Foggy praises Bayliss

Carl Fogarty has revealed how much he thought the established stars of MotoGP were made to look average after Troy Bayliss’ dominant win in the final round of the 2006 season.

Bayliss rode as a wildcard on a Ducati, and led every lap to post a first win in the class.

This was despite only having a couple of days notice that he would ride the MotoGP bike and make the switch to Michelins after a season on WSB’s Pirelli control tyres.

Foggy said: “I couldn’t stop laughing about that. There’s so much talk about MotoGP this and MotoGP that and how they are the best riders in the world, but Bayliss got a phone call when he’s out celebrating his championship to see if he wanted a go on the bike and he turns up and beats everyone. “It just shows that with the right bike and the right package you can win. There’s not a lot to choose between certain riders around the world.

“There are probably 15 guys that if they had the right bike team and package they were happy with they could all beat each other.

“That’s why Rossi has been so good over the years because he’s always kept the same as much as he could. On the other hand you’ve got riders like Biaggi that been up and down over the years swapping between different teams.

“Look at Bayliss, he had a nightmare year on the Honda in MotoGP and he’s since shown what an amazing rider he is.

“It amazes me really how close all the top guys are just as long as they’ve got the right package.”