Familiar faces were back on the podium at the opening round of the 2023 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul. The series is finally back for another jam packed year with a massive calendar, check out all the action from the weekend at Phillip Island below… Report: MA Photos: Optikal.
Saturday
The Saturday at the mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul opening round was set to be frantic from the get-go. Alpinestars Superbike qualifying first up, followed by Supersport races of both flavors, then a Superbike race – all before the lunch break.
ALPINESTARS SUPERBIKE
Qualifying
There was some speculation that the dominance Josh Waters enjoyed in the heat would be negated by the earlier-than-normal 8:50am Alpinestars Superbike qualifying time. What wasn’t discussed was the idea that he would not head out when pit lane opened. Yamaha Racing’s Cru Halliday and Mike Jones also elected to sit and watch for a bit as the 30 minute session got underway.
At 20 minutes to go, the full field were out with Penrite Honda’s Herfoss in P1. It’s been a signature of his form in 2023, when the bike is right, he’s fast into his first flyer and holds there. Max Stauffer showed his significant off-season forward steps with P2 and MotoGO’s new signing Bryan Staring made a welcome return to the paddock in P3.
Of course, once the big guns of Waters, Halliday and Jones hit the circuit proper the order began to alter radically. First, Halliday posted P2 on his first flyer, Then Jones went P1 on his first full lap. Then Halliday returned serve and went to P1.
Josh Waters had a gentle first full lap and then dropped the hammer, reeling off two mid 1:31s in a row and casually knocking the qualifying record off with a 1:31.100 – that time would have placed him second in World Superbike’s (admittedly much hotter) session on the Friday.
With 10 to go, most pitted for a breath and to think about just what Waters had done and was continuing to do. As the clock wind down, most headed out again. Ted Collins crashed without injury at Turn 9 and Halliday leapt over teammate Jones with an incredible 1:31.337. Bryan Staring showed he’s got plenty to offer in 2023 and was fourth in what was an outstanding result.
The checkered flag came out to end the session – the fastest qualifying session in ASBK history. While the session confirmed Josh Waters’ outstanding form, just witnessing the top three achieving personal bests and world-class results was superb and a moment to savor and celebrate.
ASBK Superbike Qualifying Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Josh Waters 1:31.100 (new qualifying record)
2 Cru Halliday 1:31.337
3 Mike Jones 1:31.649
Race One
The weather ahead of the race played nicely and despite rain interrupting the session prior (WSBK Practice 3), the race started under overcast skies and a dry track.
Pole sitter Josh Waters took the lead into turn one, however, the crowd’s attention was on Arthur Sissis from the third row of the grid who launched like he was in a different sport… let’s say top fuel drags. He was second by turn two and third after Herfoss snuck past. Herfoss had stated beforehand – and was now showing us- that letting Josh Waters go off alone would be the ball game.
On lap two, into turn three, Arthur Sissis bike was struck with a brief electrical gremlin. Mike Jones had to check up while Arthur ran wide. Cru Halliday arrived at full attack and narrowly avoided hitting the back of both Jones and Sissis bikes only to run off onto the gravel at about 170km/h. Try as he might, he could not pull up before the fence, and chose instead to jump off his R1 rather late which proceeded to hit the fence and land on him. Mercifully, Halliday got up and walked away.
While this was happening, Waters had reeled off a 1:31.075 and gapped the field. Jones was through Herfoss but still 4 seconds in arrears. Stauffer was fourth from Allerton in fifth, while Staring had a poor start and was back in sixth and then had a moment at turn four and ran wide.
At eight laps to go, Waters was comfortably in front, and the only person lapping in the 31s, putting nearly a second a lap in to the field. In sprinkling rain, Waters put his hand up into turn nine. The “warning; low adhesion” white flag came out. Down the main straight Waters had his hand up, Herfoss was back into second and was now the fastest man on circuit. …and then the red flag came out to end the race due to the increasing rain. Oh dear sweet Phillip Island, you do know how to mess with us.
The riders entered the regular pit lane (at this round we use turn four for exiting the circuit) and grouped together at the end of the lane. With plenty of time until the next World Supersport session, we continued to ponder the skies. The ground was damp, but it wasn’t raining in earnest. Yet.
The siren blew signaling three minutes until pit lane opened, Race Direction posted “One warm up lap, five lap race” and we waited to see what tyre choices would be made. On the face of it, a wet tyre would be a mistake, but a slick would be downright scary. Pit lane opened and some stayed put, Arthur Sissis literally sat on the fence. Mark Chiodo stood and stared down pit lane and then seemingly reluctantly headed out. We all waited.
