DesmoSport Ducati press release:

It was a disappointing finish to the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship weekend in Darwin for DesmoSport Ducati’s Callum Spriggs, with continued challenges thrown at the rookie during today’s racing.

After dislocating his shoulder yesterday during qualifying, the 23-year-old logged a 14th-place finish in race one before being forced out of race two.

“I was definitely feeling sore today and I got a 14th in race one,” said Spriggs. “In race two I was off to a good start and staying with a group of guys for a while there, but then I had a little problem and I had to finish the race early.”

The Queenslander will use the substantial break between rounds to recover from his injury and return in fighting form at the upcoming Morgan Park event in Queensland on 25-27 August.

“I’ll just try to do heaps of fitness training because Morgan Park will be a physical track like this one,” he explained. “So I’ll keep working on my fitness, get the shoulder working well, get the bike working good again and we’ll see what happens.”

Triple Superbike World Championship winner and DesmoSport Ducati team co-owner Troy Bayliss is remaining positive following a tough weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway and looks forward to returning in Morgan Park to finish the season strong across the upcoming three rounds.

“Things finished on a low that’s for sure, but during the weekend things weren’t that bad,” Bayliss said. “Cal was pretty consistent, but he did have an off yesterday and dislocated his shoulder, which didn’t help things as well.

“Today didn’t go to plan and in the second race we had a fault with an exhaust. I’d love to finish the year off better than we’ve been doing, so we’ll see how we go and definitely look forward to the next one! Everybody is working hard and will continue to do so.”

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