Bayliss Shown the Door

[f1manoz]

Australian Troy Bayliss has been dumped by MotoGP team Ducati for the 2005 season.

Nearing the end of a disappointing second season in the premier league of motorcycle racing, Bayliss was told by Ducati at last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix that his services were not required next year.

The team has not announced its decision and may have been trying to keep it under wraps, at least until after the penultimate round of the world championship at Phillip Island this weekend.

Bayliss will be 36 in March and is hopeful of finding another ride, although his options will be limited.

Ducati has Italian Loris Capirossi under contract for another year.

The team is reportedly eyeing Honda's Sete Gibernau or Suzuki rider John Hopkins, as the replacement for Bayliss.

Bayliss, the 2001 superbike world champion, was on the podium three times in his first year of MotoGP and was fifth in the 2003 championship.

At Phillip Island last October he was dicing for the lead when he crashed spectacularly on the third lap and was airlifted to hospital in Melbourne with concussion.

But this year his best result was fourth in the Italian GP ten races ago.

He is 14th in the championship, 206 points behind Yamaha star Valentino Rossi, who is set to clinch a fourth straight title at Phillip Island on Sunday.

Ducati has remained publicly upbeat this season but within the team there has been a lot of finger-pointing over the reason for its slide, especially as major sponsor Marlboro is accustomed to success.

Bayliss, who has been a Ducati factory rider since 2000, said the season had been a disaster and that his relations with the team had slipped.

"My first season was acceptable, although I wasn't all that happy with it," Bayliss said.

"But to go to where I am now is even worse.

"I have been so frustrated. I don't know what's going on - I'm not an engineer.

"I think Ducati have the equipment and I believe in the potential of this project, but it's a matter of making it work.

"It's not easy and motivation is definitely running out.

"You can only bang yourself around so much, and I know when the bike is about to say `You are going to crash today'.

"I'm an experienced rider and I don't have stupid crashes.

"I'm not going to put myself in hospital when it's not right, which I have done - like at Phillip Island last year - so it's a difficult situation."

Damn shame for Bayliss, but really no surprise. Ducati needed a scapegoat for the poor performance of their machinery this year, and Bayliss is it.