Next to Marc Marquez and Nicky Hayden, the biggest smile in the MotoGP paddock will undoubtedly be on the face of Mike Jones who will contest his home Grand Prix as he continues his replacement duties with Avintia Racing.
The former Australian Superbike Champion was called up to fill in for Hector Barbera, who himself was asked to replace the injured Andrea Iannone at the factory Ducati squad, in Motegi. Having never ridden a MotoGP bike or seen the Twin Ring circuit, Jones did an admirable job.
Jones improved his feeling with the Ducati GP14.2 with each session, and by the time qualifying had ended he’d improved on his initial Friday benchmark time by 5.8 seconds. He finished last of the classified runners in the 24-lap Japanese Grand Prix, but got to the chequered flag without incident.
With Barbera required by Ducati once again to ride their second Desmosedici GP16 at Phillip Island, Jones was the only logical choice for Avintia as a replacement rider for this weekend.
Phillip Island is a circuit Jones knows incredibly well from his time in ASBK. He finished third in both races at the circuit last season on his way to the title, and finished 14th in his WorldSBK debut as a wild card this year in the weekend’s second outing.
This prior track knowledge, accompanied by the fact that he knows the GP14.2 a little better, has Jones feeling slightly more optimistic of a ‘smoother’ weekend. The Aussie says he is also looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd and expects a ‘fantastic’ atmosphere.
“I’m very excited to be racing the second time in MotoGP at my home circuit on Phillip Island. It is fantastic to be racing with Avintia Racing and Ducati again, because I got to know the team last week when I raced with them at Motegi,” said Jones.
It’s great to have another opportunity with them on Phillip Island this weekend. I think things should be a little bit easier for me, as I know the circuit and I also know the bike, so hopefully things will go a bit smoother this weekend. I’m very excited because since it’s my home GP, there will be a lot of support and the atmosphere will be fantastic. I can’t wait to jump on the bike and get the weekend started.”
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