Bryan Staring Leads ASBK Superbikes after Round 1

Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCPerformance, ZX10R) has turned Round 1 of the Australian Superbike Championship on its head, taking out the overall victory after a stellar ride from 13th on the grid to win Race Three of the YMI Superbike class.

It’s a debut to remember on the BCPerformance Kawasaki, whilst Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M) found redemption after a dark day on Saturday to claim Race Two at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Bryan Staring – Image by TBG Sport

The reigning ASBK Champion Josh Waters (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSX-R1000R) started his title defence with an ever so consistent weekend, grabbing two second place finishes and third place to leave him second overall.

Race One winner Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda, CBR1000SP) rounded out the podium and sits level on points with Waters, leaving the pair one point a drift of Staring.

YMI Superbike Race 2

After yesterday’s dramatic race which saw Herfoss climb to the top step of the podium, Maxwell put a difficult Saturday behind him to take a well-deserved win for his Yamaha Racing Team outfit.

In the early stages of the race it looked like Waters was going to make a break for it, with Troy Bayliss (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati Panigale R FE) and Maxwell in tow. It didn’t take long however for Maxwell to blast past Bayliss and begin his charge against Waters in front.

On lap five, Maxwell made his move and took control of the race. Waters was always within relative striking distance thereafter, but could quite never quite get close enough to pull off an overtaking maneuver.

As Maxwell and Waters checked out at the front, an epic battle was on for the final spot on the podium between Bayliss, Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M), Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda, Honda CBR1000RRSP) and Staring. By lap seven, Staring was on fire, passing all three of his rivals in short succession.

Maxwell and Waters battle it out – Image by TBG Sport

Another battle pack was forming between Matt Walters (Swann Insurance Superbike, Kawasaki ZX10), Michael Blair (Yamaha, YZF-R1), Glenn Allerton (NextGen Motorsports, BMW S1000RR) and Aaron Morris (Maxima Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R1) for eighth.

On the final lap, Maxwell took victory by .935s, Waters unable to make a move on the Yamaha rider. The relief was evident for Maxwell after retiring from yesterday’s Race One.

The highlight of the race had to be the battle for third, which went to Staring who pulled off plenty of masterful overtakes, coming all the way from 13th of the grid.

Fourth went to yesterday’s winner Herfoss, followed by Bayliss (5th) and Falzon (6th).

Blair was outstanding on his privateer Yamaha, taking 7th after battling with Walters (8th) and Allerton (9th).

Notable riders that did not complete the race included Mark Chiodo (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSX-R1000R), Mike Jones (Allsite Concrete Cutting, ZX-10R) and Corey Tuner (Brisbane Motorcycles Suzuki GSX-R1000R).

Winner Maxwell stating; “Massive credit to Yamaha Racing Team, Josh has always been dominant here in the past so it’s a relief to get the win. My left ankle is still in pain after the crash yesterday, so it makes it difficult to change gear. Hopefully it will feel better for Race Three!”

The master overtaker Staring stating after the race; “Huge thanks to the Kawasaki BCperformance team, the ZX-10R just has so much horsepower. We were able to make up so much time and our ability to pass on the straight allowed us to make up so many places. Qualifying was a disaster so I’m very happy with our performance.”

Race Two Top Ten Provisional Results

Wayne MAXWELL (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M)
Josh WATERS (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia, Suzuki GSX-R1000R)
Bryan STARING (Kawasaki BCPerformance, Kawasaki ZX10R)
Troy HERFOSS (Penrite Honda, Honda CBR1000RRSP)
Troy BAYLISS (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati Panigale R FE)
Daniel FALZON (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1M)
Michael BLAIR (Yamaha, YZF-R1)
Matt WALTERS (Swann Insurance Superbike, Kawasaki ZX10)
Glenn ALLERTON (NextGen Motorsports, BMW S1000RR)
Aaron MORRIS (Maxima Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R1)

YMI Superbike Race 3

The YMI Superbike class had another action-packed affair won by Kawasaki BCperformance newcomer, Staring. After a tough last year, Staring has been sensational all weekend long at Phillip Island, coming from 13th on the grid to a race victory. Staring’s Kawasaki machine was an absolute demon down the main straight, which assisted him to overtake his way to victory.

