His task of achieving that goal will not be made easy as he will arrive at the circuit trailing American Colin Edwards by one point after the conclusion of twelve rounds of this years championship. Having led the championship from the opening round at Valencia, Bayliss relinquished the lead after crashing out of race two at the penultimate round at Assen.

Since the last round of the championship at Assen, Bayliss and his Infostrada Ducati team have tested at Mugello in preparation for the final round. At the test, the Australian was able to lap quicker on race tyres than he had ever done before, this gave Troy and his team a well-timed confidence boost. Since the test, Bayliss has returned to his European home where he has been able to concentrate on his training routine and prepare himself for the coming weekend.

“I feel the same as I do for every race,” said a relaxed Bayliss. “It’s going to be a big weekend and I’m really looking forward to it, especially as it is the last round of the championship and it is in Italy. It’s rather close to the Ducati factory in Bologna, but it is not one of our designated test tracks, so I haven’t ridden there since last year. We will have good support there from the fans and I’ve had good results racing in Italy this year, so I’m really keen for the weekend.”

“I have a good feel for the bike after the test that we had at Mugello recently and I feel like I’m in really good shape,” added Bayliss. “Even though things haven’t been good for me in the last few rounds, I feel like I’ve been riding OK, but the results just haven’t been where they were at the start of the season. I am feeling confident about changing that back around this weekend.”

It’s a fairly easy equation for us this weekend, we just have to beat Colin in both races regardless of where we finish.”

Bayliss and Edwards have been the standout riders of this year’s championship, winning every race bar one this year. Bayliss has won a total of fourteen races aboard his Infostrada Ducati 998F-02, while Edwards has won nine. Edwards arrives at the final round with a total of 502 championship points, one ahead of Bayliss’ 501, with the pair a massive 200 points clear of Neil Hodgson’s total of 302 in third place.

The historic Imola circuit is the perfect stage to decide what has been one of the most sensational seasons of the World SuperBike Championship. Bayliss will be calling on all of the courage and determination that he has shown on numerous occasions this year in his attempt to secure a second World Superbike Championship.

IMOLA, SWC FAST FACTS
Circuit Length: 4.933km
2001 Superpole: Troy Corser (AXO Aprilia) 1:48.694
Lap record: Troy Corser (AXO Aprilia) 1:49.398 (2001)

2002 World Superbike championship points (after 12 of 13 rounds): 1. C Edwards 502; 2. T Bayliss 501; 3. N Hodgson 302; 4. N Haga 254; 5. B Bostrom 248; 6. R Xaus 217; 7. J Toseland 175; 8. P Chili 158; 9. C Walker 143; 10. G Lavilla 113

• Sep 25 - News - Foxtel may not show race 2 from Imola live this weekend, we are kicking off an email campaign

Wallpaper