Husqvarna’s Paul Caslick reckons he knows what it feels like to be 18 again and, after he took one of the most exciting results of his long and distinguished career with a third in the weekend’s Troy Bayliss Classic, it’s hard to argue.

The Husqvarna FC 450-mounted Cessnock rider was the first Australian home in the premier Troy Bayliss Cup final, behind Jared Mees and Henry Wiles, after holding out defending TBC champion Troy Bayliss in the dying laps of the event to secure the final podium spot.

“I feel proud; it’s something that you dream of at my age,” Caslick said. “I knew I had the ability to do it, but you need everything in order. The last time I was at that track I broke my wrist, so there were probably a few challenges for my confidence, but all the practice that I’ve been doing on the bike and the love and support from my fiance has made a massive difference.

“I already knew I had the fitness, but I had to go into more of the on-bike stuff to find what I used to be able to do. Something clicked and we just practised relentlessly – wore out a lot of tyres! I made sure they knew I went there for a reason this year.

“Even in the class photo when I sat down beside Troy, I said, ‘every year I’ve taken a back row seat, but not this year’. I got the lead and I went out well, but I had a little bit of self-doubt in the middle of the race when I should have just kept charging and that’s when those guys caught me.

“Then at the end I could hear Bayliss’ bike come up behind me and I knew he’d be having a go, but I knew if I just stayed on my line he wouldn’t be able to ride around me.”

Considered by many to be the biggest and most important dirt track event of the year, the Classic is hosted by three-time World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss at the Old Bar circuit near Taree in NSW.

It challenges a star-studded lineup of the biggest and most famous names in Aussie motorcycle racing to go head to head at dirt track, on a circuit Bayliss himself grew up on.

At 47, nine-time Australian champ Caslick is the oldest rider to podium in the Troy Bayliss Classic in its three-year history, and ‘Caso’ intends to continue pushing hard into the future, with his next outing the Baylisstic Scrambles Challenge, down at the World Superbikes at Phillip Island next month.