Bayliss – It feels like we’re doing 400kph

After setting the second fastest time in the opening qualifying session at Qatar today, Troy Bayliss revealed to MCN how physical the gale force winds are making a lap around the track.

Bayliss broke his right collarbone and fractured his Sternum in a testing crash in Phillip Island at the beginning of January, but as his second place shows the Australian has lost none of his edge.

He said: “Because of the wind every lap is different so you have to ride the track in a different way. At some corners where there is Armco it’s not affecting you so much in the middle of the corner, but then on the exit it is. I’m finding that if the wind gets under the bike it will push you wide so I’m trying different stuff like squaring the corner off, but at the end of the day it’s just hard to feel comfortable. 

“Down the straight you can really feel it. I’m pulling 292KPH but the wind feels like its blowing at 100kph which makes it feel like I’m doing 400kph! It also means that you can brake really late it to turn one – it’s crazy. You hardly have enough time to change down through the gearbox – it’s unreal.”

Since testing at the Qatar track last week, Bayliss stayed in Doha and has been flat out training in an effort to get back to fitness for the opening race.

He added: “The extra wind makes it really physical out there and because I have the bike set-up lazy I have to put a lot of input into it and I can feel that I’m missing a bit of strength.

I stayed over in Qatar since the test and I’ve been joking with my family and friends that I’ve been training like Rocky. The only real difference is that we’re not in Russia in the snow, we’re in Qatar in the desert!”