Bayliss rides into the sunset on top
World champion Troy Bayliss has wound up his magnificent world Superbike career in Portugal with yet another double win.
Bayliss was in his element at the all-new and critically acclaimed Algarve circuit in Portimao, starting from pole position before humbling the field with start to finish victories in both 22-lap races. It was his third clean sweep of the year.
Bayliss also set the fastest laps on his factory Ducati 1098 to complete the ‘full monty’ – a rarity in world Superbike competition.
“This was the perfect end to my racing career, to finish with pole and a double win, an absolute fantastic result,” said Bayliss. “I’ve been doing this for many years and it was a long way to come but I got here, and now I’m at the end of my career.
“I have a great team behind me and I thank all of them and the sponsors because you can’t do this without those guys. My career’s come to an end; I’ve won the championship and finished my career in one piece so it’s incredible really. I wish Michel (Fabrizio) lots of luck for next season and thanks to everyone who’s supported me over the years.”
While Bayliss was charging to his 51st and 52nd world Superbike victories on the undulating layout, attrition was playing its part in the scrap for second in the championship between Yamaha teammates Noriyuki Haga and Aussie Troy Corser, as well as Suzuki’s Max Neukirchner.
Neukirchner was the first to lose touch, crashing in race one before Haga had to retire with mechanical problems. The Japanese ace, who will replace Bayliss at Ducati next year, was then hit with a ride-through penalty in race two for jumping the start, dropping him back to a lowly 14th.
Meanwhile, Corser was an impressive third behind Spain’s Carlos Checa (Honda) in the opener, and he then finished sixth in race two to make it an Australian one-two in the championship for the second time in four years. Corser won the 2005 title from compatriot Chris Vermeulen.
“All I had to do in race two was finish near Nori and that was all I was doing,” said Corser. Once he went out, all I had to do was stay consistent and not crash. We all worked so hard to get to second this season I was not prepared to take too many risks.
“The action was scary sometimes today and it can be like that when the tracks have a lot of undulations. The asphalt was pretty slippery in some places because of all the rain and mud washed on it during practice.”
Bayliss finished on 460pts after 14 rounds, from Corser (342), Haga (327), Checa (313) and Neukirchner (311).
On a racebike he describes as the best he’s ever ridden, Bayliss set a cracking pace on his Ducati in race two, finishing a staggering 22 seconds ahead of his elapsed time from the opener.
Bayliss’ teammate Michel Fabrizio was second in the final race of the year, ahead of Brit Leon Haslam (Honda), who was making a rare foray onto the Continent ahead of his full-time return to world Superbike next year.
A lot of the riders who competed at Portimao will return to the circuit this week for the first of the 2009 pre-season tests, including Max Biaggi, who will ride Aprilia’s all-new RSV4 1000cc machine alongside former MotoGP rider Shinya Nakano.
Yamaha will also return to Portimao with its two new riders, Ben Spies and Tom Sykes, while BMW, the second new entry in 2009, will test at Valencia on November 4-5 with Corser and Ruben Xaus.
Kenan Sofouglu made a superb return to world Supersport competition at Portimao, winning the race from recently crowned Aussie world champion Andrew Pitt, with Joan Lascorz making it a Honda trifecta in third.
After a lacklustre season in Superbike, Sofouglu will swap places with Brit Jonathan Rea for 2009 and attempt to win back the title he won in 2007, with Pitt his teammate.
Meanwhile, Bringelly’s Josh Brookes (Honda) failed in his bid to unseat the absent Rea and finish second in the championship when he was a disappointing 11th.
Broc Parkes (Yamaha) and Mark Aitchison (Triumph) made it three Aussies in the top 10, with Garry McCoy (Triumph) and Russell Holland (Honda) 13th and 14th.
