Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

2001 World Superbike Champion and current point leader in the 2002 World Superbike Championship Troy Bayliss is the clear choice to ride the Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP bike in 2003, says a fan poll on Ducati.com. The poll asked fans to vote for who they would like to ride the Desmosedici in 2003 and gave a list of riders – some current Ducati World Superbike riders, some riders for other teams – to choose from.

Bayliss was the clear winner collecting 47 percent of votes. Current Yamaha factory MotoGP rider Max Biaggi, an Italian, collected 13 percent, while another Italian MotoGP rider, Loris Capirossi, earned 10 percent of the votes. American Ben Bostrom finished fourth in the poll with nine percent ahead of Ruben Xaus (8%), Noriyuki Haga (4%), Alex Barros (3%), Colin Edwards (3%), Carlos Checa (2%) and Kenny Roberts (1%). Valentino Rossi was not listed as a choice.

Ducati.com then followed up with another pole, which is currently running, asking fans to choose who they would like to see as Bayliss’ teammate on the 2003 Ducati.com MotoGP team. Currently, Capriossi is leading the voting with 28%. Biaggi and Bostrom are tied with 18% each, ahead of Edwards (10%), Xaus (9%), Haga (7%), Checa (7%), Barros (3%) and Roberts (3%).

In other Ducati news, the Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP bike will make its first public appearance outside of Italy July 12-14 when it will be displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Sussex, England.