ASBK Rd1 | Celebrating 35-years of the Aus Superbike Championship
It’s fitting the 35th anniversary of the now mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance ASBK presented by Motul begins at Phillip Island this weekend, a circuit that, more than any, has produced a magnificent catalogue of extraordinary battles over the last five decades in the hotly contested four-stroke based class. Press: MA
That’s just the ‘official’ version of history, with Superbike racing for all intents and purposes already a de-facto national class well before it was formally inaugurated in 1989. The machines were predominantly ‘open books’: not always the most angelic in the handling and braking departments, but still able to transfer some serious horsepower through skinny rear tyres.
35-years ago Mal Campbell won the first ASBK title on the Honda RC30…
In 1989, Tasmanian hard-charger Malcolm Campbell won the first ASBK Championship on a Honda RC30. Thirty-five years on, today’s generation of Superbikes from Japan and Europe are light years ahead of their forerunners across every performance metric, but the philosophy remains the same: showcasing the latest generation of high-performance, four-stroke production-based machines on racetracks across the country.
In 2024, that all begins at round one, with riders to start the seven-round season across three 12-lap races around the legendary tyre-churning constant-radius curves of the grand prix circuit. The Superbike riders will also be joined by the Michelin Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300 classes at the ASBK opener.
A factory superbike rider aged 17, Anthony Gobert on the Winfield Honda RC45 in 1994.
Round one will be televised on SBS Sport and SBS On Demand on Sunday, February 25 from 1:00-3:00pm AEST.
All practice, qualifying and race results will be available here.
