[r!der]

Ducati Corse were impressed with this man from Australia living in England and racing their bike. There came a point where they realized they needed a good man in America to try and nab that title. Bayliss became that man.

Shortly after the decision was made, I talked to Mat Mladin and mentioned the Bayliss to Vance and Hines rumor. Even on the phone you could tell he took interest in this development. And with Mladin, it has been my experience, he rates rivals riders as either 'bring it on' or hopeless. Bayliss was bring it on material.

Not knowing any of the tracks, not having ever as much as seen America before he stepped off the plane, Bayliss went to Daytona for the Dunlop tire test with the Vance and Hines Ducati team and left there fastest. He reminded me of Troy Corser a lot. When Corser finished second in the Daytona 200 I asked him, hey—don't you feel a bit out of place racing with Eddie Lawson and Scott Russell? "Fear none and respect all," Corser said. And he meant it.

As the test wound down at Daytona I asked Bayliss, are you not just slightly intimidated by this place? Big speed, banking, rock-hard tires ?

He replied, "I can't be bothered with that, mate. I've got a wife and kids to support."

Two races, one and a half really, into the AMA season Troy was sent to the Ducati World Superbike team to try and patch things up there. They were scrambling to keep the pace with Fogarty injured. Bayliss slotted in well. After being knocked down at Sugo, Bayliss sat out one round—Ducati drafted in Luca Cadalora for Donington, which turned out to be a huge mistake. Bayliss was back on the team at the next round, arguably the most important race of the World Superbike season for Italians—at Monza.

Nobody saw it coming. Bayliss qualified okay and spent some of his time on the track watching the other riders—mostly the Japanese—to get an idea if these were the same chaps who would knock him down in a moment in order to leave turn one on the first lap one position higher than when they entered. He finished fourth in both races.

Next race: Hockenhiem. Bayliss was gone in the first race and won handily. Pow. The Italians were sure they'd found someone to replace Foggy, at least for the time being.

Bayliss is blue collar, he is one of us. He eats with his mechanics, not in the same room, not at a distant spot on the table, with them, their elbows touching, laughing with them, talking under their breath to each other. He is one of them, too. He knows how very hard they work and that in one mistake he can turn their work into rubble. On days off between rounds when his wife and kids are away, he rides in their cars with them. He is a rider who has never forgotten the feel of a wrench in his hand.

The season matured. Once they realized the chances of Foggy coming back were slim, a Ducati contract was sent to Troy and he signed it. Don't let a good thing get away.

At times it seems with Bayliss he's on the outside looking in at World Superbike, and what 23 year old club racer turned WSC star wouldn't? A bit amazed by where he stands, but at the same time, confident he should be there.

It's late in the afternoon at Assen. Jet lag has hit me and I need a place to crash for a few minutes. I swing through the Corse hospitality unit, watch Frankie Chili's seven year old son Kevin (named after Kevin Schwantz) play video games on the Playstation console. He has been playing for hours, silently, his eyes never moving off the screen. Different people come over to talk to him, or the girls running the hospitality unit try to chase him off, but he does not move, does not acknowledge their existence.

I walk up the stairs, find an empty room and sit down in a chair, my head collapses to the table and I try to cat nap.

From the video game area downstairs I hear a familiar voice. It is Bayliss, who has stopped by to get a coffee. He, too, watches Chili's son play the video game. Then they are alone in the area for a while with just me above them, eavesdropping. Bayliss talks to Kevin and Kevin ignores him, but shouldn't.

"What you going to be when you grow up?" Bayliss asks the lad. "You like motorcycles? Sure you do, they're the best ain't they? You think you'll race them one day like your daddy? Well your daddy is a legend. You know that? He's a legend. He's one of the greats. You know that? I can't believe I'm racing against him."

When I told Ben Bostrom, who is so focused on his racing that some details get lost, that Bayliss had to be the only 23 year old club racer in the world to make it to the top level, he mulls that for a moment and then says:

"I never knew that. But it makes sense, you know? You can kind of see it in his riding. He rides like he never wants to go back."

ENDS

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