World Superbike legend Troy Bayliss has revealed he has taken delivery of a bike he has “patiently” waited for since he floated the idea to Ducati two decades ago.
The 56-year-old Australian has a long association with Ducati, which includes stints in World Superbikes, MotoGP and the Australian Superbike Championship.
Bayliss first raced a Ducati in World Superbikes in 1998 at a handful of races and won the 2001 world title for the brand.
He narrowly missed a second in 2002 in an epic championship duel with Honda’s Colin Edwards, but made up for it in 2006.
That same year, he made a one-off MotoGP outing for Ducati at the Valencia finale and sensationally won the race.
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He competed in two full seasons in MotoGP with Ducati in 2003 and 2004.
A final World Superbike title followed in 2008, again with Ducati, with Bayliss renewing this association briefly in 2015 as an injury stand-in at the Australian and Thai rounds.
Bayliss, a keen motocross rider, has now added a Ducati model to his collection he says he first asked the brand about 20 years ago.
“Action coming soon,” he wrote on his social media channels, as he unboxed a Ducati Desmo450 MX.
“Around 20 or so years ago, I said to the big cheese [management] ‘be cool if you guys made an MX bike’.
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“I’ve been waiting patiently.”
Ducati’s Desmo 450 MX boasts a 450hp engine and lightweight chassis, which French rider Dylan Ferrandis said was the best frame in motocross.
It is on sale in the UK for just over £11,000.
Bayliss has suffered numerous injuries this year due to motocross riding accidents.
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He broke his left ankle earlier this year, before suffering fractures to seven ribs, a punctured lung and a collarbone injury in a crash in August.