The Japanese circuit has not been kind to Bayliss in the past two years that he has competed there. Bayliss was given his first opportunity to impress with the factory backed Infostrada Ducati team at Sugo in 2000, as a replacement for the injured Carl Fogarty. Two opening lap crashes, at no fault to himself, saw his WSBK career get off to a shaky start. In 2001, a number of problems raised their heads and he finished well down the order in both races and just in the points with 13th and 15th.

"I actually like going to Sugo, but the track doesn't seem to like me," said Bayliss as he departed Australia for Japan. "I feel that I can do well there (Sugo) and I want to do well, so a top five finish I believe would be an extremely good result there."

"I might have had six wins in a row to start the year off, but I don't expect to get another two wins there on the weekend." Bayliss added. "I can't see why I can't be with the locals. When they (the Japanese riders) come to Europe they seem to struggle, and when the Europeans go to Japan, they seem to struggle. I don't think it should be like that. This year I don't believe that I can go there and have as bad a weekend as I have for the last two years."

Heading to Japan this weekend, Bayliss has gained an early season break over his rivals in the championship by virtue of his six wins. With 150 points to his credit, Bayliss leads Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards (105), Ruben Xaus (79) and Ben Bostrom (77) after three rounds.

This weekend however will again see the local Japanese contingent of riders primed to take yet another home victory. Japanese riders have won the past 12 consecutive WSBK races at Sugo, with the last non-Japanese win being in 1995 after Troy Corser won the first race and Carl Fogarty the second.

Aside from the local wildcard entries, WSBK regular Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) and Hitoyasu Izutsu (Kawasaki) could well provide the toughest opposition. Both know what it takes to win WSBK races there and will be out to repeat their previous performances.

For Bayliss though, his eyes will be on championship points. Knowing full well what has happened there in the past two years, he will be out to not only improve on those results, but also, more importantly, extend his championship points lead over his rivals.

Official practice and qualifying begins this Friday, followed by Superpole on Saturday afternoon and Sunday's two 25-lap World Championship races.