8 minute read
Phillip Island Raceway Circuit Map
ASBK SEASON RECAP CONT.
Round Two - Queensland Raceway, Queensland
Alpinestars Superbike
Mike Jones completed a perfect weekend to take two wins from two races at Round Two of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at Queensland Raceway.
Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati Panigale V4-R) got the early jump on Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing YZF-R1) to take the lead in race one, with Glenn Allerton (Maxima Oils Racing BMW M1000RR) also making a big first lap move up to fourth. Jones would briefly retake the lead on lap two, but left the door open enough for Staring to nudge through.
A mid-corner error from Staring saw the championship leader drop out of contention and hand second place to Wayne Maxwell (V4-R). Jones would cruise to a 5.6-second lead to take victory ahead of Maxwell and Josh Waters (Maxima Oils Racing BMW M1000RR).
Maxwell timed his launch perfectly to take an early lead in race two ahead of Jones and Staring. It would be short-lived however as Jones ran past the Ducati through the outside of turn two. Arthur Sissis (Unitech Racing YZF-R1) and Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing YZF-R1) would argue over fourth and fifth respectively. This duel would be settled before the chequered flag when Halliday stopped on the penultimate lap with mechanical issues.
Staring would shadow Jones more closely in the afternoon race, albeit two-seconds adrift. Eventually, Jones took his second win by 4.6 seconds ahead of Bryan Staring and Wayne Maxwell.
Jones now leads the championship on 86 points over Bryan Staring on 70 points with Josh Waters on 67 points. Jones, by his own admission, was surprised to be so competitive so early.
“I was hoping as the season went on to get to grips with the Yamaha and be able to challenge, so to lead the championship is a little bit above my expectations,” added Jones.
Second-placed Staring was circumspect after a crash in race one effectively lost him the championship lead to Jones, but philosophical nonetheless about his return to form.
Third-placed Maxwell was happy to score two podiums on what he deemed to be his ‘bogey’ circuit.
ASBK SEASON RECAP CONT.
Michelin Supersport
On the day, Tom Edwards would take the Michelin Supersport race win, but a technical breach would see his points – and championship lead – taken away.
John Lytras (Yamaha YZF-R6) ran out to an early two-tenths of a second lead in race one for Michelin Supersport, but couldn’t hold on – eventually being usurped by Edwards (Yamaha YZF-R6) to the honours ahead of Scott Nicholson (Yamaha YZF-R6) and Lytras. Nominal Championship leader (With actual leader Senna Agius now overseas) Tom Bramich crashed out of the race, giving him a challenge to work back into contention over the next six rounds.
Lytras would get the jump in race two, only to get pushed down to third in the first few corners by Olly Simpson and Edwards. Tom Drane would make an impressive start to vault to fifth position. Edwards would eventually take two from two, only to see the championship lead go to Simpson after a technical infringement.
Dunlop Supersport 300
The start of practice found James Jacobs dominating the session. Taiyo Aksu and Laura Brown also rode well but it was Aksu ahead by just three-hundredths. The fastest overall went to Cameron Dunker for free practice. In qualifying, Glenn Nelson pushed himself to take pole position for the weekend. James Jacobs started fifth on the grid and confidently worked his way through the pack to take first place for race one, followed by Dunker and Aksu.
An eventful start for race two had two riders, Aksu and Liam Waters, crash, forcing a race restart. Nelson and Dunker took the opportunity at the restart and gained control of the front early on. It was Nelson who clinched first place, Dunker for second and Jonathon Nahlous for third.
Yamaha Finance R3 Cup
TThe practice on Friday for round two of the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup was topped by Taiyo Aksu, who was ahead of Cameron Dunker and Nate O’Neil.