Staring exited on wets. So too Stauffer, Epis and Pearson. Keeping up with who was on what was nigh impossible. As they arrived at the grid, Sissis exited after a stall and then the bike failed to fire. He would start from pit lane. At the restart it was Herfoss with the early lead, Allerton was brave and went around both Waters and Herfoss in one turn for the lead. Herfoss got back inside him while Max Stauffer went down and took Jack Davis out. Both were unhurt.
Waters picked off Allerton with four to go, but Allerton went around him again. Herfoss joined the party and took the lead. Jones clawed his way onto the back of the train they went down the main chute three wide to give the fans something else to enjoy. Allerton was rudely unseated twice, but just stayed in the hunt as he’s Glenn-freakin-Allerton.
The track was drying so Waters jumped to the front and tried to get a gap. With three to go, he had .5 of a second on Allerton. The wrestle between Allerton, Herfoss and Jones let Waters do the very thing they were afraid of, The Great Escape. He was now two seconds off the front and barring incident, he was gone.
Perhaps realising this fact, the trailing trio called a ceasefire and tries to chase Waters. But Waters was still lapping in the 31s while they were all in the 33s. The only thing left to do was to fight for second place. The finish line saw a cautious and slowing Josh Waters safely in first with 1.6 seconds back to Penrite Honda’s Troy Herfoss, then Allerton on the BMW.
In fourth was Mike Jones and fifth was Mark Chiodo for his best finish in recent times. Ted Collins would be happy with sixth in his first ASBK outing with Livson Racing, while Matt Walters would also be pleased with the debut of the new Aprilia in seventh.
Scott Allars on and R1 scored some good points in eighth while perennial racer and SBK paddock favourite Michael “Pops” Kemp was ninth. Broc Pearson was down in tenth, leading home the riders who elected for the wet tyre. It didn’t pay off this time, but at The Island, you can never be sure.
ASBK Superbike Race One Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Josh Waters – Ducati V4R
2 Troy Herfoss – Honda CBR RR (+1.652)
3 Glenn Allerton – BMW M RR (+2.051)
Michelin Supersport
Race One
Under overcast skies the first Michelin Supersport race of the day got underway at 10:15 am. With Harrison Voight aboard his R6 in pole, the drag race to turn one saw Voight hold the lead from Olly Simpson with the always-good-at-The-Island Jack Passfield in third.
The baby faced assassin that is Cameron Dunker was up from Supersport 300 as champion and up into fourth in his first ASBK Supersport race. Tom Bramich had fluffed the start somewhat, allowing a few riders from the second row of the grid through and making life hard for himself. The 2022 category champion Lytras was pushing past a broken bone in his foot and a general dislike for The Island and was up to fifth.
Meanwhile Harry Voight was off… the front. After two laps he had an incredible near five second lead and was looking to be back in the pits in an ice bath with a recovery drink before the field were at half distance. On lap three he broke the lap record to keep it fun. He was now at a 6.3 second lead from Tom Bramich who had skillfully worked his way up from as low as fifth.
At half distance, it was Voight from Bramich and Simpson with Passfield also staying in touch. Dunker was a few seconds further adrift and had Skeer, Farnsworth, Lytras, Nicholson, Lynch and Condon for company. Rain appeared on the lens of the camera at turn one and the pit lane looked anxiously to the western sky to see what it would mean for the race.
With three to go, Voight basically had a 10 second lead from Bramich, while Passfield was now third. An indication of the weather/rain status was via Voight’s lap time – he had slowed into the 1:36s, despite having reeled off a lap record 1:34.979 on lap two.
The last lap was upon us And Harrison Voight was set to salute for his first win of 2023 and a back-to-back win after sweeping the final round of 2022 at The Bend. But the rain was indeed upon us, and race direction called a halt via a red flag. Voight stuck a leg out to indicate he was done for now and the race was wound back a lap, with Voight the winner by some 13 seconds to Bramich was who now becomes the nominal leader of the Michelin Supersport class once Voight is safely on his flight to Europe. Jack Passfield was third with Olly Simpson fifth.
Race Two
The Phillip Island weather did the thing and we started Race Two for the weekend as the final on track activity for Saturday in drizzling rain and fading light. It was mercifully still bright enough for top level racing and the riders started their warm-up lap a little after 5:30pm with the track declared wet and all riders on wets. Harrison Voight was on pole and his earlier dominant performance was front of mind- but could he repeat in the rain?
Away! Bramich once again was caught napping and Voight gapped them immediately. Olly Simpson slipped into second place and then slipped off art turn two taking two riders into the gravel.
