The contingent of Aussie wildcards got their first taste of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) today at The Bend Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend.

Broc Pearson (1800 Approved Cairns, YZF-R6) was the pick of the Aussie’s finishing Thursday’s Supersport 600 practice session in fourth position.

It was the Asia Supersport 600 Championship that registered the best potential. The highlight without a doubt was the performance of Pearson on his Yamaha machine with his fourth-place finish. Also impressing was rising star Tom Toparis (Cube Racing, ZX-6R) in ninth. Scott Nicholson (NextGen Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R600 has time to make on his Suzuki in 19th.

In the Asia Production 250, Zac Levy (Puma RV’s, YZF-R3) finished in 20th overall. Locky Taylor (Locky Taylor Racing) managed 17th position in the Underbone 150 class. All of the Aussie wildcard riders shared their thoughts after today’s practice sessions.

Broc Pearson

Broc Pearson

Broc Pearson, “Really happy with the result in the practice session today. To finish fourth out of practice is great, as we are getting extra track time ahead of my ASBK races as that’s my championship. I’m stoked with that result to be in fourth against some of the best riders in the world, but this is only the first day of four, so we need to keep our momentum till Sunday,” said Pearson.

Tom Toparis, “It’s definitely different, these guys are really good, and they have picked up the new circuit so quickly. I’m finding the new tyres really different compared to the Pirelli’s I use in the Kawasaki Supersport 600 class. We are learning every lap and gaining great experience as we look to push up the leader board tomorrow, but it will be interesting to see how we stack up after tomorrow,” finished Toparis.

Scott Nicholson, “It’s been a steep learning curve at this point, learning the new brakes, tyres and basically a whole new bike. I have to get used to the hard braking of the international riders and get on the outside and try and keep the pace with them, we are looking to achieve a top 10 in tomorrow for qualifying and push the guys at the front,” finished Nicholson.

Zac Levy, “It’s a little bit disappointing to finish so far back, but when you are working with a new team and whole new bike it is going to take a few sessions to get on the pace. I feel like we are missing some horsepower, but we are looking at sorting that out tonight and that will help us move up the order tomorrow. Missing the test as I was away in Bali is a bit of a disadvantage, but we have only done 20 laps here and we will get ourselves up there come race time,” said Levy

Locky Taylor, “The experience was different for sure, it was great to be on the track with the best riders from all over Asia. I have had some previous experience on the Underbone at the Asia Talent Cup try outs but that was three years ago. We made some steady improvement throughout the day dropping a few seconds, but we found the bike was lacking in top speed. We were 4kmh slower down the straight which cost us time, but I’ll be looking to use this time to do push my form in the Supersport 300 class” finished Taylor.

Tom Toparis

Tom Toparis

Keep an eye at ma.org.au for further updates on Australia’s wildcards for tomorrow’s qualifying sessions. Fans that wish to catch all the action at The Bend Motorsport Park for the ASBK and ARRC double header can purchase tickets here.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Gosling tbg Sport

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