Troy Andrew Bayliss (born 30 March 1969 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia)[citation needed] is an Australian motorcycle racer.

His 52 World Superbike victories ranks fourth all time in the history of the championship behind Jonathan Rea, Álvaro Bautista and Carl Fogarty.

By age 10, he was an accomplished motocross rider, and could often be found riding through the local bushland which surrounded the town and came right up to the back of the family house.

On this daily commute Bayliss would pass a motorcycle dealership and finally was tempted enough to obtain a loan to purchase a Kawasaki ZXR 750 on which he commenced racing.

As a result of this early success and despite the financial risk he was taking, Bayliss decided to compete in the Australian Supersport championship, Age 26.

His big break came that year – he was entered as a wildcard for the 1997 Australian 250 Grand Prix riding for the Dutch Arie Molenaar Suzuki team.

Bayliss's remarkable performance on a clearly underpowered machine earned him considerable attention, and he was subsequently offered a ride in the British championship with the new GSE Ducati team the next year.

This frame change would prove costly as Bayliss consistently complained that the bike didn't feel like the same machine he had been riding previously.

He briefly led at Philip Island, Brno and Welkom, and only narrowly losing the rookie of the year race to Nicky Hayden.

However, good results near the end of the season earned him a ride with Sito Pons' Camel Honda team for 2005, but was not a frontrunner, despite promising speed shown in his first tests on the 2004 machine and Alex Barros winning in Portugal.

After the success of 2006 Superbike, Ducati offered Bayliss a one-off entry in the final MotoGP race of the year in Valencia, due to Sete Gibernau being injured.

[3] His impressive victory was somewhat overshadowed by the dramatic events involving Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden that ultimately determined the 2006 title winner.

After a rather unsuccessful journey in MotoGP and a particularly disappointing 2005 season, Bayliss returned to the Superbike World Championship in 2006 and was reunited with factory Ducati team.

Bayliss started 2006 in dominant fashion, leading the points table after the first 5 rounds with seven consecutive race wins and additional podiums.

His right hand was momentarily caught under the motorcycle during the crash, and the injury required the eventual surgical removal of a testicle[5] and of the intermediate and distal phalanges of his little finger.

He clinched the title in the next round by finishing 3rd at Magny Cours, and put the seal on it by winning race 2 – his 50th World Superbike victory.