RRR 88.5FM talked with Troy Bayliss on their show last night, January 7, 2014. With their permission, we have transcribed that interview into text.
Phil: “Troy Bayliss, three-time World Superbike Champion, and the man that’s come up with one of the best brainstorms in the last couple of years to host the Troy Bayliss Classic, shaping up to one of the biggest events on the calendar, welcome to Road Rage Troy and starting to get a little bit excited now about the upcoming Troy Bayliss Classic?”
Troy: “Hi Phil, yeah, of course, it’s not far away mate, I’m really looking forward to it and it’s come around fast. But this time we’ve had a little bit more time to get a bit more organised so I think it’s going to be a great event.”
Phil: “Now last year was a massive event, I think it packed out the stands there at the Taree Motorcycle Club, this year’s going to be even bigger, stepped up the amount of entries for the main, the feature event and everything as well there are 36 all-stars in the event this year, when you look through this, there’s some massive names in there.”
Troy: “Yeah, we’ve had 36 invited riders, I’m certainly not making it any easier for me every year, as in not making it any easier for me to win the race or easy for me and my wife to organise, but anyway it’s shaping up to be incredible. We’ve got names from all aspects of the motorcycling world and I mean it’s something that everybody should come and see, it’s incredible, really.”
Phil: “And I think a fair indication of the state of play and how serious you are is that you’ve got a brand new bike all tricked up and been doing a lot of testing on it as well in the lead up to this event.”
Troy: “I have. I’ve done much more riding this time around and I’ve been feeling really good. I’ve only put a little bit of a dampener of things today when I had a crash on my bicycle while out training, so I’ve got a lot of skin missing right now and am actually taking a couple of beers to kill the pain right now.”
Phil: “Now, Troy, the tickets have now been on sale for a little while, we were actually talking at the beginning of the show saying that if you haven’t already got a ticket, probably a good idea to do it. But the big question is, are there tickets still available, has it sold out yet? Because I know there’s a limited capacity at the Taree Circuit, so how many can it hold and how many tickets are there left?
Troy: “Yeah, I mean everybody can check out the event at troybaylissevents.com, that’s the landing page and you can see what we’re up to and it will point you to the direction to get tickets online. There is going to be some tickets sold on the day. The ticket sales are going pretty good, but it’s not sold out yet. The place probably has a capacity I think at the moment maybe 7-7500 people.
“The guys at Taree Motor Cycle Club have done an excellent job, they’ve really been working hard, making the mounds bigger and wider and they have been turfing them and every cent that they make is going into the track to make it better. I was down there over Christmas for six or seven days and we checked out the track and it’s really shaping up to be nice and everything’s really heading in the right direction.
“We’ve got so much support from the manufacturers and so many good riders coming, we’ve got a couple of American guys like Sammy Halbert and Henry Wiles, coming from USA, they’re the top two guys in America. And then we’ve got Masatoshi Ohmori, he’s like this YouTube sensation from Japan, he’s incredible on a flat-track bike, he’s done some racing in America as well. And then all of our local guys who are racing overseas and in the national events as well, so we’ve got something there for everybody.”
Phil: “And a very, very strong showing from a couple of Taree locals, Josh Hook, Mick Kirkness and some bloke called Troy Bayliss as well.”
Troy: “Yeah, and we’ve got the Cudlin brothers as well. So I mean the locals really want to do well, of course, Kirkness is going to try and back up his win from last year, he’s riding very strong, but like a lot of the guys have really taken some pride in this event and really preparing well and doing a lot with their bikes and doing a lot of testing, so it’s really even harder and more difficult this time around, but like I said it’s shaping up well, whoever wins this event on the day are going to have to be on their toes and have a good day and I want to say laugh, but I mean, they’re going to have to have a really good day.
“I’d love to win it, It’d be incredible, but for me it’s about putting on a good event and if I happen to have a really good day on the day, that would be great for me.”
Phil: “Now there’s 36 all-stars in the event, but how many can make it into the final, Troy? You’re going to have a fair few elimination heats to try and get to the end of that final.”
Troy: “Yeah, well, what we have, we’ve got what I called the Legends guys, guys like Shayne King, Jeff Leisk, Phil Lovett, Chris Watson and quite a few others, Dave Armstrong, Stephen Gall, Barry Cockle, Jason Crump, this is going to be I’ll say the Legends race where they will do heats over four rounds. There’ll be four heats and that will be decided to the Legends, and then these guys can take part in the Americana races, and if they’re fast enough to qualify, they can do Superpole no problem at all, and if they’re fast enough to qualify for the main event, they’re in there.
“And then we’ve got the all-stars, which is 24 guys which will do a series of heats as well, and then we’ll do the Americana, Superpole, but the unlimited guys, which we have another 24, the top two out of them guys will get to go on to Superpole. So it’s still not just the guys that are invited, the guys that are at the event as well, still, on the day, the fastest guy at that event will win the race.”
Phil: “Yeah, I was going to say, that’s exactly what Mick Kirkness did last year.”
