MIKE Tustin finished his maiden Ducati TriOptions Cup campaign as top rookie and 13th overall despite a disappointing final round in Assen, Netherlands.

The strong progress has prompted calls for a top-10 placing throughout the 2018 season when the action resumes in the new year.

Tustin and his team went into the trip in high spirits on the back of a successful round at Silverstone but mechanical problems blighted his bid from the start of practice.

Clutch problems resulted in a meagre three completed practice laps, leaving Tustin well behind his competitors in terms of valued track time and a race against time to ensure his equipment would be firing for qualifying.

Thankfully, the team managed to get the bike back together in time but on the fifth qualifying lap a similar issue reared its ugly head resulting in a 23rd placing on the grid.

The problems had the team scratching heads and working away through the night in order to prepare properly for the fast-yet-wet Assen surface.

Saturday's race was hit by heavy downpours but Tustin moved up the charts to finally get some laps in and finish the race in 21st.

After his difficult start to the weekend, Tustin had confidence in his rejigged machinery and sought more progress through the field in race two.

With dry conditions on Sunday, Tustin and the team targeted a points finish and after a good start, that feat looked achievable with progress up to 13th place in the standings.

However, a gearbox problem hindered Mike and forced an excursion into the gravel on the penultimate lap, prompting the team's first mechanical failure of the season and a frustrating weekend with no points to show for some significant effort.

It was a stark contrast to the previous round at Silverstone and back down to earth with a bump at Assen.

Having limited budget at the latter stages of the season, the team were unable to test the bike after the clutch problem at Silverstone race two.

In the end, 13th place from a field of 56 riders was a satisfactory end to the campaign with top spot from 27 rookies a cause for celebration.

Tustin said: "TeamMTR would like to thank every sponsor for their huge support and backing this season, the debut year at British Championship level.

"The team feel it has been a success and the positive attitude, hard work and commitment from everyone involved showed that hard work does pay off with the podium finish at Silverstone.

"The wheels are already in motion for next year and the team feels with a year of experience under their belt, a regular top-10 finished should be a minimum throughout the whole of 2018.

"We would love to keep ties with all existing sponsors and continue their relationship into the 2018 season."