Tuesday, December 6 2011
Troy Bayliss will not be making a World Superbike comeback next year and has handed his famous ‘21’ number on to John Hopkins for the 2012 season.
Having kept his number ‘21’ with him when he retired from WSBK following the 2008 season, brewing rumours that he would, at some point be returning to the series. Bayliss has even tested Ducati’s new 1199 Panigale superbike this year- which seemed to be a sure sign he would be returning for 2012.
Previously, Bayliss had refused requests from Hopkins to run the number 21, but is now said to be happy to pass on the famous number, saying he kept it aside in case of a comeback- but this is now off the cards.
