A pair of tightly-contested Australian Supersport 300 Championship races had spectators on the edges of their seats today at Phillip Island, for round one of the 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship supported by Motul Pirelli (ASBK).

Eight laps in duration and effectively book-ending Saturday’s championship action at the 4.445km grand prix circuit, it was Reid Battye (IPONE Ninja 300) and Tom Edwards (Steelline Ninja 300) who shared the race wins. Both are Up To 300 competitors.

Race One
In this morning’s opening affair, Battye inched to a 0.087s victory over Edwards and it was even tighter behind them in the battle for the final podium position – four riders taking the chequered flag within 0.287s of each-other!

Battye quickly shared “It was a good race, but a tough race. The strategy was to get into the slip stream if I was trailing, but it was hard to manage because I was only just out front. I can’t believe how close that was! I’m looking forward to being faster in the next one!”

Climbing onto the podium in the end was top Over 300 finisher Billy Van Eerde (RC 390), overcoming Hunter Ford (Ford Brothers Racing YZF-R3), Scott Nicholson (G. Williams M/C Eng. Ninja 300) and Laura Brown (Shelk Ninja 300).

2017 Phillip Island ASBK Rnd 1 - Supersport 300 - Andrew Gosling, TPG Photography.

2017 Phillip Island ASBK Rnd 1 – Supersport 300 – Image: Andrew Gosling, TPG Photography.

Race Two
Race two saw Edwards reverse the result on Battye – this time only 0.061s apart – as YMF R3 Cup title-holder Zac Levy (Puma RV’s YZF-R3) rebounded from a crash in race one for third and just 0.008s back of Battye. He was the leading Over 300 finisher.

A quietly confident Edwards shared “I saw that Reid and Zac weren’t going to get the drive out of Lukey so I decided to nail them on the run out of there. There’s only really two or three times you need to hard brake around this track on these bikes, Honda and MG corners, the rest of the time it’s all in the wrist. I learned from my mistakes and tried to put it all together for the win.”

It was yet another barn-burner behind the front men, this time with five riders between positions four and eight finishing within 0.589s. Defending ‘Up To 300’ champion Drew Sells (Race Center Ninja 300) led that pack, trailed by Over 300s 2016 champion Brandon Demmery (Deborah Motorsports YZF-R3) and Jack Passfield (Stay Upright YZF-R3).

Jack Passfield who suffered a minor crash in race one today came back to take sixth overall (third in the Over 300 category) commented; “I’m a bit disappointed in this morning’s effort. I’d really like to thank my crew for getting the bike to where it is now and look forward to racing again”.

The third and final Australian Supersport 300 Championship race is scheduled for 9:05am on Sunday morning, which will determine the overall winner of this weekend’s opening round of the 2017 season.

Live timing and results can be found here.

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