• ROUND

• RACE DATE

• RACE

• CIRCUIT

• MOTOGP WINNER

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  Round
                  
  17
                

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  Race Date
                  
  29/10/2006
                

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  Race
                  
  Valencia Grand Prix
                

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  Circuit
                  
  Valencia
                

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  MotoGP Winner
                  
  Troy Bayliss
                

The 2006 MotoGP championship was arguably the best year the sport has ever had.

With the reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi on the ground drama at the very first corner of the season he was playing catch up right from the outset after Loris Capirossi and Ducati won the first race. There were then seven different winners over 17 races that year as the crescendo built to the final race at Valencia in 2006.

The Ducati press release on race day for Valencia 2006 had a very simple but powerful headline, “A day that will go down in history”.

For the full story, Troy Bayliss had suffered after his two years on a Ducati in 2003 and 2004 not quite getting the results of his more experienced GP team mate, Loris Capirossi, but later on he admitted, “Those years made me a stronger person on the bike.” The proof of the pudding was he went back to World Superbike and cleared up in 2006, but then the call came.

“I had the call from Ducati to join Loris for the last round of 2006 as Sete Gibernau (regular Ducati MotoGP rider) was injured, and although I was initially reticent, the opportunity to close out the 990cc project (it was the last race of the 990cc formula) was too good to miss. I’d been a development rider for the team before the debut in 2003, done two years with them, so it was great to have the chance to see it out.”

With days notice for the ride the Aussie had to tidy himself up. “I’d been in party mode for two weeks after winning the World Superbike title…” No dietitian and weighing of food here for this was rock and roll motorcycle racing.

But was this too much of an ask? Bayliss had not ridden a MotoGP bike for over a year nor even ridden the Bridgestones that were on the Ducati but the front tyre from Japan was always full of grip to inspire confidence, so there was more than tech that went towards setting up one of the greatest rides MotoGP has ever seen.

“I always went well at Valencia too and I think some people had forgotten that so once I’d done some laps with the Bridgestones I felt as if the stars were beginning to align.”

Troy was 8th on Friday morning, 10th Friday afternoon, 6th Saturday morning and then did a stellar Saturday afternoon to be second on the grid only to Valentino Rossi who was on his charge to try and win the title. However, come Sunday morning there was a bit of a flap going on in the #12 side of the garage.

“Valencia for the Warm Up at 10am at that time of year is cold and left me way down in 16th place so there was a bit of a tizz going on but Davide Tardozzi calmed me down and said ‘Chill out, this is a race tyre you’ve just used but with a warmer track later today, it’ll be fine.’

With those words ringing in his ears Bayliss waited until 2pm for the green light for the big race but put yourself in his leathers for a moment; you’re alongside Rossi going for the title, the Hondas were out in droves to underpin Nicky Hayden’s championship chance after being knocked off his bike and title leading position at the previous race while as the freshly crowned World Superbike Champion, the MotoGP knives were out to prove the GP guys were the better riders.

Bayliss knew he had that point to prove, dropping the clutch and leading down to turn one to further make another part of the fairytale real. Commentators didn’t know where to look.. Bayliss leading, Rossi having a bad start, Nicky Hayden up to third from fifth on the grid. Race with this much drama don’t happen very often.

129,446 people at Valencia then watched the red #12 Ducati at the front for every corner of the 30 laps but it wasn’t plain sailing up front.

“Loris was close to me and still pushing so the pressure was there for me, but with five laps to go I banked it and didn’t take any risks.”

“Crossing the line was just amazing. I’d shown that I could win a MotoGP race. I’d shown it could be done.”

For many involved in MotoGP it was the best day ever at a race track, something that Troy jumps in and says, “Me too!” Sure, the yellow army has seen Rossi fail at the last hurdle to take the title but no one begrudged new champion Hayden who battled through a season on a development motorcycle that was different from the other Hondas. His unbridled emotion and tears on the cooling down lap will forever remain in everyone’s emotions who saw it. Hayden cruelly lost his life in 2017 after a cycling crash; a peaceful soul who bore no anger to anyone snatched from the hearts of so many but that day, that circuit, that emotion will always mean his memory will live on.

Valencia 2006 will always be one of the biggest days in the sport of motorcycle racing, made all the better for Bayliss’ wildcard that went from pre race underdog to him completing the fairytale of winning a World Superbike Championship just four weeks earlier, winning his last race on the Ducati 999 and then back to backing it by winning on the Ducati GP6 at Valencia.

Everybody won at Ducati that day too: The Grand Prix team, the WSBK side of Ducati Corse, even Loris finishing second was happy for his friend that had built the project from the early days. History right there. 

The 990 era of MotoGP will go down in history as the wildest era of the sport, the Group B of motorcycle racing if you like. Engine displacements were limited to 800cc and driver aids such as traction control and anti wheelie were introduced following this race. As the last race of the era it had a lot to live up to, and boy did it deliver.

Due to Sete Gibernau’s injury in the previous race at Portugal, Troy Bayliss was brought in as a last minute wildcard rider. Although he had just won the World Superbike title, he had not ridden a MotoGP bike for a year!

The two Ducatis were strong in qualifying, lining up 2nd and 3rd on the starting grid behind Valentino Rossi. The Ducati’s were famed for their acceleration off of the line so to have two bikes lining up alongside Rossi on the front row put them in a very positive position for the race.

Troy Bayliss took the lead of the race from the start and led every single lap of the race. Capirossi fell back to 5th position in the first few laps but by lap 8 he had joined Bayliss at the front of the pack. The two Ducati’s controlled the race from the front for the remainder of the race, closely followed by Nicky Hayden who secured the World Championship at this race.

The Ducatis gradually pulled away from Hayden’s championship winning Honda and by the final stages they were in a race of their own! They crossed the line in first and second and an impressive 9.2 seconds ahead of 3rd place Nicky Hayden. This will go down in history as one of Ducati’s most dominant victories ever. Capirossi also took the fastest lap to top off a perfect weekend for Ducati.

Capirossi and Bayliss celebrate together, the first time Ducati had ever scored a 1-2 MotoGP finish. Also the only time that a rider has won a World Superbike race and a Moto GP race within the same season.

The team celebrate a flawless race weekend and the end to Ducati’s most successful so far. Ducati only took two 1-2 finishes in their first 13 years in MotoGP racing, meaning that this was a weekend to remember for multiple reasons.