DesmoSport Ducati press release:

DesmoSport Ducati rookie Callum Spriggs set the 12th-fastest time in Friday practice at Wakefield Park’s second round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) today.

Spriggs started the day strongly with fourth in free practice one – staged in wet, but drying conditions – and was then 10th in sessions two and three. His 59.595s lap-time from FP3 put him 12th overall on day one.

“It was a good start to the day with a little bit of wet riding in FP1, then halfway through the session it started drying out,” Spriggs commented on Friday afternoon. “We were fourth in that session, so that was a positive way to open the weekend.

“The next two sessions were dry and everybody picked up the pace. I was 10th in the second session, which was good, and then we went a bit quicker in the final session as well. I’m feeling good, so if it’s dry tomorrow we will be in a good place to move forward again.”

Triple world champion Troy Bayliss, co-owner of DesmoSport Ducati, was satisfied with the team’s start to the round: “Cal’s certainly made some good progress today and I think he has quite a bit more in him as well. We’re working with him closely because he has spent so much time on a 600 during his career.

“I saw today that through the flowing section he’s really, really fast, so we’re working with him now to help him get into the tighter corners, stand it up and accelerate out better as well. That’s something that will take a little bit of time, but we’re confident he will get a hold of that.”

A pair of 30-minute qualifying sessions will take place on Saturday the Goulburn venue, determining the grid positions for Sunday’s pair of 20-lap races to be televised live on SBS from 2:00pm local time. Visit www.asbk.com.au for further information.