DesmoSport Ducati press release:

DesmoSport Ducati’s Corey Turner will start out of fifth position in tomorrow’s Morgan Park round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship.

In his first official appearance on the 1299 Panigale S, teenage standout Turner has been immensely impressive in Queensland and posted a flying lap of 1m13.299s on lap three in qualifying two this afternoon, 0.491s outside of pole position.

With team regular Callum Spriggs currently sidelined through injury, Turner was called in following a number of strong performances as a privateer in his rookie ASBK season and is on track to continue that trend on Sunday.

“My best qualifying this year has been around 10th in Darwin, so it’s a positive step forward for me and hopefully I can get a good start tomorrow,” Turner commented. “From the test we were already feeling pretty good, so there hasn’t been too many major changes this weekend and we should be good to go in the races. My quickest time came on the race tyre and we’re consistent, so that should play a big part in the race tomorrow and we’re looking forward to it.”

Team co-owner and manager Ben Henry said the quick adaptation of 19-year-old Turner to the DesmoSport Ducati was an indication of his talent and they’re now looking forward to putting together a pair of positive races tomorrow. The fact that he set his qualifying lap on the hard race tyre bodes well for their chances.

“I’m really pleased with the result and our time was done on the hard tyre from the morning, so I’m happy with where we’re at for the race,” Henry said. “It worked good and we feel like we potentially have podium pace, because the feeling is that the race is going to be won in the last five laps and we reckon we can be there.”

Tomorrow will see the Superbike class contest two 16-lap races, the first scheduled for 11:30am and the second for 1:50pm. Visit www.asbk.com.au for further information on the series, including live-stream and broadcast details.

Like DesmoSport Ducati on Facebook and Cube Performance Centre also has an exclusive DesmoSport Ducati section on its website, available to view at www.cubeperformancecentre.com.au/desmosport-ducati.