Bayliss Back In 2011?

Article by Dean Adams over at the ever-rad superbikeplanet.com

Three-time World Superbike champion and full-fledged Ducati racing hero Troy Bayliss is contemplating a return to World Superbike racing.

Bayliss retired at the culmination of the 2008 World Superbike season with 52 wins and three world titles. His forthright, workingman persona, coupled with his prowess on a Ducati Superbike, made him a favorite of fans from the alleys near the Ducati factory in Bologna to the pit lane at Salt Lake City's Miller Motorsports Park, and all points in between. Now, after a season off from racing, Bayliss says he is mulling a racing comeback.

Reached last night in his hotel room in Italy, the Australian spoke with Superbikeplanet.com about his retirement and unhappiness in leaving racing, which many infer happened a season or two too early.

Asked if, after a full season of not racing, he has come to terms with being retired, Bayliss said in his characteristically blunt fashion, "Not one little bit, not at all."

"All I can say is that I am going back to ride the bike again," Bayliss confessed, "and I am thinking about starting again, honestly."

Bayliss tested the factory Ducati MotoGP bike last season and is, in fact, testing a factory Ducati Superbike today at Mugello. It's clear that his role as a sometimes test rider for the factory has not been enough to placate's Bayliss' competitive spirit and need to win. Perhaps his future is in team management at Ducati Superbike? Bayliss: "You're joking right? I have no interest in being a team manager of any kind. The test riding job is okay but ...".

The triple world champion sealed his WSBK career with a third title in his final season of racing, and left little doubt of his ability right up until the final lap. He won both WSBK legs at Portimao, his then final race. At the time, many of his rivals openly scoffed that he would stay retired for long, with both Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi saying privately that they expected to see Bayliss back on a Superbike eventually. Xaus predicted that he'd be on the bike and racing in 2009.

"I quit too early," Bayliss said last night. "I'm pissed off because I stopped one championship short of Fogarty and I'm seven wins down on him."

Was this just idle talk from Bayliss? "I'm not joking," he said. "This is basically all I want to say for now. If I do come back, I should be on a Ducati." Bayliss clearly made an effort to clearly form the word "should" when speaking this sentence.

Is the current state of the factory Ducati WSBK team—they struggled at Monza and were not competing for the podium—a factor as to why Bayliss is strongly considering donning his leathers and taking the grid again? It's difficult to know. Bayliss spoke about his old team, saying that they had "hit a rough patch" but that he wasn't surprised that they were under the gun at ultra-high-speed Monza.

"We struggled there in top speed in 2008, so it's no surprise that they did this year," he said. "The bike is lacking a little bit of top end power. I think Monza was one of the most difficult races they'll have this year. The Ducati can still win; we saw it in Valencia where Nori had to come from a long way back."

About the rider who replaced him on the factory Ducati team, Bayliss said, "Nori has always been a rider that's had to build himself up over a weekend and the way qualifying is now (the new SuperPole format) doesn't suit him. I think if he could sort out his qualifying issues he could be winning races."

Throughout his career at Ducati, Bayliss enjoyed a close relationship with Ducati race engineer Ernesto Marinelli. The two worked together when Bayliss set the pole for the Daytona 200 on the Vance & Hines Ducati Superbike and continued that successful collaboration when Bayliss replaced the legendary Carl Fogarty on the factory WSBK team. When Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi left Ducati, Marinelli moved up from the engineering ranks to guide the team. Bayliss didn't vocalize this, but it can't be easy to stand by and watch Marinelli and company struggle.

"I said, let's do a test with Ernesto and the boys and see what we can do, do a race sim (simulation) and let's see," Bayliss said.

Bayliss' often-told story is one of an auto body shop worker, probably too old to race at the world level who proved conventional wisdom and many, many experts wrong by becoming the pre-eminent Superbike rider in the world and a multi-time world champion. What fueled Bayliss' drive through that incredible journey is a quiet confidence and a passion to compete and win.

"I can tell you that I'm looking forward to tomorrow more than any tomorrow since I retired," Bayliss said last night on the eve of his Ducati Superbike test.