22-year-old Mike Jones from Queensland, Australia won the Australian Superbike World Championship in 2015, before then lining up on the grid to defend his title on a Ducati with new DesmoSport Ducati Team – backed by none other than Australian racing legend Troy Bayliss. Fifth in 2016, Jones began the season with a WorldSBK wildcard in Phillip Island – as well as racing in the Australian Superbike support races over the weekend – and impressed to score points in Race 1. He lines up in MotoGP™ for the first time at Avintia Racing, to replace Hector Barbera in Motegi as the Spaniard fills in for Andrea Iannone.