Dunker clinched pole with a time of 1:21.916 in the qualifying. Glenn Nelson and Marcus Hammond were close behind with Dunker only half a second ahead. In race one, Dunker dominated from start to finish, leaving everyone behind him. It was Nelson who finished second and Aksu in third. Henry Snell was unable to finish due to a crash at turn three, luckily Snell was left uninjured and came back for the other two races.
Race two began with a plethora of riders missing from the grid, and many had to start from pitlane. Dunker was challenged by Nelson and Henry Snell but in a huge effort from Sam Pezzetta, he took the third spot from Snell. The podium finished with first to Nelson, second to Dunker and a first time podium to Pezzeta in third.
Race three finished with Dunker in first, Snell in second and Nelson in third. An impressive race weekend by all Yamaha Finance R3 Cup riders.
bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup
The first practice session of round two had Ryan Larkin topping Marcus Hamod by one-tenth of a second while in practice two, Teerin Fleming brought himself from fourth to first. In Qualifying one, Levi Russo did slightly better than Hudson Thompson with Hunter Convey closely behind.
In race one, Ryan Larkin had an outstanding race coming from sixth on the grid to lead for the four remaining laps. However, other hungry riders targeted the front and pushed through, finishing ahead of Larkin. Convey placed first, Cameron Rende in second and Hamod in third.
Race two had the lead change frequently between Rende, Larkin, Fleming and Thompson but the win went to Rende, second to Drane and third to Thompson in a close race.
ASBK SEASON RECAP CONT.
Round Three - Wakefield Park Raceway, New South Wales
Alpinestars Superbike
Ordinarily, the morning warm-up would pass with barely a mention. But Wayne Maxwell had noted at the Saturday evening press conference that the Boost Mobile with K tech team would be returning to previous settings, so interest was piqued. The #1 plate was up by a lot on Friday and had conceded ground in every session from then on. In the warmup it was Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) from Maxwell with Cru Halliday third.
Notable news from the warmup were crashes from both Lachlan Epis and Broc Pearson. In Pearson’s case, the Racesafe medical team were dispatched to attend to him. Shortly after the session concluded, race direction sent out a bulletin indicating that Pearson was to be transferred to the hospital for further investigation and would play no further part in the day’s proceedings.
As they say, once the flag drops, the BS stops and it was Wayne Maxwell who took the lead into turn one, showing the Yamaha Racing Team pair of Jones and Halliday the way around the 2.2km Wakefield Park Raceway. It remained thus: Maxwell, Jones and Halliday. Local lad, the much-improved Troy Herfoss, worked his way up to fourth and when Halliday had a small glitch early in the race, Herfoss found himself in contention for a podium spot.
At the front, Jones was probing and poking the bear that is Wayne Maxwell. While Maxwell was in P1 with the fastest lap of the race, he was somehow not riding away. Smooth, yes, alone; no. A 0.3 of a second lead was the most he could manage, and as ASBK Commentator Phil Harlum would note: “that’s a Wakefield zero”.
Behind the leading quartet, Bryan Staring found himself in no man’s land while Sissis, Waters, Allerton, Falzon and Epis all fought for position. Marcus Chiodo was having a solid dice with this second group until a crash at turn one ended his race and turned his bike into a collection of spare parts. He walked away, seemingly uninjured, but an ankle injury would see him out for the day.
At the front, it remained tense. At half distance, Maxwell and Jones remained locked in an immovable arm wrestle. Every fast Maxwell lap saw Jones follow suit. The gap between the two sat at less than 0.2 of a second and the pundits wondered aloud if Jones was just content to stay where he was and wait for the final act.
While Halliday had fallen into Herfoss’ clutches for a time, he just put his head down and worked his way back into contention, but with six laps to go, he sat just a tantalising 0.8 off the back of the leading pair. Herfoss had been unable to stay with Halliday and a four-second gap opened.
Jones stopped biding his time with three to go and showed Maxwell a wheel at every opportunity. Finally putting a pass on the 2021 champion to take the lead into turn three - much to the surprise of onlookers and riders alike.
