Chili tries his Duke for the first time

Frankie Chili took his first ride on the Ducati 998R he’ll race this year on Friday, and declared he loves it – even if it does feel weird compared to the Suzuki GSX-R750 he has ridden for the past three years.

Popular Chili was at Valencia in Spain for the first day of a two-day test to try and get used to riding the ex-Ben Bostrom machine in time for the start of the season.

Chili is now riding for the NCR Ducati team after being dropped by the factory-backed Alstare Corona squad at the end of last year.

Chili said: ” The bike is very good – it’s me who needs to get better. It is very strange to ride a twin again but I love the bike. I need more time. ”

Testing will continue in Italy over the next couple of weeks before coming back to Valencia at the end of February.