IN
THE
WIND
P28
TROY BAYLISS TO TAKE OVER
AUSTRALIAN SBK CHAMPIONSHIP
T
hree-time World
Superbike Cham-
pion Troy Bayliss has
announced he will form
an alliance with Motor-
cycling Australia (MA) to
take over the running of
the Australian Superbike
Championship.
The deal will com-
mence next October
following the finish of the
2016 Australian Super-
bike Championship and
will see the series moved
to a summer-based
calendar. Motorcycling
Australia will run the
2016 Championship be-
fore handing the reins to
Bayliss and his company,
Troy Bayliss Events, in
a similar deal to the Mo-
toAmerica consortium headed
by Wayne Rainey. The new
championship will be known
from then on as motoSBK.
"There is a big job ahead
for all of us but the vision is to
create a strong championship,
competitive and affordable for
people to race in," said Bayliss.
"It is not just about being a pro-
moter; the manufacturers, MA,
all of our racers who are serious
about their racing need to pull
together to make it work.
"It won't happen overnight but
when there is one champion-
ship, with the right changes in
some classes we will see good
close racing and full fields which
is the first step," he said.
For the past six seasons,
Australian Superbike racers
have had to choose between
the Motorcycling Australia-run
(FIM-accredited) series, or the
Australasian Superbike Cham-
pionship, run by the Australian
Auto Sport Alliance foundation,
which is not FIM-accredited.
The Australasian series has
proven to be the more popular
one of recent times, with fac-
tory teams fielded by Yamaha,
Honda and Kawasaki, while the
Motorcycling Australia-run series
has suffered badly due serious
mismanagement.
The good news for American
riders is that the migration of the
new motoSBK series to a sum-
mer timeslot allows them and
other international riders the op-
portunity to come and compete
in the series. CN
He's been there and done it, now
Troy Bayliss wants to make it happen
for Aussie racers by running the
Australian Superbike Championship.
