Bayliss: His new rivals’ viewpoint

After the reality of Troy Bayliss being the replacement for the injured Davide Giugliano sank in with the WSB paddock, his rivals this weekend gave their viewpoints on what it means to compete against Bayliss on his own patch, seven years after his retirement.

Chaz Davies – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team

“We’ll see. It will be interesting and it is actually quite cool. I spoke to Ernesto Marinelli yesterday and he wanted to tell me before it came out in the press and my first feeling was being quite excited and then I though, “hang on a minute I probably should beat him!” I am excited to share a garage with a guy who has so much success like Troy, and hopefully bring something to the weekend in terms of his experience and what he knows about lapping fast around the Island. It is going to be good because I am interested to see how we stack up and what we can learn from him. Like all the guys I am excited to share the grid with him, but if he is competitive it is something else. You cannot rule him out if he is competitive; you cannot rule him out because he has kept himself pretty sharp on the bikes since he has retired. From what I gather it is a retirement he has never wanted to make anyway. So, looking at him he is still as fired up as you used to see him back in the day, so it is going to be great. It is really good for the fans and us guys to share the track with him. When I was younger and just started out in BSB In the Superteen challenge Troy was one the only guys to come up every weekend and say how are you doing guys. So to get the opportunity to share the track with him and share a garage with him is going to be an honour – until he beats me…”

Alex Lowes – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki

It is great for me because he is probably one of my all-time heroes, coming over to BSB when I was a young lad, and winning like he did with his all-action style, was pretty cool. I am looking forward to it but I do not think I will be looking forward to it if he is sliding up the inside of me at Honda hairpin! Hopefully he will do a good job and just to share the track with him will be pretty cool. If anybody can come back after not riding for a period of time and put in a surprise performance – like he did at Valencia on the GP bike – he is going to be the guy to do it. It should be great for everyone and I just hope I do not embarrass myself by getting beat by him!”

Sylvain Guintoli – Pata Honda

“I do not think it will be embarrassing actually because you never know what he is going to do. Like I said I think he could surprise everybody and be very fast, actually. It is going to be very hard for him, but actually he has got a lot of balls to come back and do that. Big respect from me. Also, I am one of the oldest riders on the grid and he is taking that off me!

Jonathan Rea – Kawasaki Racing Team

“I was lucky that Troy’s last ever race in WSB the Ten Kate team bumped me up to WSB for the last round of the championship and we shared the front row together. So we get to finish the story again here. I think what he is doing is incredible and there is going to be so many more people through the gate because Troy is such a legend in his own right. When I saw the gossip news on my twitter feed, and then I saw the official news, I was so happy for him and everyone. Then I remembered that I believe in fairy-tales – and then I though to myself, “Wait a minute, what if everything goes right and he kicks my ass and makes me look pretty amateurish – because I have been at this every single year.” I am just really happy to share a grid with him again.”