The highlight of the race a massive battle between Waters, Maxwell, Bayliss, Falzon, Staring and Herfoss in a group. Lap eight was when the Kawasaki rider, Staring made his move and gained the lead, after this he didn’t look back on his way to the checkered flag. Maxwell and Waters both attempted to pass Staring, but could not get past the sheer grunt of the ZX-10R recording 297 km/ph down Gardner straight.

Staring tops the overall podium, ahead of Waters and Herfoss – Image by TBG Sport

BCperformance Team Manager, Kelvin Reilly watched on as Staring and Waters had a drag race down Gardner straight to the finish line and this time Staring reigned supreme by only 0.19s. Filling the race podium alongside him was Waters and Maxwell.

Coming fourth was Herfoss, fifth Falzon, and the top nine was completed by Bayliss, Blair, Allerton and Walters.

Overall Staring came away with the Round 1 victory, leading the ASBK championship with 60 points, followed by Waters and Herfoss, both with 59 points. It’s all set up for another cracking YMI Superbike Championship in 2018!

Staring sharing; “I just knew I was getting murdered in several areas of the track in the last race. If we improved the bike in key areas than I knew we would be very strong. I really enjoyed that race and we’ve won the overall for the weekend. I’m so happy that we were able to recover from that qualifying performance. There’s almost nothing in it between the top competitors and I’m sure that’s the way it’s going to be all year long. Bring on Wakefield!”
2018 ASBK will now head to Wakefield Park in New South Wales for Round 2 on 16-18 March, for a round not to be missed with the racing at a level we have not seen in ages in Australia.

Race Three Top Ten Provisional Results

Bryan STARING (Kawasaki BCPerformance, Kawasaki ZX-10R)
Josh WATERS (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia, Suzuki GSX-R1000R)
Wayne MAXWELL (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1)
Troy HERFOSS (Penrite Honda, CBR1000SP)
Daniel FALZON (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1)
Troy BAYLISS (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati Panigale R FE)
Michael BLAIR (Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R1)
Glenn ALLERTON (NextGen Motorsports, BMW S1000RR)
Matt WALTERS (Swann Insurance Superbike, Kawasaki ZX10)
Aaron MORRIS (Maxima Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R1)

Toparis Completes the Trifecta of Supersport Victories

Tom Toparis (Cube Racing, Kawasaki ZX-6R) has pulled of the hat trick at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, to start the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK) Supersport season in blistering form.

Toparis was simply untouchable, starting all three races from fifth position on the grid, but taking no time to hit the front and gap his competitors.

Toparis dominated the Supersport field – Image by TBG Sport

Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R6) was consistent in his return to the Supersport class aboard the new Yamaha YZF-R6; grabbing three-second place finishes at a track that has not brought him the best results in the past.

Broc Pearson (Yamaha, YZF-R6) was flying on Friday in qualifying and earned himself pole position for the weekend, and with a tidy weekend, he finished in third position with a lot to look forward to this season.

Race Two

Toparis has backed up yesterday’s win with a Race Two victory in the Australian Supersport Class at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for Round 1 of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK). Not even a re-start could throw Toparis off his game as he continued his sensational form.

Toparis and Halliday left the field behind early, gaining a nine second advantage on the paddock by lap four, leaving these two to duke out for the race win. Toparis made a break from Halliday on lap six, to push his lead to five seconds, before claiming the race win by just over six seconds.

Toparis shared; “The race was a bit sketchy for us, the red flag on lap two left us on the grid with no tyre warmers on, which made the first lap of the re-start a real challenge. Really happy to get the win and another 25 points, which is really important for the long run. It’s a good start for us and hope we can take out race three later as well.”

