Image: Andrew Gosling (tbgsport).

Triple Superbike world champion Troy Bayliss believes the introduction of a World Supersport 300 (WorldSSP300) class will be a boost of sorts for the production-based series, becoming a suitable entry-level international option.

While Australia has long held great value in lower-capacity production competition, the addition of a world championship will add further incentive for emerging racers to eventually transition into Superbikes.

“I think it’s a really good step and it’s good at getting the young guys involved in Superbike,” Bayliss told WorldSBK.com. “It could be a good path for them to stay and keep going and then become a SBK rider as they make their way through.

“Some guys go to Moto3 and they hope they’re going to become MotoGP riders, I’m hoping we’re going to get guys coming into the World Supersport 300 class that they like the atmosphere in WorldSBK, and they might want to stay and become a WorldSBK rider. A lot of the guys now are starting to get on a bit, it’s always good to have young guys come through that’s for sure.”

Bayliss’ son Oli is gearing up for his first full season of competition in the Australian Superbike Championship’s (ASBK) Supersport 300 (formerly Production) class as part of the high-profile Cube Racing team, which is owned by Bayliss’ DesmoSport Ducati co-owner Ben Henry. The pair rode together during the recent Phillip Island test.

“He started out doing some karting and in the last six years he’s been riding bikes,” Bayliss added. “In Australia they’ve finally lowered the age for road racing so now they can start at 13. Last year we started getting him on the road bike, he hasn’t done a lot, but now he can race in the 300 production class here in Australia.

“Of course [WorldSBK] are going to have the 300 Supersport championship which will be really good and you never know, he could end up there. We’ll do a year here in Australia and see how it goes. It’s going to be very funny to see him on the race track in front of all the World Superbike guys [at Phillip Island] and in front of all my old bosses as well.

“I ride with him a lot and he really looks like me on the bike, he rides the same which everybody says when they see us. He’s 13 but he does a lot of training so he looks like a man-child, we’ll have some fun for a few years.”