Bayliss Wants 2 Million For Rossi Ride Off
WORLD Superbike champion Troy Bayliss has put a price tag of £1 million ($A2.1 million) on a proposed match race against world MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi.
Rossi is reportedly keen on the challenge, but Bayliss has been firm in his decision to walk away from motorcycle racing completely.
Bayliss retired at the end of this season after clinching his third Superbike world crown and is eyeing a possible switch to V8 Supercars.
But he has left a small window open to the Rossi suggestion and believes the Italian Yamaha star could easily be competitive on the different machine.
“I spoke with Valentino and he told me that he wants to race me really badly,” Bayliss told website motorcyclenews.com.
“It wouldn’t be so hard for him to be competitive on a Superbike. Yamaha have got a strong bike so it would be no problem at all for him to get up to speed. Valentino Rossi is Valentino Rossi. For me to do it I’d need something like £1 million and that’s not going to happen.”
Rossi, who this year regained his world MotoGP title from Australian Casey Stoner, has described Superbikes as the most entertaining form of motorcycle racing. The race was tipped to take place during the second round of the World Superbike series in Qatar on March 14. The MotoGP season does not start until April 12 in Qatar.
Fiat Yamaha played down reports of the clash.