VOL. 52 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 24, 2015 P97
guys do, but when you stop and
realize how good of a job you
had… I come back now and
everything is easy. It is not hard.
There are many harder things to
do out there than what we are
doing here."
For Bayliss going racing again
from the Ducati pit box was
familiar, even if the bike had
proved to be not as easy as he
had hoped.
"The whole experience felt
the same as it was seven years
ago," said Bayliss. "The race
weekend is stressful, you want
to do well and anything can
happen. The first laps for me I
like the best because you have
to think about how you go about
things. I made four or five spots
up in the first laps. You do not
lose the race craft. I don't think
you lose the speed."
Bayliss was not at Phillip Is-
land to re-ignite a serious racing
career, or a season-long come-
back.
"You cannot call it a come-
back," Bayliss said. "I do not
classify it as a comeback. I really
don't. I like to go fast, that's it."
He may not have been as fast
as the younger championship
ready riders, but the biggest
thing that held his race day back
was tire life, and more likely tire
management.
"I am actually very happy with
everything except for how it
ended with the tire, because I
honestly felt that I could run with
the front guys. So I am angry
because of that, but you cannot
blame anybody because it is
time and set-up and this is Phil-
lip Island sometimes. But even
when I pitted the only reason I
went back out was firstly that is
the job and secondly to prove
that I was not too tired to do a
lap time. Some people seemed
to think that, but that is not the
case."
Even after getting the fresh
tire in race two around lap 15,
Bayliss had more issues later on.
"Even on the second tire, nine
laps and it blistered again," he
said. "So it is a cross between
my riding style and needing
a little bit of extra time on the
Ducati… maybe that all contrib-
uted to it."
The question of whether he
would ride the Ducati again in
World Superbike this year was
not answered directly, but it
sounds like Bayliss may at least
want to again.
"I am not asking for anything
"HONESTLY, IN
THE SECOND RACE
I FELT I COULD
RUN WITH THE
GUYS. SO EVEN
THOUGH I AM
OLD, I AM ANGRY.
SO I MUST STILL
BE A RACER—
BECAUSE I AM
PISSED OFF."
After retiring seven years ago
from World Superbike racing,
Australian Troy Bayliss gave it
another go at Phillip Island.
THE FIRE
TROY
BAYLISS
TALKS
RETURN
TO WORLD
SUPERBIKE
ACTION AT
PHILLIP
ISLAND