Phillip Island will host the opening round of next year’s championship on March 1.
| SBK Race 1 1, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 38’48.373 2, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 0’2.207 3, Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 0’6.972 4, Jonathan Rea, Honda, GBR, 0’15.228 5, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 0’16.126 6, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 0’18.152 7, Leon Haslam, Honda, GBR, 0’18.939 8, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 0’20.942 9, Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 0’32.018 10, Regis Laconi, Kawasaki, FRA, 0’32.871 11, Ayrton Badovini, Kawasaki, ITA, 0’36.778 12, Roberto Rolfo, Honda, ITA, 0’36.848 13, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 0’41.667 14, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 0’41.806 15, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 0’48.337 16, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 0’50.295 17, Chris Walker, Honda, GBR, 0’50.840 18, Shuhei Aoyama, Honda, JPN, 1’5.928 19, Makoto Tamada, Kawasaki, JPN, 1’6.813 20, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 1’7.007 21, Luis Carreira, Suzuki, POR, 1’48.681 | SBK Race 2 1, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 38’26.125 2, Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 0’3.638 3, Leon Haslam, Honda, GBR, 0’4.356 4, Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 0’4.983 5, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 0’6.775 6, Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 0’7.403 7, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 0’7.578 8, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 0’16.113 9, Cal Crutchlow, Honda, GBR, 0’16.284 10, Regis Laconi, Kawasaki, FRA, 0’16.446 11, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 0’21.633 12, Jakub Smrz, Ducati, CZE, 0’22.098 13, Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 0’24.089 14, Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 0’24.117 15, Jonathan Rea, Honda, GBR, 0’31.003 16, Ayrton Badovini, Kawasaki, ITA, 0’31.136 17, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 0’31.330 18, Roberto Rolfo, Honda, ITA, 0’32.272 19, Chris Walker, Honda, GBR, 0’34.049 20, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 0’35.028 21, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 0’41.669 22, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 0’44.889 23, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 0’47.366 24, Makoto Tamada, Kawasaki, JPN, 0’48.733 25, Thomas Bridewell, Suzuki, GBR, 1’7.702 26, Shuhei Aoyama, Honda, JPN, 1’14.242 27, Luca Scassa, Honda, ITA, 1’34.781 | SBK Championship 1, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 460 2, Troy Corser, Yamaha, AUS, 342 3, Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 327 4, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 313 5, Max Neukirchner, Suzuki, GER, 311 6, Fonsi Nieto, Suzuki, ESP, 256 7, Max Biaggi, Ducati, ITA, 238 8, Michel Fabrizio, Ducati, ITA, 223 9, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, JPN, 206 10, Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 178 11, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 154 12, Gregorio Lavilla, Honda, ESP, 135 13, Jakub Smrz, Ducati, CZE, 117 14, Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 109 15, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 77 19, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 51 28, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 12 29, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 12 1, Ducati, 570 |
