Since the announcement was made yesterday that Australia’s very own Troy Bayliss would be filling in for the injured Davide Giugliano at the Aruba Ducati for this weekend’s World Superbike opener, the racing world has gone into meltdown…

The Bayliss hooha has removed a bit of the pressure from wildcard riders, Demolition Plus Race Center’s Jed Metcher and Team Pedercini Racing’s Matt Walters, which will allow them to go about their business without the added pressure from the home crowd and native media.

At today’s official press conference in the Phillip Island paddock, reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli, Alex Lowes, Jonathan Rea, young gun Jordi Torres and Bayliss’s one-off teammate Chaz Davies all gave their thoughts and views about racing against the former three times world superbike champion and one time MotoGP race winner:

Jordi Torres: “It’s nice you know. Because Troy is an older rider and we can see this weekend what his riding style is like and compare it to the new style of riding.

Alex Lowes: “For me, it’s pretty awesome. Troy is probably one of my all-time hero’s. He came over to BSB in 1998 when I was a young lad and started winning. His all action style is pretty cool. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I don’t think I’ll be looking forward to it, if he is sliding up the inside of me at turn four. But yeah, hopefully he will do a good job. Just to be able to share the track with him will be pretty cool.

“We all know what Troy can do. If it is anybody that can come back after not riding for a period of time and put in a surprise performance like what he did at Valencia in 2006, then he will be the guy to do it. I think it will be great for everyone. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself by getting beaten by him.”

Sylvain Guintoli: “I don’t think it would be embarrassing actually, because you never know what he is going to do. Like Alex said, he could surprise everybody and be very fast! So it could be very hard for everyone! Troy has a lot of ‘balls’ to come back and do this, that’s for sure.”

Jonathan Rea: “For me, I was very lucky Troy’s last ever race, the Ten Kate Honda Team bumped me up to Superbike for the last round of the championship, and myself and Troy shared the front row of the grid together, and we get to finish the story again here. I think what he is doing is incredible. I mean there are going to be so many more people through the gate because Troy is such a legend in his own right. When I saw the gossip on my twitter feed and then I saw the official feed, I was so happy for him and everyone. But then I remembered, I believe in ‘fairy-tails’, and thought “hang on, what happens if everything goes right and he kicks my arse and makes me look pretty bad.” But I am just ever so happy to be able to share the grid with him again.”

Chaz Davies: “I think just like the rest of the guys, we are all excited to share the track with Troy. You can’t rule it out; he is going to be competitive. He has kept himself sharp on the bike since he has retired from racing. From what I have gathered, it was a retirement that he never really wanted to make anyway. Looking at him, he still is as fired up as he used to be when he was back in the days. It’s going to be great. I think it is great for the fans.

“When I was younger, when I first started out in BSB in the Superteen Challenge, Troy was one of the only guys to come up every weekend and say, ‘How are you doing guys?’ and all that. So to get the opportunity to share the track and the garage with him is going to be an honour.”

The motorcycle racing world will get the first-hand look at Bayliss tomorrow morning at 12.45am (GMT) when the Superbike field head out for their first free practice session of the 2015 season.

As Bayliss will be flying the flag for Australia, if he does manage to sneak away with a cheeky win and beat one of the UK riders, it will almost be a ‘draw’ between Australia and England after the UK team stole the crown away from Australia in this year’s International Island Classic which was held a few weeks ago now.