Troy was born in the USA and moved to Queensland at the age of four. He had his first success in dirt track, winning two Australian titles, which led to him jumping into road-racing at the age of 10. In his rookie Supersport season in 2015, aged just 16, he won a national championship race, then the following year became the youngest rider to win the Australian Supersport Championship. From there the natural step was to leap into the Superbike class, which he did last year with Next Gen Motorsports.
Welcome to the world of streetbikes, Troy. How did you enjoy riding the standard RR out there on track?
Riding the standard BMW S1000RR was an enjoyable experience. I had always wondered what it would be like to ride a completely standard roadbike, and to be honest I was really impressed with it as an overall package.
Was there any aspect that felt the same as your racebike?
We run the same electronics package on our racebike as the standard RR. Being able to go out there and have the same system and adjustability with the traction control gave me confidence to accelerate hard off the turns. The auto-blip and multi-directional quickshifter was seamless, just like on the racebike, which contributed to a good feeling straight out of the box on the standard S1000RR.
Could you feel the weight difference?
To be honest, not really. Under braking and turning into the corner I didn’t notice it, only slightly in the quick change of direction. I expected to feel the difference but I was surprised when it was barely noticeable.
What was the major difference that you felt?
For me, having rear-view mirrors in your peripheral vision as you lean over in a corner [laughs]. If anything, it would have to come down to the power off the turns; the racebike seemed to have a little more punch under low-gear acceleration.
Are you surprised how close the two bikes are?
Yes, definitely. Even though all that Next Gen Motorsports have added to the racebikes are an Arrow exhaust, Nitron racing fork kit and shock, I was expecting more of a difference.
What did you think of the BMW dynamic suspension system out of the box?
It gave a lot of feel. Yes, it was soft, which is what you would expect, but I was really impressed with just how much grip it provided off the turns.