Riders were running wide and huge gaps opened after the completion of the first lap. Any hope of a closer race in the wet was lost in the mist.
Ty Lynch was up from the fourth row of the grid into second, but four seconds adrift. Sean Condon went down on the exit of turn four. Mitch Simpson was finding the damp very much to his liking and was third and two seconds a lap faster than those behind.
At the front, Harrison Voight was still the fastest on track and reeled off the fastest lap of the race – some three seconds faster than Ty Lynch in P2. Tom Bramich crashed at turn eight with seven laps to go and the nominal championship leader was out. But more was to come when leader Harrison Voight also went down on the same lap.
Ty Lynch was now the leader with Lytras 16 seconds behind. Luke Sanders was hot on Lytras tail with a small gap back to Mitch Simpson.
The race had been so frantic that event commentator Mark Bracks noted “the timing monitors can’t keep up…” No one could. With four to go, the race settled a little, with Luke Sanders past Lytras for second. The 2022 champion Lytras could easily be forgiven for letting Sanders go. With Bramich out, the points were now valuable, even if they weren’t the full 25.
Noel Mahon went down on the exit of turn four, dropping out of contention for the podium. Lynch maintained his lead at about 15 very comfortable seconds and Sanders eked out a 2 second gap to Lytras. Jake Farnsworth was fourth with Mitch Simpson in fifth. The 2021 Supersport 300 champion Ben Baker was up to sixth.
Two to go and Scott Nicholson lost a host of spots after an issue while Ty Lynch just held his nerve, reeling off 1:51s lap after lap to stay at 14 seconds in front. And so it was to the finish line, with fourth-row-starting Ty Lynch back in the game in a big way taking the win by 12 seconds to Luke Sanders with John Lytras in third. In this race of attrition, Lynch was the deserved winner.
ASBK Supersport Race Two Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Ty Lynch – Yamaha R6
2 Luke Sanders – Yamaha R6 (+12.916)
3 John Lytras – Yamaha R6 (+15.821)
Supersport 300
In case the Supersport 300 class of ’23 were not nervous enough, a technical glitch with the starting lights resulted in a complete restart – and a reduction of laps to seven. It was an interesting way to start the weekend for the Supersport 300 crew.
After the restart it was pole-sitter Cameron Swain out front briefly before the shenanigans began. A smaller group of nine broke away on lap two and they traded the lead in a manner that defies a written description. Swain was a good example. Variously leading – but also down in eighth – Swain knew he needed to keep challenging for the front as even a small gap could see the leading group splinter.
The leading nine were: Swain, Henry Snell, Brandon Demmery, Brodie Gawith, Jai Russo, Luke Johnston, Casey Middleton, Cooper Rowntree and Marcus Hamod. And let us state very clearly; that group is presented in no particular order.
With three laps to go, the leading group of nine had six seconds over the smaller chase group. Russo had taken the win last evening and was working his way to the front and testing the field for his all-important run to the line.
But at the line, it was the experience and cunning of Brandom Demmery that shone through, taking the win by .148 to Snell with Russo in third. Pole sitter Swain found himself out muscled in ninth.
ASBK Supersport 300 Race Two Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Brandon Demmery – Yamaha YZF-R3
2 Henry Snell – Yamaha YZF-R3 (+0.148)
3 Jai Russo – Yamaha YZF-R3 (+0.193)
Sunday
It was Phillip Island at her saucy best. Or was it? The cloud descended mid-morning and the *rain?* question was asked here and there, but no one can ever possibly pretend to know what is going to happen. Phillip Island does what it wants, and you best remember that. …and for the record, it did rain. But it was also sunny.
ALPINESTARS SUPERBIKE
Race Two
Josh Waters lead the field into turn one and beyond as the Ducati Panigale V4R flexed in front of the 17 riders behind it. Glenn Allerton was up into second from the third row of the grid, denying Arthur Sissis his typical rocket launch.
Immediately, Josh Waters set about gapping the field, and gap he did, getting out to a 1.7 second lead and then… The Race was red flagged. Not for rain. Not for a crash, but for the Cape Barren Geese who had decided to take a much closer look at proceedings at turn 12.
The restart (Original grid placings resumed) was rough on riders like Allerton who had previously moved from seventh into the top three, but after the restart Allerton was up there again with Herfoss and Jones for company. Sissis also found the big launch button and was well in contention.
Chiodo high-sided at turn two and his Honda cartwheeled for far too long. Chiodo took a moment to gather himself. With a single bike to ride, his weekend was sadly over. Stauffer then went down on the exit of turn four – as he had in race one Meanwhile, Herfoss ran wide at turn one after out-braking himself and was now down in sixth, Allerton was as aggressive as he can be and overtook Jones who returned serve almost immediately.
