Is this a mid-winter Italian firestorm to sell magazines, or is this a real possibility?
How much would TV rights to the Qatar World Superbike race suddenly become worth on February 14th?
Mind boggling stuff!
Bayliss might prefer to have this be billed as the “Duel Down Under” at the opening round of the WSBK season in Phillip Island on March 1, a track that might suit the Australian better and certainly give him a home track advantage. Bayliss, however, won the opening round of the 2008 season at Losail in his first race on the new 1098, although he was beaten back to fourth in race two (won by Fonsi Nieto on the Alstare Suzuki). Bayliss then won both races in Phillip Island, which was the second round last year.
Rossi has had mixed fortunes at Losail. In 2004 he has famously penalized when his Yamaha team cleaned his grid slot the night before, in violation of FIM regulations. He started from the back row and crashed while charging
back through the field in the early laps. Then he won on the Yamaha in 2005 and 2006, was beaten and repeatedly passed on the straight by winner Casey Stoner on the Ducati Desmosedici in 2007, and in 2008 he was a dismal fifth, complaining of Michelin problems at Qatar.
Rossi, according to Italian sources, was angry that Italian readers of Moto Sprint had chosen Troy Bayliss as winner of the prestigious “Golden Helmet” award and that he, Bayliss, and Ducati race boss Davide Tardozzi got together at “Golden Helmet” award ceremony over the weekend and worked out the conditions.
So far this is a Moto Sprint exclusive and there has been no official comment either from Paolo Flammini of In Front Motor Sports (the World Superbike promoters) or Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna CEO) although in the interview by Juan Pedro de la Torre posted on this site, Ezpeleta made the following comments, which, given the breaking news in Italy, now seem more significant.
