Image: Keith Muir.

Racers Edge Performance North Coast V Twins Craig McMartin Racing will make the national racing debut of the Ducati 1299 Panigale at Sydney Motorsport Park’s third round of the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship.

Beau Beaton will be on board the latest Ducati superbike in Sydney after sitting out the Mallala round, as the team puts the finishing touches on preparing the 1299 Panigale ahead of the event on 27-28 June.

“I am really excited to be able to debut the new 1299 at the next round,” explained Beaton. “Even though we will not get a chance to test prior to the round, I know the bike will be good. We will still have a bit of work to do though as the new bike has better torque than the old 1199.

“We will have to see how that affects the gearing and, in turn, the wheelbase. In fact with those things to work through, it should give us plenty to think about during the Friday practice sessions. The electronics are also slightly different so having people like Craig, Greg, Muddy and Doc on hand I am confident that we will be on the pace really quickly.”

Craig McMartin Racing chief Craig McMartin has been building the 1299 Panigale for Beaton’s Superbike class entry, while he will ride an all-new 1199 Panigale in the Pro-Twins ranks.

“I’ve been really busy getting these new bikes built to make their race debut,” commented multiple Pro-Twins champion McMartin. “Lucky the 1299 that Beau will race for us in Superbike uses much the same bracketry for everything as the old 1199 did, except for the dash.

“The 1299 does have slightly different geometry to the 1199, so we will need to experiment with that a little but I am confident that it will be a strong package from the off.

“The bike is delivered in extremely high specification, so with very limited modification required and allowed under the rules, most of the work has involved removing the road gear, fitting the Ducati Performance exhaust system and ECU chip, lock wiring and making sure the ECU isn’t looking for headlights and sensors that we don’t use in racing.

“I have also built myself a new 1199 to race in Pro-Twins and it is pretty much the same specification as an R model. Both bikes are brand new and will turn a wheel for the first time when practice gets underway on Friday.”

Beaton will also again compete on board the immaculate Vincent, which has also been upgraded for the Sydney round, in the Pro-Twins category.