Image: Rusty Colvin.

Australian rising star Matt Walters has been ruled out of this weekend’s FIM Superbike World Championship round at Phillip Island following a heavy crash in Free Practice 3 this morning.

The 21-year-old was called in late to replace Luca Scassa on Friday morning aboard the Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO entry, making his debut during FP2 yesterday afternoon.

Major damage caused in this morning’s crash at Turn 11 – the high-speed penultimate turn at the 4.445km circuit – has forced the team to abort qualifying this afternoon and ultimately take Walters out of the field for Sunday.

“When it’s not 100 percent we just thought we’ll leave it at that,” Walters said. “It was in Turn 11, we tried a little bit less traction control and it kicked sideways. I got off the throttle and it just threw me – it was a nasty one.”

Walters has reverted his attention to the Phillip Island Championship domestic support races, scheduled to start tomorrow’s second Superbike race from the back row of the grid.

The absence of Walters leaves BMW Motorrad Italian rider Glenn Allerton as the lone Aussie in the WSBK field this weekend. Allerton suffered a crash of his own during final free practice, the team racing to prepare the bike for Superpole.