| SS Race 1, Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda, TUR, 35’39.851 2, Andrew Pitt, Honda, AUS, 0’3.844 3, Joan Lascorz, Honda, ESP, 0’7.403 4, Josh Hayes, Honda, USA, 0’7.445 5, Broc Parkes, Yamaha, AUS, 0’17.271 6, Gianluca Nannelli, Honda, ITA, 0’17.297 7, Simone Sanna, Honda, ITA, 0’25.803 8, Gianluca Vizziello, Honda, ITA, 0’29.749 9, Mark Aitchison, Triumph, AUS, 0’29.960 10, Fabien Foret, Yamaha, FRA, 0’30.155 11, Joshua Brookes, Honda, AUS, 0’30.697 12, Miguel Praia, Honda, POR, 0’30.719 13, Garry McCoy, Triumph, AUS, 0’40.033 14, Russell Holland, Honda, AUS, 0’40.839 15, Didier Van Keymeulen, Suzuki, BEL, 0’44.266 16, David Salom, Yamaha, ESP, 0’45.672 17, Jesco Gunther, Triumph, GER, 0’46.765 19, Balazs Nemeth, Honda, HUN, 0’51.626 20, Patrick Vostarek, Honda, ITA, 0’57.092 21, Ivan Clementi, Triumph, ITA, 0’57.584 22, Katsuaki Fujiwara, Kawasaki, JPN, 1’4.848 23, Santiago Barragan, Honda, ESP, 1’26.940 24, Chris Martin, Kawasaki, GBR, 1’27.010 | SS Championship 1, Andrew Pitt, Honda, AUS, 214 2, Jonathan Rea, Honda, GBR, 164 3, Joshua Brookes, Honda, AUS, 162 4, Broc Parkes, Yamaha, AUS, 150 5, Joan Lascorz, Honda, ESP, 121 6, Fabien Foret, Yamaha, FRA, 111 7, Craig Jones, Honda, GBR, 100 8, Barry Veneman, Suzuki, NED, 92 9, Gianluca Nannelli, Honda, ITA, 79 10, Robbin Harms, Honda, DNK, 71 11, Gianluca Vizziello, Honda, ITA, 60 12, Massimo Roccoli, Yamaha, ITA, 58 13, Matthieu Lagrive, Honda, FRA, 56 14, Didier Van Keymeulen, Suzuki, BEL, 39 15, Chris Walker, Kawasaki, GBR, 36 30, David Salom, Yamaha, ESP, 9 1, Honda, 315 | |
| Superstock Race 1, Brendan Roberts, Ducati, AUS, 22’23.040 2, Chris Seaton, Suzuki, AUS, 0’2.995 3, Maxime Berger, Honda, FRA, 0’3.938 4, Michele Pirro, Yamaha, ITA, 0’4.773 5, Matej Smrz, Honda, CZE, 0’17.166 6, Alessandro Polita, Ducati, ITA, 0’17.482 7, Sylvain Barrier, Yamaha, FRA, 0’19.452 8, Claudio Corti, Yamaha, ITA, 0’19.878 9, Freddy Foray, Yamaha, FRA, 0’22.892 10, Barry Burrell, Honda, GBR, 0’23.050 11, Xavier Simeon, Suzuki, BEL, 0’31.698 13, Franck Millet, MV Agusta, ITA, 0’35.502 14, Filip Backlund, Suzuki, SWE, 0’37.798 15, Sheridan Morais, Kawasaki, RSA, 0’42.098 16, Kenny Foray, Yamaha, FRA, 0’45.953 17, Rene Mahr, KTM, GER, 1’0.432 18, Ondrej Jezek, Honda, CZE, 1’0.595 19, Marko Jerman, Yamaha, SVK, 1’2.708 20, Danny De Boer, Suzuki, NED, 1’4.134 21, Brank Srdanov, Yamaha, NED, 1’5.601 22, Gareth Jones, Suzuki, AUS, 1’12.642 23, Matt Bond, Suzuki, GBR, 1’12.690 24, Michael Savary, Suzuki, CHE, 1’12.821 25, Niccolo Rosso, Honda, ITA, 1’18.918 27, Michal Drobny, Honda, CZE, 1’24.144 28, Jure Stibilj, Honda, SVN, 1’26.189 29, Roy Ten Napel, Suzuki, NED, 1’28.272 30, Pauli Pekkanen, KTM, FIN, 1’28.903 31, Gregory Junod, Yamaha, CHE, 1’28.989 32, Tommaso Lorenzetti, Suzuki, ITA, 1’32.965 | Superstock Championship 1, Brendan Roberts, Ducati, AUS, 147 2, Maxime Berger, Honda, FRA, 140 3, Alessandro Polita, Ducati, ITA, 137 4, Xavier Simeon, Suzuki, BEL, 136 5, Michele Pirro, Yamaha, ITA, 102 6, Matej Smrz, Honda, CZE, 84 7, Davide Giugliano, Suzuki, ITA, 72 8, Freddy Foray, Yamaha, FRA, 62 9, Chris Seaton, Suzuki, AUS, 60 10, Claudio Corti, Yamaha, ITA, 57 11, Andrea Antonelli, Honda, ITA, 57 12, Barry Burrell, Honda, GBR, 39 13, Kenny Foray, Yamaha, FRA, 32 14, Michele Magnoni, Yamaha, ITA, 30 15, Domenico Colucci, Ducati, ITA, 26 16, Sylvain Barrier, Yamaha, FRA, 22 1, Ducati, 195 |
