CornerSpeedPhoto: AMA: Lloyd Bayley Interview

Friday, March 20, 2009

AMA: Lloyd Bayley Interview

I got the chance to do a quick interview with AMA Superbike racer Lloyd Bayley of Chronic Motorsports about his stint in the 2009 Daytona 200, his bicycle trials career, and the current state of AMA road racing.

Dan Lo: What's up Lloyd, great job at the first ever night time Daytona 200 where you qualified 70th and carved your way thru the field to finish 47th. Anything you can tell us about the race?

Lloyd Bayley: Well I qualified 70th because my sponsor put me on the bike just 4 days before qualifying. I've been on 1000cc Superbikes ever since I started racing in 2006 with the exception of riding a 600 for 4 months in 2007. I'm used to big bikes so it's a totally different riding style to race a 600. The bike was down on power but handled well so I just put my head down and tried to do the best I could with what I had and ended up 47th.

DL: How did you like racing at night?

LB: I like it better because I felt like I was back on the street racing on the highways (laughs). It was fun.

DL: Let's back up a bit. You're also well known for being a bicycle trials rider. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

LB: Yeah I've been a bike trials rider for about 9 years. I got started when I saw a friend hopping on the back wheel of his bicycle and I was impressed, and he told me it was called bike trials. I went out and got a trials tape and watched it and started practicing, then went to my first competition in upstate New York and it was like crack (laughs). I went on to compete in Spain, France, and Czech Republic for the 2002 BIU World Championships. I stopped competing shortly after because I was making money street racing and there is no money in bicycle trials. I still practice about 5 times a week and I was just in Toronto on 3/13/09 for a trials competition where I took 4th place despite having not competed since 2002.

DL: How did you eventually transition from bicycle trials into road racing?

LB: I switched to road racing because nobody wanted to race me on the street. The opportunity presented itself when an old girlfriend gave me some money and my friend Gill (who still comes to every race with me) used his van and we borrowed an open trailer and got on the track. 4/19/06 was my first time ever putting on a suit and dragging my knee at a track day and the next week i was at Loudon getting my license so that's where it started. There are also similarities between racing and bike trials as they are both 80% mental.

DL: Any thoughts on the new AMA rules for this season?

LB: I think the new AMA rules will help a little bit because my lap times have dropped but they have also dropped for everybody. Everyone has the same tires and fuel and can buy the same stuff . Now if you have a good bike you just have to ride it hard.

DL: Thanks for your time, Lloyd! Anything you want to say to the road racing fans out there?

LB: No problem. And to the fans, thanks for the support!