Bayliss to the Ducati Superbike Rescue?
Troy Bayliss returns to the track today at Monza, on board the factory Xerox Ducati 1198R World Superbike as he adds his expertise and efforts to the struggling team that sees Noriyuki Haga languishing in 6th in the World Superbike Championship standings after last weekends Monza round.
Bayliss is in Italy for the upcoming World Ducati Week and also took part in the “Diece Colli” bicycle race which he nearly won (he crashed!). Troy was present at Monza along with reigning champion, Ben Spies, and watched the same dismal Ducati picture as the rest of us – Ducatis slow and way back in the field.
Haga only managed to qualify 16th and finished 11th in the first race and 6th in the crash fest that was the second outing. Michel Fabrizio finished 7th in the first race and crashed out of the second. Even Althea Ducati star, Carlos Checa, finished 14th and 11th, most uncharacteristic for the Spaniard who has run at the front this season and set the Ducati pace.
Noriyuki Haga:- “In both races I was having a lot of difficulty turning the bike and didn’t have enough grip at the rear. In Race 1 I was having to put it right down on its side to get it to turn as I wanted and this of course meant that I couldn’t keep pace with those ahead of me. We changed a few things before Race 2 and improved the situation a little. Grip was good in the first five laps or so but from mid-race it was really hard, as the bike was drifting wide and was hard to control. In the end I’m quite satisfied with sixth position, as it was tough here this weekend.”
link: Ducati.com
Bayliss will be testing some technical updates and tires on the Ducati 1198R and hopefully he can come up with some solutions and ideas to help the team. Troy hasn’t raced since his double victories in the final round of the 2008 season at Portimao but has kept himself in shape with his cycling and tested the Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP machine last year setting a tie a tick faster than then official tester and now MotoGP Team Manager, Vittoriano Guareschi.
Source: Two Wheels
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