Troy Bayliss says that he has no interest in returning to the World Superbike Championship, despite the fact that he is still the best Ducati rider on the track. During Xerox Ducati's WSBK Misano tests, Bayliss proved to be faster than both Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio. Bayliss posted a time of 1:35.6, more than a half second faster than Fabrizio, 1:36.0, and just under a second faster than Haga, 1:36.4.
Baylis was riding a new development machine, while Haga and Fabrizio were on their factory 1198's. This is the second time that Bayliss had tested this season, and despite the fact that he still has what it takes, Bayliss has made it clear that he doesn't wish to return to competitive racing.
“The testing's gone really well and with more time on track the times improved quite a bit. I'm happy with how it all went and hope my feedback can help Nori and Michel, but I'm also tired because we've had a lot to do during this edition of WDW, both on and off track," said Bayliss.
“As I said during the WDW press conference, I have made up my mind and I won't be coming back to the racing but I will undertake one more Superbike test later this year, just before the Imola SBK round, as agreed with Ducati at the start of the season.”
Bayliss won 52 times over a 152 race career in the World Superbike series, and could probably take another one or two if he was thrown back into the mix.
But that isn't likely to happen. "I'm retired and I'm happy," says Bayliss.
