Oli Bayliss steps up to Supersport

Oli Bayliss, son of three-time WorldSBK champion Troy and regular front-runner in the 2018 Supersport 300 production class, will make the step up to the Australian Supersport Championship for the 2019 season, a move made possible by a late-2018 amendment to the rules relating to minimum age limits.

While the minimum age limit of 16 still applies, the amendment allows a younger rider to race in the larger-capacity classes provided they've proved themselves in the smaller classes to sufficiently satisfy Motorcycling Australia they won’t be a danger to themselves or their competitors in the faster, more powerful categories.

Remaining with the Cube Racing squad, Bayliss will be campaigning a Yamaha YZF-R6 in 2019, where he looks forward to a weight parity among his competitors – a problem he said hampered him in the 2018 season on 300cc machinery.

"I won’t lie that I was getting frustrated on the 300 last year, racing at the front consistently only to have riders pass on straights, but that's racing," he said.

"I learnt a lot and now, thanks to the rule change, I can move to the bigger bike and learn some more."

Related reading:
Oli Bayliss takes centre stage
Oli Bayliss to join dad in Baylisstic Scramble

Cube Racing's team owner Ben Henry says he's confident Oli will adapt easily to the inline four-cylinder 600cc bike and suggests it won't be long before results reflect his ability.

"I'm excited to see how competitive he can become throughout the season as he learns and adapts to the bigger, more complex style of racing that comes with stepping up in class, and I'm confident that he'll do well," Henry said.