Disappointment for DesmoSport Ducati and Jones at Morgan Park

DesmoSport Ducati was unable to register a race finish at the weekend’s penultimate round of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) after frustrating technical issues plagued the team’s progress at Morgan Park in Queensland.
Defending ASBK champion Mike Jones displayed his capabilities around the Warwick-based circuit in qualifying, working his way through to the six-rider Pirelli Superpole session in a limited number of laps and then slotting his 1299 Panigale S into third on the grid with a 1m14.211s, just 0.385s outside of the pole time.
“I was really looking forward to competing at my home round of the ASBK, it would have been really nice with all the support we had across the weekend,” Jones reflected. “I’d have really liked to show what we could do and in the limited amount of time I had on the circuit we certainly showed we were more than capable of running at the front.
“It was obviously very positive and quite fantastic to make it into the Pirelli Superpole and qualifying the DesmoSport Ducati on the front row of the grid. That was definitely the highlight and now we look forward to finishing the season off strongly as a team at Winton.”
Team co-owner and manager Ben Henry said: “It was certainly a really difficult weekend for the team with many of our supporters watching on, but unfortunately these things can happen in motorbike racing and we are working hard to solve the problems that we have encountered.
“We are really thankful for everybody’s patience and especially Mike, he was truly a professional all weekend at Morgan Park and his qualifying result shows just how talented and skilled he is on the bike – it was something to see and we can’t express that enough, just how quickly he got up to speed in his limited laps completed.”
Fellow DesmoSport Ducati owner Troy Bayliss, the Gold Coast-based triple World Superbike Champion and ASBK ambassador, once again delighted selected lucky fans with two-up experience rides aboard his Panigale throughout the Queensland round.
The sixth and final round of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship will be contested at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria on 30 September-1 October. Visit the series website at www.asbk.com.au for further information.