We still had eight laps to go, and Halliday was in front of Allerton. At this point, the running order was Waters, 1.5-second gap, Jones, Halliday, Allerton and Sissis in fifth. Then came Herfoss with Staring, Ted Collins, Broc Pearson and Lachlan Epis in tenth.
Halliday got past teammate Jones at half distance and they diced hammer and tong to the delight of the crowd and the horror of the Yamaha Racing Team. Herfoss was on the tail of Sissis fighting for fifth. Epis slid off on the exit of turn four, in a similar manner to Stauffer a little earlier. Herfoss was behind Allerton for just two corners before making his move and moving up into fourth.
Halliday was the now fastest man and was off Waters, despite the apparent futility. It was now a race of time trialists, with second plus gaps between first, second and third.
With two laps remaining, Waters had a 3.1 second lead and was content to just manage it. His fastest lap of the race had been on lap two, confirming his early desire to get away from the field. He was now content to lap in the mid-32s with Halliday .4 slower.
And it remained that way to the finish. Josh Waters took his second win of the weekend from a crash-recovered-and-valiant Cru Halliday with 2022 Champion Mike Jones in third, Troy Herfoss fourth and Arthur Sissis a terrific fifth. With just one race remaining, a Waters clean sweep, complete with the bonus point for pole had gone from a dream to an inevitable reality.
Race
The final race of three for the weekend under the Phillip Island sun and it was Waters as usual… but also Sissis from the third row as usual. Allerton was his aggressive best, but Sissis stood firm until turn four. Halliday tried to follow Allerton but was briefly unseated and lost a spot. Up front, Waters was evidently keen to get home to Mildura as he was already a second up thanks to a 1:37.713 standing lap.
Mike Jones was in second place on lap two with Allerton and Herfoss in tow. Halliday was waiting to pounce with Sissis just behind him. Staring was a second back in seventh with Max Stauffer, Ted Collins and Broc Pearson rounding out the top ten.
Nine to go, and Waters was comfortably on his way to the three-peat with the bonus pole point, while 2022 champion Mike Jones gave chase. Waters was lapping half a second than the next fastest rider in Halliday, so the maths was against everyone but the #21 plated McMartin Racing Panigale V4R.
Herfoss in third was at the head of a group of five and had the faster Halliday right on his wheel. While Halliday’s pass felt inevitable, the 2023 edition of Troy Herfoss has been homologated with “you shall not pass… quite so easily”. But Halliday was not to be denied and the question now was “Will Cru catch YRT teammate Jones?” The last time they diced in race two it was of a manner most unbecoming- but very entertaining. The gap was less than a second between the blue R1Ms, and with half the race to come… it was on.
Staring in fifth tried a neat move on Herfoss into turn four but ran wide and effectively took a long lap penalty. Halliday was all over Jones and looking for a polite time to pass. He found it via some clever work that started at turn three and he got it done by turn four and dared to look ahead to Waters.
But that was no longer a realistic possibility as Waters was some 4.4 seconds ahead. Halliday would not give up, putting down the fastest lap of the race and dropping the margin to just under four seconds. Allerton, Herfoss and a watchful Bryan Staring continued a battle that has existed between them in one form or another for over 10 years. Clean, hard racing and it was a sight to behold.
Waters looked at his pit board and when he saw the gap drop to under four seconds, just neatly banged out a few fast laps to get the gap back to five seconds. Halliday was now lapping in the low 1:34s to Waters mid 1:33s and with a lap to go, here were the three races in a row that Waters had dreamed of. Home in second was a valiant Cru Halliday who had DNF-2-2 to his name and Mike Jones in third to ensure that even here at a bogey track, he walks away with second for the round.
A late error from Herfoss at turn four gave Allerton a big enough gap to hold on to fourth, Herfoss brought it home in fifth with Starting a little way back in sixth. Overall for the weekend, it was Josh Waters with a perfect 76 points thanks to pole-1-1-1 with reigning champion Mike Jones a very handy second with a hungry and slightly disappointed Troy Herfoss in third.
With just four weeks until round two, the much-anticipated return of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul to Sydney Motorsport Park under lights, the season is already taking shape.
That shape is the ominous outline of Josh Waters aboard a McMartin Racing Ducati.
ASBK Superbike Round Results Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Josh Waters – Ducati V4 R
2 Mike Jones – Yamaha R1M
3 Troy Herfoss – Honda CBR RR
Michelin Supersport
Race Three
On a pretty damp track with the sun shining, the final Supersport race got underway and immediately, Harrison Voight was away, but not off the front as he is want to do.
