Oli Bayliss

Oli Bayliss crashed at Portimao’s turn five during his first day of testing for the 2022 World Supersport Championship earlier this week in Portugal. The tumble came only nine laps into his first session on the bike and resulted in a broken ankle, here the young Aussie expands on what went down.

“This is such a cool track, such a big learning experience. We headed out, didn’t feel horrible on the bike, but just not normal, we have a Panigale V2 at home we have been riding a fair bit, but two completely different feelings.

“We started doing laps, the feeling comes, comes, comes, maybe I got a little bit too excited, bit too much gas and a big high-side out of five. 

“I can’t really remember, I can remember crashing, but I don’t really know how I landed, I think my foot may have got crushed under the bike, which resulted in me spending a couple of hours at the hospital and getting a cast on my ankle. 

“The next time we will be back on track with Barni Racing will be 16-17 March at Misano, I am going to be well fit by then, going to make sure in these next four weeks we will do everything we possibly can to get me 100 per cent. 

“Leading up to this Portimao Test I was so excited, and then this happened and it has kinda knocked me down a little bit, but I know we can be pretty fast, but also know it is going to be a tough year, it is such a strong championship this year but we are going to do our best and see what we can do. We have got a good package and I am keen. 

“Everyone in the team is great, so although we didn’t have the best first day, we still have a lot more room to improve on and we can grow together, as this is the teams first year in World Supersport also. Going to be a hard year but I am sure we can go good.”

Source: MCNews.com.au