Toparis – Image by TBG Sport

Halliday was upbeat with his second place; “I was happy with that ride, I got second in the first race but I felt better in this race, the guys at Yamaha looked after me so well last night and made such an effort to get the set up right, we will keep improving as the year goes on with new parts becoming available as the season progresses. We will bounce back, I just need to find a bit more pace to catch Toparis, and make a few less mistakes on my end and we will be right up there.”

The battle for third went back and forth throughout the eight-lap race at Phillip Island with Damon Rees (Carl Cox Motorsports, Honda CBR1000RR), Broc Pearson (Yamaha, YZF-R6) and Nic Liminton (Yamaha, YZF-R6) trading places throughout, but Liminton got the better of the group and claimed the last spot on the podium. Pearson grabbed fourth whilst Rees rounded out the top five.

Next came Zachary Johnson (Bill Lambert MBW, Yamaha YZF-R6), Rhys Belling (LXI Racing, Yamaha YZF-R6), Brendan Clarke (Champions Ride Days Race Team, Kawasaki ZX-6R), Scott Nicholson (NextGen Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R) and Dallas Skeer (Penrite Oils, Suzuki GSX-R) rounded out the top ten.

A causality from Race Two was Max Crocker (Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000) who had a fall and did not return to the track, disappointing for Crocker who finished on the podium in Race One.

Australian Supersport Race Two Provisional Results:

Tom TOPARIS (Cube Racing, Kawasaki) ZX-6R
Cru HALLIDAY (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R6)
Nic LIMINTON(Yamaha, YZF-R6)
Broc PEARSON (Yamaha, YZF-R6)
Damon REES (Carl Cox Motorsports, Honda CBR1000RR)
Zachary JOHNSON (Bill Lambert MBW, Yamaha YZF-R6)
Rhys BELLINFG(LXI Racing, Yamaha YZF-R6)
Brendan CLARKE (Champions Ride Days Race Team, Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Scott NICHOLSON (NextGen Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R)
Dallas SKEER (Penrite Oils, Suzuki GSX-R)

Race Three

Race three continued the Toparis domination as he completed the perfect weekend with another victory. Coming second was once again Halliday on his Yamaha machine. Halliday also took the fastest lap of the race. Liminton kept up his strong form from Race Two with another third place.

Toparis claimed the victory by 4.667 seconds in front of Halliday, and Liminton 8.703 further seconds back from the first-place getter. Coming in fourth was Zachary Johnson (Bill Lambert MBW, Yamaha YZF-R6). Completing the top five was Broc Pearson (Yamaha YZF-R6).

Riders failing to finish the race included Brendan Clarke (Champions Ride Days Race Team, ZX-6R) and Steve Haslam (Melling Mechanical, Yamaha YZF-R6). Halliday took out the fastest lap of the race.

As a result of his three victories, Toparis now has 75 points to his name for 2018 so far, with Halliday (60) and Pearson (50) in second and third.

Toparis topped the overall Supersport Podium – Image by TBG

Australian Supersport Race Three Provisional Results

Tom TOPARIS (Cube Racing, Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Cru HALLIDAY (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R6)
Nic LIMINTON (Yamaha YZF-R6)
Zackary JOHNSON (Bill Lambert MBW, YZF-R6)
Broc PEARSON (Yamaha YZF-R6)
Damon REES (Carl Cox M-sports, Honda CBR600RR)
Giuseppe SCARCELLA (BCPerformance Junior Team, Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Rhys BELLING (LXI Racing, Yamaha YZF-R6)
Aidan HAYES (Cube Racing, Kawasaki ZX-6R)
Ryan TAYLOR (Arden Homes, Yamaha YZF-R6)

Oli Bayliss On Fire at Phillip Island with Overall Win

A thrilling six-rider scrap in the third and final Australian Supersport 300 Championship race at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit this afternoon has resulted in the overall victory for Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing, Kawasaki Ninja 300).

Tom Bramich (JLT, Yamaha YZF-R3) got off the line really well and led a group of six riders at the start of the Australian Supersport 300 Race Three, before making a mistake on lap two which saw him run wide and leave the door open for Hunter Ford (South Sydney Commercial, Yamaha YZF-R3), Zac Levy (Puma RV’S, Yamaha YZF-R3), Bayliss, Locky Taylor (LTR Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3), Jarred Brook (KTM Australia, RC 390) and Harry Khouri (Acid Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3) to slip past.