Olly Simpson was all over the shop, variously up close but also quite far from the apexes (“I was just chasing dry track!” he said later). Jake Farnsworth had been showing serious damp weather speed and was up to second and trying to chase only to have a scary low-side on the way to The Hayshed, skidding down the middle of the track and then mercifully exiting the track quickly and safely.
These goings-on gave Voight all he needed to get a gap and he was soon out to 6 seconds. Behind Voight it was frantic. A single-bike-width dry line was appearing, but the riders were nevertheless three-wide down the straight and tipping into turn one in manner that caused breath to be held.
With eight laps to go it was Voight from a determined Olly Simpson, a rejuvenated Ty Lynch, a very loose Mitch Simpson and the ever-present Jack Passfield. The gap to Voight had dropped to four seconds. The fastest lap was with Olly Simpson; a 1:49, then Voight noted the drying track he and was down to a 1:47. But for the fact that all riders were on an intermediate tyre, the lap times could have dropped even further.
With the track drying, Tom Bramich- who was down the order early- was able to get up to seventh and set off after the front group. Jack Passfield tried passing three riders into turn four, but had to settle for just two. He was now up to fourth. Declan Carberry had worked his way up to third through cunning and skill and was looking to cement his podium spot.
Voight now had 4.76 seconds back to Olly Simpson who had six seconds to the chase group consisting of Lynch, Passfield, Hayden Nelson, Carberry, Lytras, Mitch Simpson, Bramich and Glenn Nelson. The chase group were fighting at every opportunity for third. No one held down third spot for more than half a lap and while Lytras seemed the most likely to hang on, Passfield and Lynch refused to let go.
Voight continued on his solo way and by the end of the final lap, he took a 3.5-second victory over an equally lonely Olly Simpson. Some four seconds later, John Lytras crossed the line for a very handy third place at a circuit where he wanted to limit his losses.
The overall points situation was quite the surprise. With various riders racking DNFs it was the still-returning-from-surgery Ty Lynch who was thereabouts all weekend and took the win from two-wins-and-a-DNF Harry Voight and The Phillip Island specialist Jack Passfield.
Voight indicated that he will not be at Sydney Motorsport Park for Round Two but would be keen to return to the championship potentially for the final round.
ASBK Supersport Round Results Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Ty Lynch – Yamaha R6
2 Harrison Voight – Yamaha R6
3 Jack Passfield – Yamaha R6
Supersport 300
Race Three
The Supersport 300 crew rolled out in the bright sun early on Sunday to open proceedings for the day and Cameron Swain lead them away at the jump. Swain had said before the race he was keen to see if he could break away and get a gap, his preferred situation.
Opening a .6 gap mid-lap made it seem a possibility and the immediate chasers; Henry Snell, Jai Russo and Cooper Rowntree were perhaps a little too busy fighting amongst themselves for the right to chase Swain. But The Island- especially when it is windy- is a tough place to get away in this class against the class of this field.
But Swain just kept his head down and reeled off fastest laps and while he had one of the lowest top speeds down the straight, he was working elsewhere to make up the deficit.
Chasing the lead group solo was Brandon Demmery who had inexplicably missed the front group and found himself six seconds behind the leaders in no man’s land. A two-point leader in the championship pre-race, the new on-the-road leader was Jai Russo. Tara Morrison went down with three laps to go at turn four and would be rightly disappointed with two DNFs on a weekend that promised so much.
Meanwhile, out front, Swain was gone. He was now at 3 seconds and there were just the crumbs left to scrap for. He was still lapping around half a second a lap faster than the chasers. While we have seen riders in this class ride away from the field, the nature of the 300s – where the drafting is so important – makes Swain’s effort even more admirable.
Into the final lap, Swain held a 7.5 second lead from the chasers in Russo, Luke Jhonston, Brodie Gawith, Casey Middleton and Cooper Rowntree. Pole sitter Cameron Swain took the win from Brodie Gawith and Luke Jhonston with Snell fourth and Marcus Hamod in fifth.
Overall, Jai Russo took the weekend by a single point over Brandon Demmery with Henry Snell third, Swain in fourth and Luke Johnston in fifth. A close season of Supersport 300 awaits us.
ASBK Supersport 300 Round Results Phillip Island (Full Results Here)
1 Jai Russo – Yamaha YZF-R3 (+0.193)
2 Brandon Demmery – Yamaha YZF-R3
3 Henry Snell – Yamaha YZF-R3 (+0.148)
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