DesmoSport Ducati press release:

Australian Superbike Championship rookie Callum Spriggs will start from position 12 on the grid at Wakefield Park’s second round of the 2017 series on Sunday.

The DesmoSport Ducati newcomer posted a 59.758s in the second 30-minute session today, eventually held in dry conditions after light rain caused a minor delay at the beginning of qualifying two.

Spriggs continues to progress in the premier class as he adapts to the DesmoSport Ducati 1299 Panigale S and will be searching for his first top 10 results come tomorrow’s pair of 20-lap races at the 2.2-kilometre Goulburn circuit.

“It was a slow start to the second qualifying session in the conditions,” Spriggs reflected. “I managed to improve my time in the second half, even though I struggled a little bit, but anyway we should be looking pretty good for the races tomorrow.

“I’m right there among the rookies in the class, so the plan is to race with them, keep learning and the starting position is definitely a lot better than Phillip Island. I’m happy with my progress so far, so it’s going to be good racing on Sunday.”

DesmoSport Ducati team co-owner Ben Henry said it was a decent result in what was a challenging day of mixed conditions. He too is expecting Spriggs to climb further up the order in tomorrow’s races.

“The second qualifying session was a strange one because of the weather, but it was the same for everyone,” Henry commented. “Spriggsy did pretty well, but we couldn’t quite match the pace of yesterday. Anyway, the bike’s straight and everything is running good, so we can’t complain.

“Every other time he has ridden the bike he’s gone forward, so he will be okay for tomorrow and he’s right there with the other newcomers in the class. Good starts could have him well into the top 10 on Sunday and it would be really good to see that.”

The Wakefield Park round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship will be aired live in SBS on Sunday from 2:00pm local time. Visit www.asbk.com.au for livestreaming, as well as further information on the round and series.