New race track levels playing field

The Philippines' own TJ Alberto of the Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza is ready to take on round two of the Asian Superbike 1000 happening at The Bend, Australia on April 25-28. Located 100 km south-east of Adelaide, The Bend Motorsport Park is a brand new circuit that opened early last year. Its layout is inspired by some of the world’s most iconic tracks with a mix of technical and fast, flowing corners which should add to the challenge for the ASB1000 riders including Alberto and Serrapica.

Since the teams and riders in ASB1000 all have no previous experience running on the 4.9 km circuit in Australia, Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza sees this as an equal opportunity for them to pick up strong results. The team has been hard at work since the last event in Malaysia where Alberto scored an impressive 6th and 7th on his first outing with the Ducati Panigale V4R. His teammate, on the other hand, picked up a point-scoring 8th place finish. This time, their efforts are focused on improving bike setup and race strategy for the upcoming race using valuable feedback provided by both riders from their experience at the Sepang International Circuit.

Ducati Philippines takes on Asian Superbike 1000 at The Bend Australia image 

“We've made improvements to our Ducati Panigale V4Rs for the next race to help us improve our performance in Australia. It’s a new track that the teams and riders have not tested on before, so we should all be on equal ground and would make for an interesting race. Being 6th overall in the championship is good, but moving up in the standings is our main goal.” commented TJ Alberto, currently the only Filipino rider at the Asian Superbike 1000.

“With our experience from Sepang and more preparation for the team, we believe we can now bring the fight to the frontrunners in Australia. It'll also be everyone's first time to race at The Bend so the entire track will be on an equal playing field. Looking forward to do better for Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza with TJ and Jonathan.” said Toti Alberto, Team Principal and owner.

Team Access Plus Racing-Ducati Philippines-Essenza is sponsored by Access Plus Group, Ducati Philippines, Essenza, AELLA, Dickies Philippines, Öhlins Philippines, Century Hotel Angeles City, LV8, and Pradera Verde.