ASBK Round Two SMSP | Brilliant Waters Victorious Again

Round two of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) produced a spectacular show for the night races, especially in the Superbike class, as Josh Waters made it back-to-back round wins to kickstart 2024.  Report: Ed Stratmann/ASBK

The support acts that took to the track for round two produced sensational racing as Stop & Seal’s Tom Toparis (Yamaha) triumphed in the Supersport class and Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha) came away with the win in the Race and Road Supersport 300 category.

Read our ASBK Round One 2024 Reports here…

mi-bike insurance Australian Superbike
The McMartin Racing man Josh Waters continued his strong form at the Western Sydney circuit to make it back-to-back across two seasons, while local Sydney rider Cru Halliday (Yamaha) brought home the chocolates with friends and family watching on. While Waters and Halliday were the ultimate stars of the show in the premier class, it was a dirty day for Troy Herfoss (Ducati), who was unable to take the grid in race one, following ongoing issues as a result of a crash in the warm-up session, and then crashed while leading on the second lap of race two.

Race One
With Herfoss failing to complete the warm-up lap due to an electrical gremlin, grid number three was left vacant for the start of race one, where McMartin Racing’s Harrison Voight (Ducati) made a great initial jump, but played cat and mouse with teammate Waters over the first couple of laps as the field sorted themselves out.

Waters retook the lead of the race on lap two and headed an angry pack of Superbikes that included Voight, Halliday, Yamaha Racing’s Mike Jones and Pearson. Lap three saw the red flag come out, as Matt Walters (Aprilia) made a spectacular crash at turn one, with all riders returning to pitlane as officials recovered the motorcycle.

At the restart, Waters again got a nice jump to lead the rescheduled 10-lap race from Voight, Halliday, Jones and Penrite Racing’s Max Stauffer (Yamaha). As the race reached the half-way mark, Waters remained in control of his opposition, but would go on a downward slide as his tyres started to wear and fell into the clutches of his closest rivals.

As Halliday passed Voight on lap seven, he then set off on a mission to chase after Waters, where he succeeded in his quest with a nice pass on lap nine. It was clear afterward that the tyre performance of Waters’ Ducati was shot as he came under attack from his teammate, but managed to not succumb to the pressure and held on for second, with Voight third.

Race One Top 5

1. Cru Halliday
2. Josh Waters (+0.526)
3. Harrison Voight (+0.271)
4. Mike Jones (+0.285)
5. Cameron Dunker (+6.567)

Race Two
As the rain arrived for race two, the racing initially got going under the lights, but the race was red-flagged moments later, as it became apparent that the track was too wet and greasy for the riders to safely navigate their way around.

With most changing to a wet tyre, just like the opening act, the second encounter was rescheduled to a 10-lap affair, as Waters again led off the start-line. Not a lap would go by before he was passed by the DesmoSport Ducati rider of Herfoss, who played pioneer of the slippery circuit ahead of the field.

His taste of front-running would be brief, however, as he came off at turn seven, which gave teammate Pearson the race lead. Pearson and Waters would dice at the front for several laps afterwards as the field behind gently cruised around the circuit, taking opportunities to make a pass where the risk of crashing was minimal. Not all riders were lucky to get through the race unscathed, as Glenn Allerton (BMW) crashed on lap nine in the same spot as Herfoss, which promoted Halliday forward.

True to the professional he is, Waters did what he needed to do by taking it easy to the finish line, greeting the chequered flag first and maintaining a solid lead in the championship ahead of Pearson, Stauffer and Halliday. “The conditions made it very sketchy, I was really lucky to have stayed on the motorcycle to cross the line first,” explained Waters. With a second-place finish in race two doubling with third overall for the round, Pearson also took great confidence from this event and looks forward to the season ahead.

Race Two Top 5

1. Josh Waters
2. Broc Pearson (+3.678)
3. Max Stauffer (+4.339)
4. Cru Halliday (+2.198)
5. Harrison Voight (+0.184)

Championship Points

1. Josh Waters – 109.5 points
2. Cru Halliday – 84 points
3. Harrison Voight – 82 points
4. Broc Pearson – 71.5 points
5. Mike Jones – 61.5 points

Michelin Supersport
Race One
Despite an initial red-flag brought out on the opening lap of race one due to a Luke Sanders (Yamaha) crash at turn four, it did little to deter Toparis’ mindset as he got a great jump over his competitors at the restart and it was immediately evident that he meant business, as he took off and was never headed by his rivals for the remainder of the rescheduled nine-lapper.

And that in itself was clear, with the lap record set on Michelin tyres giving a clear indication to the field that he was prepared to do what was necessary to put them away early and stay out in front.

With the race virtually over at the half-way mark, it was a battle against the rest as the field sorted themselves out with plenty of moves made. The most significant of the movers and shakers was Mark Chiodo (Honda), who from second on the grid fell to 10th. With Toparis crossing the finish line 3.384 seconds clear of Sean Condon (Yamaha), the top five was rounded out by Jonathan Nahlous (Yamaha), Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha) and Archie McDonald (Yamaha).

