Troy Bayliss Classic 2013 and 2014

[firko]

Caught Masa doing some skids on Tony Garrard's private track yesterday.  Nice little bloke, can ride a bit . We've got our tickets and are hanging for the Classic now, once again we'll be celebrating my birthday so it'll be a bigg'un .

[SON]

SShhhhhhhhh

[Lozza]

some action from the Superprestigio to whet your appetite (skip to the 4.00min mark) To give you an idea of how big motorcycle racing is in Spain this was broadcast live on telle, the whole thing heats and all.

 http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/motociclismo/motociclismo-superprestigio-dirt-track-superfinal-podiums/2302167/

[oldyzman]

Markez eh....

[firko]

My new mate Little Sammy.....
                                                             

[Graeme M]

So whaddya reckon Firko, can he ride OK? 

[firko]

So whaddya reckon Firko, can he ride OK?

Just a bit ....he got of the 'plane from America and went straight to Bankstown, did two or three sighting laps on Tony Garard's unfamiliar Honda and then he cut 6 laps that had everyone literally gobsmacked. He was rocket fast and as an added bonus he's a nice, quiet little bloke....quite friendly and willing to answer questions. Jaded old me was pretty impressed.

[Graeme M]

Impressive. That's real talent alright. I've learned I can go fastish, sort of, on my own bike that I am familiar with, after a bit of practice to get in the groove, and on a day when I am feeling good. On an unfamiliar bike on an unfamiliar track, I might as well ride round on my pushy, I'd be way quicker. So anyone who can do what you said Sammy did has my vote for Seriously Fast Dude! 

Can't wait to see how Halbert, Wiles and Masa go up against the Aussies. Plenty of people reckon that Kirkness, Caso, Troy etc will be the guys to beat, but I dunno, the Yanks race a LOT, are fast and come from a pretty serious national series. I reckon they'll be hard to beat...

[firko]

some action from the Superprestigio to whet your appetite (skip to the 4.00min mark) To give you an idea of how big motorcycle racing is in Spain this was broadcast live on telle, the whole thing heats and all

Rash statement #473: I can see this type of racing challenging traditional speedway over the next decade. I love traditional speedway, the bikes and the history that goes with it but this short track stuff has the added attraction of the bikes being built by the big manufacturers and being identifiable to the average spectator as something similar to what they go trail riding on every weekend. Once the factories start throwing big dollars and the TV networks get involved I can see it going off like an Atom Bomb. Another aspect that will also help is the American involvement. Even though Americans have done well at traditional speedway over the last three decades, it's still a comparatively unknown sport in that country for a few reasons, the most obvious being that they didn't invent it. Love them or hate them for it, most of Americas sporting passions go into sports that they invented like Baseball, American football and in motorsport, Nascar and oval flat track. Sports developed by 'outsiders' are played, and they're successful at them but the real passion is in their home grown pursuits. Now, with the American market being the biggest and with most aftermarket motorcycle parts manufacturers and corporate entities that support motorsport being US based, the sponsorship dollars will go into a sport where Americans can be successful on a world stage. One only has to look at how motocross exploded in the US once their riders became competitive and started to beat the Euros. I predict we're about to see a similar situation arise with short track and possibly half mile and mile on another plane. We've already got Red Bull and Monster Energy pumping millions into it and as we can see with the Spanish video, the recent big meetings in France and the UK and the Troy Bayliss build up it's already snowballing outside of the traditional American flat track market. The next five years are going to be very interesting.

[Sorelegs11]

This type of racing at any track that has the spectator access of the taree track is bound to take off.

The way these blokes punt their bikes around at full song should raise the hair on the back of any fans neck.

All we need now is a few good venues close to the population and a decent series and as the TBC has shown, it woulld be a WINNER!

[Graeme M]

What we do need tho is some recognition from the magazines. I've had a couple of emails with Andy Wigan from Transmoto and his complaint is that the promoters do little to push the sport. With the exception of Troy of course.

My view tho is that while promotion is important, the mags tend to see flat track as some kind of fringe knuckle draggers domain. How many articles do they run about everything BUT flat track. MX, off-road, trials, trail, freestyle, adventure bikes you name it. But flat track?

Yet it is a sport that could go off. Whether on traditional outdoor tracks or indoor short tracks. For the average punter you can have fun on any old MX bike with tyres and gearing changes, and even be competitive. I've seen guys on 20 year old bikes giving the fast guys a run at our local track, but that aint gonna happen in MX.

I am hoping that Troy has started to open the door. Now if the rest of us can help push it along, especially on social media, maybe we can get some real traction (pun intended!)

[SlideRulz]

The King of Nepean received pretty good media coverage last year thanks to the efforts of Vincent Tesirero. Apologies if I got the spelling wrong Vince.
Hopefully they can maintain the momentum built up over the last few years.

[JohnnyO]

I can't see any of the imports beating guys like Kirkness, Herfoss, Bayliss and Caslick. Sure they're good at their discipline but it's a different kettle of fish racing on the grippy oiled dirt with lefts and rights and front brakes.. Just ask Crumpy

[firko]

can't see any of the imports beating guys like Kirkness, Herfoss, Bayliss and Caslick. Sure they're good at their discipline but it's a different kettle of fish racing on the grippy oiled dirt with lefts and rights and front brakes.. Just ask Crumpy

I agree (sort of) John until you see video of them racing TT which is essentially pretty much the same as our dirt track, although I agree that Old Bar's oil surface is a leveller. Kirkness is still the one to beat and I can't see Masa cutting it in this field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgpm23D6jv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtB_wU-bFHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZdr6kWKLV0

[Graeme M]

Please note I've split this topic and started a new topic about dirt track in 2014. This current topic is about the Troy Bayliss Classic.

New topic here;
http://forum.ozvmx.com/index.php?topic=32895.0