Troy: “Yeah, exactly, that’s how it works. Nobody gets any special treatment. There’s a chance I won’t make the final, well I hope there’s not a good chance (laughs). So that’s all it is, on the day, the fastest person is going to win and they’re going to deserve it very much.”
Phil: “Well, I know that Bracksy is extremely excited about the event, Troy, I wish I could be there to take it all in, but hopefully next year, but best of luck in the event. By the sound of it, you’re probably going to need it to get out there with that field you’ve prepared. It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger, next year and I guess probably planning’s already underway for 2015?”
Troy: “Pretty much. I mean, we’re really happy about how it went last year, everybody’s quite excited and there’s something about it, everyone’s excited and it just makes for a great atmosphere on the day, like everybody loves it, like I said, there’s something there for everybody, whether you’d be speedway, motocross, flat-track, road racing, desert racing.”
Rob: “It’s all there. That entry list, people look at and say, “This is a who is who, we’ve just gotta go.” Absolutely brilliant.”
Troy: “All the guys that I have as well are top guys and they’re very approachable and it’s good to have people like that in the event, it’s just great for the event.”
Phil: “Congratulations on the organisation of this event, Troy, it’s certainly going to be one of those landmarks on the calendar each year and hopefully this year plenty of people will head up there to Taree and hopefully next year I’ll be one of them.”
Troy: “Good stuff, guys, I appreciate the help and we look forward to seeing you soon. Take care!”
Phil: “And a massive thanks to Bracksy for organising Troy Bayliss to join us on today’s show, so cheers Bracksy, thanks mate!”
Rob: “It’s fantastic to have the three times world champion join us on the phone, he’s taken some skin off on the moment and true to most Aussies, the best way to sort that out is have a couple of lagers I think, so let’s hope he gets over that by the 18th, I’m sure he won’t feel any pain, he’ll be out there doing his best and if you haven’t seen the list, as he said, it’s troybaylissevents.com, you’ll be able to see the website. Check that out, I know you won’t be disappointed. 18th of January and it looks like you can get a ticket.”
Phil: “Saturday afternoon, Twilight type meeting so…”
Rob: “Well, it’s only three and a half hours to Taree, easy, and that’s from the south side of Sydney.”
Phil: “I know plenty of people that have made the trip up there last year, they weren’t disappointed, they were talking about it for weeks and that’s two massive events as we said in two weeks, the Troy Bayliss Classic, International Island Classic, it’s going to be a classic January.”
Rob: “Certainly right. Time for us to get out of here, just about time to head out the door. Catch you next week, see you then. Bye, now!” ENDS
To purchase tickets to the 2014 event click here For more information about the event visit troybaylissevents.com and follow the event at facebook.com/troybaylissclassic
The 2014 Motul Pirelli Troy Bayliss Classic Riders List
Troy Bayliss (Three-time World Superbike Champion)
Jason Crump (Three-time World Speedway Champion) 3xWC
Karl Muggeridge (2004 World Supersport Champion)
Chris Vermeulen (2003 World Supersport Champion)
Shayne King (1996 500cc Motocross World Champion)
Jeff Leisk (six-time national motocross champion and two-time Mr Motocross winner)
Robbie Phillis (Six-time Australian Superbike Champion)
Henry Wiles (Two-time AMA Pro Grand National Singles Champion)
Masatoshi Ohmori (Japanese Flat Track racer and YouTube sensation)
Chris Watson (Australia’s most decorated dirt track racer)
Darcy Ward (2009 and 2010 World Speedway Under-21 Champion).
Stephen Gall(five-time Australian Motocross Champion and four-time Mr Motocross)
Josh Waters (Two-time Australian Superbike Champion)
Phil Lovett (Three-time Finke Desert Race winner)
Jack Miller (Australian rider competing in Moto3)
Cam Donald (Isle of Man TT Winner)
Toby Price (Three-time AORC Champion, two-time A4DE Champion, two-time Finke Desert Race winner, three-time Hattah Desert Race winner)
Dave Armstrong (Endurance legend)
Barry Cockle (Motocross/supercross legend)
Damian Cudlin (2010 IDM Supersport Champion, IDM Superbike and Moto GP rider)
Vaughan Style (Motocross legend)
Mick Kirkness (2013 Troy Bayliss Classic Winner)
Anthony Gunter (One of Australia’s most successful motocross riders – 3 x Mr Motocross, 3 time Australian Champion)
Sammy Halbert (AMA Pro Grand National Champion)
Gary McCoy (Multiple race winner 125cc and 500cc World Championships, WSBK.
Alex Cudlin (3 x Qatar Superbike Champion)
Troy Herfoss (2010 Australian Supersport Champion, 2008 American AMA
Anthony West (Moto 2 racer)
Jamie Stauffer (2x Australian Superbike Champion, Australian Supersport Champion)
Shawn Giles (Three-time Australian Superbike Champion)
Chris Hollis (Multiple AORC Champion)
Paul Caslick (Dirt Track legend (9 time Australian Champion)
Wayne Maxwell (Current Australian Superbike Champion)
Josh Brookes (Aus Supersport & Superbike Champion, World Supersport winner)
Josh Hook (Team Honda Racing Superbike rider)
