Bayliss Retires from Motorcycle Testing

Retired World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss announced he is retiring once again, this time from his duties as a test rider for Ducati.

Bayliss, who retried from racing after winning his third WSBK title in 2008, had been working with Ducati, most notably as a test rider for the Ducati 1199 Panigale. Bayliss tweeted (@TroyBaylisstic) his intention to no longer test on June 23, just hours after beating Valentino Rossi in the finals of the Diavel drag race at World Ducati Week 2012. Bayliss also put in some demonstration laps of the WSBK-spec version of the Panigale, possibly for the very last time.

“Home bound tomorrow, pretty happy , let every one know I will not test again, time for a change, don’t want to hang around like bad smell,” Bayliss tweeted.

And to indicate how definite the statement was, his wife, Kim Bayliss, tweeted in reply: “sorry everyone but I am one happy wife #moretimeathome.”

Though he is a couple years into his post-racing life, there have been no shortage of rumors of a comeback in some capacity, possibly as a wild card entry. In March, Mario Bertuccio of the Liberty Racing team said he was in discussions for Bayliss to race for his Effenbert-Liberty WSBK team as a wild card before discussions fell through and he opted to promote Brett McCormick from the Superstock 1000 squad.

Perhaps as a nod to the persistent comeback talk, Bayliss tweeted the following on June 24 along with a picture of him with Rossi and Nicky Hayden after the Diavel drag race:

“Nice to be on Podium, top step is where it’s at, I wonder where the next won will be” (sic) tweeted Bayliss.

[Source: @TroyBaylisstic (Twitter)]

By Dennis Chung