Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Earlier this week it was officially announced that Loris Capirossi and reigning Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss would ride the Ducati Desmosedici in the 2003 MotoGP series.

In the September 18 entry of his online diary, Bayliss said that he had felt in the past that it would be too difficult to switch from Superbike to Grand Prix. “I figured that maybe it would be too strange to change from riding a Ducati to a 500 two-stroke,” wrote Bayliss on www.troybayliss.com. “I was happy enough to stay in the World Superbike Championship but as soon as I heard that Ducati were building a MotoGP bike my mind has been in that place.

“I’m pretty keen to ride it, but before I do, I’ve got one more small, little obstacle to get over and that’s the showdown at Imola.”

Bayliss went on to say his recent test at Mugello got the bad taste of his Assen crash out of his mouth and helped him regain a feel for his bike that he had been lacking in recent World Superbike rounds.