Bayliss wins 2014 Troy Bayliss Classic! Herfoss 2nd, Kirkness 3rd
Troy Bayliss (KTM) dropped the hammer hard from when the gates dropped to have a virtually untroubled run to victory in the 2014 Troy Bayliss Classic at Old Bar, Taree.
The three-time World Superbike Champion looked likely to come under attack from visiting American Flat Track star Sammy Halbert. The Yamaha rider looked quicker through the final turn but fell halfway through the race to leave Bayliss to enjoy an unfettered run to the line in the 21 lap feature event.
Bayliss also recorded the quickest lap of the race with a 21.52 on lap two to Halbert’s 21.55, also on lap two. With Halbert left to remount and try and make up position through the field, the battle for the final spot on the podium was waged between Troy Herfoss (Honda) and inaugural Troy Bayliss Cup winner Michael Kirkness. It was a closely fought affair with Herfoss getting the better of Kirkness when it mattered to take the coveted second position.
Visiting American star Henry Wiles never got quite close enough to challenge for a podium but the Kawasaki rider did manage to best Luke Richards and Joshua Hook for fourth place. Sammy Halbert recovered to seventh place ahead of Chris Vermeulen and Paul Caslick while Matt Davies rounded out the top ten ahead of Jamie Stauffer and Wayne Maxwell.
[youtube id=”-s4gqiVwQEc” width=”853″ height=”480″]
| 1 | 21 | TROY BAYLISS | 22 | 21.520 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 17 | TROY HERFOSS | 22 | 02.761 | 21.791 | 16 | ||
| 3 | 387 | MICHAEL KIRKNESS | 22 | 03.171 | 21.771 | 9 | ||
| 4 | HW | HENRY WILES | 22 | 08.634 | 21.981 | 4 | ||
| 5 | 24 | LUKE RICHARDS | 22 | 08.931 | 21.888 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 34 | JOSHUA HOOK | 22 | 11.349 | 21.985 | 5 | ||
| 7 | SH | SAMMY HALBERT | 22 | 12.970 | 21.554 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 7 | CHRIS VERMEULEN | 22 | 14.918 | 22.287 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 3 | PAUL CASLICK | 22 | 15.252 | 22.261 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 414 | MATT DAVIES | 22 | 18.010 | 12.734 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 27 | JAMIE STAUFFER | 22 | 18.862 | 22.195 | 5 | ||
| 12 | 47 | WAYNE MAXWELL | 22 | 20.164 | 22.461 | 7 |
A capacity crowd of over 6,000 people flocked to Taree Motorcycle Club for the second annual Motul Pirelli Troy Bayliss Classic, which saw event host, three-time World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss, take victory in the Troy Bayliss Cup.The Australian battled with Superpole winner, Sammy Halbert over the opening laps of the 21-lap race, before the American Flat-Track Champion bowed out of contention after going down halfway through race.
Bayliss, who recorded the fastest lap of the race with a 21.52 took the chequered flag ahead of 2008 AMA Supermoto Champion Troy Herfoss and 2013 Troy Bayliss Classic winner Michael Kirkness.
“I am absolutely over the moon with the whole event,” Bayliss said. “When you have a win it is always the icing on the cake.
“The Americana was great I stuffed that up a little but the crowd love it.
“I hope that with the telecast on Speed and SBS and the coverage that will stream on the internet at 4.00pm today will be good for dirt track racing in Australia and also for getting more of the American guys keen to come over here,” Bayliss added
Earlier in the night Halbert took victory in the Americana feature event. The action-packed elimination races saw both Troy Bayliss and Darcy Ward crash out of contention and veteran racer Paul Caslick controversially eliminated for jumping the start.
“This was a really cool event, it was so great to come here and meet a bunch of famous road, speedway and motocross racers,” Halbert said.
“I was happy to be competitive and to be able to battle with Troy for the lead in the Troy Bayliss Cup was special. I took the lead briefly but Troy passed me right back then I was trying to make something happen and slide out in the tight left hand corner.
“The Americana races were really cool on the oval track, it seemed like you could pass more on that than on the TT course. I hope to back next year I had a really good time here,” Halbert added.
Three-time World Speedway Champion Jason Crump took out the Legends award scoring the most points of the 12 Legends that included Jeff Leisk and Chris Watson in the first four rounds of racing.
To see all the action from the 2014 Motul Pirelli Troy Bayliss Classic download the MotorsportsTV App or click on the Livestream button on Facebook, from 4pm today (Sunday 19th Jan Sydney time Australia)
With the 2014 Motul Pirelli Troy Bayliss Classic run and won Troy Bayliss Events now turns its attention to MOTO EXPO (March 21-23 Brisbane RNA Showgrounds) which includes the Motul Pirelli Baylisstic Scramble (22nd March).
Troy Bayliss Classic 2014 Coverage
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Thursday Practice Video
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Race Report
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Legends Race Report
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Race Day Video
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery A
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery B
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery C
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery D
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery E
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery F
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery G
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery H
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery I
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery J
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery K
- 2014 Bayliss Classic Image Gallery L
