{"id":711950,"date":"2026-06-03T05:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711950\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:53:21","slug":"australian-superbike-championship-winner-josh-waters-selected-for-ducati-race-of-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711950\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Superbike Championship winner Josh Waters selected for Ducati Race of Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/McMartin_Gall1_1-Credit-Rob-Mott-920x1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"Aussie to compete against Marquez in Ducati champions race\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCraig McMartin Racing rider Josh Waters. Image: Rob Mott<\/p>\n<p>The event brings Ducati\u2019s best riders together from around the globe for an exhibition race weekend at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.<\/p>\n<p>The event on July 4-5 will see Waters go head-to-head with Ducati\u2019s best riders from MotoGP and WorldSBK.<\/p>\n<p>Seven-time MotoGP premier class champion Marc Marquez headlines the line-up, which also includes his factory Ducati teammate and two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia.<\/p>\n<p>Gresini riders Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer have been confirmed, as well as VR46 duo Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli.<\/p>\n<p>Incumbent WorldSBK championship leader Nicolo Bulega will ride with two-time WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista.<\/p>\n<p>Six-time MotoAmerica Superbike winner Cameron Beaubier will race, as will former MotoGP rider Hafizh Syahrin.<\/p>\n<p>Buy tickets to the 2026 betr Darwin Triple Crown. <a href=\"https:\/\/ticketekau.pxf.io\/5kYxK3\" style=\"color:#de482e;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing part of Ducati\u2019s 100th anniversary celebrations at Misano is something truly special,\u201d said Waters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo line up alongside some of the world\u2019s best Ducati riders and represent Australia on such a significant occasion is an incredible experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am looking forward to embracing the passion that makes Ducati unique and being part of what will undoubtedly be an unforgettable Race of Champions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Riders will have practice and qualifying on Saturday before Sunday\u2019s warm-up and race.<\/p>\n<p>Every rider will be on identical Ducati Panigale V4 S motorcycles.<\/p>\n<p>Ducati Australia head of marketing Alana Baratto hailed the opportunity for Waters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible honour for Josh Waters to be invited to the Lenovo Race of Champions,\u201d said Baratto,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a five-time Australian Superbike Champion, Josh embodies the passion, performance and racing excellence that define Ducati around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo see him involved in our centenary celebrations at World Ducati Week makes this occasion even more meaningful for both Ducati Australia and Australian Ducatisti.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waters is currently racing in the Australian Superbike Championship for Craig McMartin Racing .<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/motogp-news-2026-gresini-racing-alex-marquez-injury-replacement-iker-lecuona-hungary-balaton-park\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gresini names new injury replacement for Marquez<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/298625\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/a\/298625\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig McMartin Racing rider Josh Waters. Image: Rob Mott The event brings Ducati\u2019s best riders together from around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-711950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}