Under a temperamental sky this weekend in Darwin the yet young factory Ducati team continued its racing campaign in the Australian Superbike Series with a strong overall result.

With the track temperatures reaching 46.8 Degrees for Race 2 and the high humidity never really abating it was hard going for everyone in the field. The Ducati Motologic riders and indeed the entire team were singing the praises of their new Fujitsu split system air conditioner fitted into the race team transporter courtesy of new sponsor Fujitsu General.

Ducati Motologic Racing has maintained its 4th position in the series after Round 2 despite not having the advantage of pre-event testing at the Hidden Valley circuit.

Arriving in Darwin only days before the event with the knowledge that the Ducati team's main competition had procured the circuit for private testing on the control tyre 2 weeks prior to the event, the determined Ducati Motologic Racing Team were not deterred and immediately set about their task. 

The two practice days on Thursday and Friday in lead up to the event should have given two-time Australian Superbike Champion Jamie Stauffer and team mate Jordan Burgess ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with both the Hidden Valley circuit and also the extreme heat of the Top End and gain valuable set-up information for the 1198R going into the weekend. However, much time was lost due to the torrential downpour on Thursday and the testing advantage of the other teams began to rear its head.

Team Owner and Manager, Paul Free was pleased with the progress made by the team all things considered.

Free: "I'm happy with Jamie and Jordan's performance with the little practice and setup time they had. Going into the weekend knowing that our main competition had already had 3 days testing at the circuit to setup their machines and gather information about the new Dunlop control tyre I wasn't too concerned as we had Thursday as an additional practice day to our normal race event, but when we were washed out on Thursday with a huge downpour and lost basically the whole day's practice I knew we were going to be up against it to bridge the gap to the other competitors. I am pleased with the development of the 1198R made this weekend and will look forward to the next event."

Race one, declared a wet race, proved to be a disaster for #33 Jordan Burgess when in extremely poor conditions he was taken down by another rider and spent the duration of the race with the medical team with a suspected torn ligament in his left knee. The horrendous weather conditions claimed one rider after another with 4 riders in total falling prey to the conditions before the red flag came out for a second time and the race was declared.

After a less than ideal race start and a subsequent mechanical problem Jamie Stauffer finished Race 1 in 10th place.

The second race of the day was much less dramatic and much more positive for the Ducati Motologic Team as the clouds parted, the sun once again beat down and the race was run, Stauffer this time finishing in a much more respectable 4th place. Although not getting off the start line well on his Ducati 1198R Stauffer finished strongly and will retain 4th place overall in the Championship.

Stauffer: "I am happy to remain in 4th position although I would have liked to have moved up further in the rankings at this round of course. The weather played a big part in everyone's weekend and we have located some issues to work on before Round 3 in Qld, but overall we are moving forward."

It was a very sore and uncertain Jordan Burgess who awaited clearance from the Racesafe crew as to whether or not he would actually be able to race in the second race of the day. The verdict was positive for Burgess and he was eager to get the 1198R back on the track. Race 2 saw an injured Burgess finish a solid 18th.

Burgess: "This weekend has been a little frustrating of course with a DNF for race 1 and an injury going into race 2, but on a positive note we take away from the weekend a lot more information about the 1198R. Hopefully the weather will be a lot more accommodating in Qld for Round 3 and we will be looking for strong results."

The Ducati Motologic Race Team will be racing next at Queensland Raceway on June 4-6 and with all the major teams going into the event on an equal footing with testing it looks set to be a successful round for the new factory Superbike team.