't nearly as great as it is in Daytona. And a lot of the teams were busy testing new machinery and weren't up to speed. After the Daytona test, he went home to Taree for the holidays, but he will be back in California at the end of January. The Ducati 996s he'll be racing are currently being built by Vance [, Hines personnel in Italy and he won't be able to test until some time in February. Until then he'll have his hands full moving the family in and representing Ducati at trade shows across the U.S. His real job is representing them on the track. In the Cycle News superbike riders' poll, Bayliss was picked by his peers to finish fourth in the championship on the strength of his performance at Daytona. Because he was new to the group, Bayliss chose not to cast a vote. There will be more tests and more lap times and more chatter, none of which matters. What matters is what happens on the track, beginning at Daytona in March. After his first ride there in December, Bayliss showed that he will certainly be a rider to watch and he also showed what Jim Leonard saw on that videotape over two years ago. eN Vance & Hines Ducati's new Superblke man Troy Bayliss discusses the Ducat! with crew chief.lim Leonard at the Dunlop tire test in Daytona. • JANUARY 26, 2000 23

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