The Supersport 300 field proved ultra competitive – Image by TBG Sport

The lead pack only shared a gap of 0.992s from first to sixth, before Bramich made his move and rejoined the pack at lap six. The racing from lap six was a tight affair with Bayliss, Ford, Bramich and Taylor all having the lead at different stages.

The last lap saw Bayliss join the lead group, and make an unbelievable passing move finding space where there really wasn’t any room to snatch the win from Taylor, Bramich and Ford.

Bayliss was thrilled with his weekend; “That was one of the craziest finishes I’ve been involved in, I thought I was to far back to make the move, but I just went for it and it just worked out for me. I was so close to hitting the two bikes next to me but to make the pass I was so happy, it worked out perfectly. I’ve been working on my slip stream and studied it and it just came off.”

After leading at many different stages of the race Ford settled for fourth whilst Levy was just behind him in fifth and Khouri managed sixth with only .306s separated these riders from winner Bayliss.

Brook was solid throughout Race Three to finish in seventh position whilst Ben Bramich (GOWMoto, KTM RC 390) managed eighth and Corey Briffa (KTM RC 390) and Max Stauffer (Chris Watson Motorclycles, Yamaha YZF-R3) rounded out the top ten.

Bayliss took the overall Supersport 300 win, ahead of Bramich and Taylor – Image by TBG Sport

Bayliss leaves Phillip Island as the points leader in the Australian Supersport 300 class with 70 points, ten points clear of Bramich on 60 points and Taylor is third overall with 55 points.

Australian Supersport 300 Provisional Race Three Results

Oliver BAYLISS (Cube Racing, Kawasaki Ninja 300)
Locky TAYLOR (LTR Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Tom BRAMICH (JLT, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Hunter FORD (South Sydney Commercial, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Zac LEVY (Puma RV’S, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Harry KHOURI (Acid Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Jarred BROOK (KTM Australia, RC 390)
Ben BRAMICH (GOWMoto, KTM RC 390)
Corey BRIFFA (KTM RC 390)
Max STAUFFER (Chris Watson Motorclycles, Yamaha YZF-R3)

Levy takes Sunday Honours For YMF R3 Cup

The final Round 1 race for the YMF R3 Cup took place this morning , and it delivered action aplenty as Zac Levy (Puma RV’S, Yamaha YZF-R3) took a strategic victory.

Levy waiting until the final lap to attack for the win. The YMF R3 Cup is the development ground for many future road racing stars, all riding Yamaha YZF-R3 machinery.

Levy won Race 3 from Bramich and Taylor – Image by TBG Sport

Tom Bramich (Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R3) once again got off to a great start to lead the race, in front of Locky Taylor (LTR Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3) and Hunter Ford (Ford Brothers Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3). Not far behind them were the ever-present Harry Khouri (Acid Racing, Yamaha YZF-R3) and Levy. For the entire duration of the race there was nothing between the top five.

On the last lap Levy managed to pull off a daring overtake for the win ahead of Bramich and Taylor, Khouri and Ford not far behind. Only .345s covered the top five at the checkered flag.

Zac Levy saying after the race, “It was a difficult one, the wind was very strong and there wasn’t much grip. We’re all in the same boat though and I thought if I could get in front I could try and control the race and take the win. I’m happy to have got the lead on the last lap and controlled it to the line. About lap four or five, I could have passed but I wanted to bide my time and wait till the last lap. I just want to be on the podium every race and be consistent this season.”

Second placed Tom Bramich saying, “Super happy to get the overall round win. We had a goal to score the most points and we knew the racing was going to be close due to the nature of Phillip Island. We couldn’t break away at any point during today’s race and the five of us were exchanging overtakes all the time.”

Overall YMF R3 Cup Podium – Image by TBG Sport

As it stands, the current points tally has Bramich taking the overall round with 65 points, followed by Ford in second with 61 and Levy in third with 57 points.