Race One Top 5

1. Tom Toparis
2. Sean Condon (+3.384)
3. Jonathan Nahlous (+0.058)
4. Jake Farnsworth (+6.341)
5. Archie Mcdonald (+2.322)

Race Two
The opening lap of race two saw the usual flurry of chaos with riders racing to the first couple of corners to get into the best position possible, but the field was quickly brought to a halt as a Hayden Nelson’s (Kawasaki) crash at turn three brought out the red flag. At the restart, points leader Nahlous threw a spanner in the works for the momentum of Toparis with a great jump to lead the opening lap, but it didn’t last long as the Stop & Seal man made a pass for the lead on the second lap. The next several laps saw plenty of great battles as Condon and Nahlous fought over second while Farnsworth and Chiodo had their own scrap for fourth.

With the intensity reaching a climax as the mission to obtain the best outcome possible became the clear focus, it all became too much for Condon and McDonald as they crashed simultaneously at turn four on the final lap, promoting those behind them up two positions.

At the finish line, it was Toparis, Nahlous, Farnsworth, Chiodo and Tom Bramich (Yamaha) rounding out the top five. “We achieved what we set out to do this weekend by taking pole position, two race wins and a new lap record in the Supersport class,” insisted a delighted Toparis. Despite not getting a win this weekend, Nahlous remains the championship leader and takes great confidence knowing he is in with a genuine shot of winning the Michelin Supersport Championship.

Race Two Top 5

1. Tom Toparis
2. Jonathan Nahlous (+2.952)
3. Jake Farnsworth (+4.686)
4. Mark Chiodo (+0.225)
5. Tom Bramich(+2.933)

Championship Points

1. Jonathan Nahlous -114
2. Jake Farnsworth – 85
3. Tom Bramich – 76
4. Olly Simpson – 70
5. Marcus Hamod – 66

Race and Road Supersport 300
Race One
It was Jesse Stroud (Kawasaki) who took the honours in race one under lights at Sydney in Race and Road Supersport 300.Topping the timesheets in practice, and then in qualifying, the Kawasaki racer fought a close battle with his fellow competitors over the eight-lapper, but ultimately came up short as Stroud stole the show under lights for race one. The top five was rounded out by Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha), Ryan Larkin (Yamaha) and Mitch Simpson (Yamaha).

Race Two
Aiming to go one better than his outing in race one on Friday night, Newman managed to do just that by leading from start to finish in race two to put himself in a great position heading into race three under lights sitting pretty. The field sorted themselves out behind him as second to sixth were caught in a constant jostle, with the top five at the chequered flag following Newman being Watts, Mitch Simpson (Yamaha), Jesse Stroud (Kawasaki) and Jordan Simpson (Yamaha).

Race Three
The start of race three saw the usual scrap for positions as Newman settled in and led the first three laps before the bunched up, slipstreaming action typically seen in this class shone through as riders jostled for position over the ensuing laps to the end. With the heightened intensity that comes with trying to finish in the best position possible at the chequered flag, it all came to a head on the final lap, when an attempted dive bomb by Stroud at turn nine went horribly wrong, as he crashed into Newman who was running third. With an opportunity for those behind to capitalise presenting itself, the mad rush to the finish resulted in a first ASBK victory for Knezovic followed by Will Nassif (Yamaha), Calvin Moylan (Kawasaki), Simpson and Watts.

Championship Points

1. Joshua Newman -106
2. Harrison Watts – 106
3. Valentino Knezovic – 97
4. Mitch Simpson – 92
5. Jordy Simpson – 83

Superbike Masters
The popular Superbike Masters class produced some great racing where the legendary motorcycles of old put on a great show, as part of the spectacle that was the ASBK Night Race. The race victories were taken out by Jack Passfield (Yamaha) in races one and two, while Keo Watson (Yamaha) got one back on the former in the final race of the weekend under lights.

Those to feature on the race podiums included Alex Phillis (Suzuki) and Josh Mathers (Yamaha), while Passfield was the overall round winner from Watson and Mathers.

Championship Points

1. Jack Passfield – 70
2. Keo Watson – 65
3. Josh Mathers – 48
4. Dean Oughtred – 47
5. Ryan Taylor – 45

Oceania Junior Cup
The two ‘Hunters’ – Corney and Charlett – captured most of the headlines in the ASBK Night Races, with the former claiming the overall honours with a 1-1-3 scorecard and the latter scoring his first class win in race three.

The OJC riders kicked of the racing at SMSP on Friday night, with Corney taking maximum advantage of pole position to win by nearly two seconds ahead of Ethan Johnson, with Nikolas Lazos close behind in third. Corney then produced another powerful performance in race two, using his smarts to cross the line first ahead of Charlett and Connor Lewis – the trio separated by less than half a second.

Rossi McAdam and Lazos completed the top five. “I felt like I did good in the race,” Corney beamed afterwards. “I had a two-second lead and made a mistake that enabled them to catch up to me which is where Charlett passed me on a few occasions. But luckily, I took him back and crossed the line first.”

In race three, Lewis led until lap three before he was passed by Corney and McAdam and then spectacularly crashed out. Corney then looked on track for a three-peat before he erroneously thought the race was over when he was heading into the final lap. He then relinquished the lead and dropped several positions, with Charllett the main benficiary as he claimed his first race win in OJC followed by McAdam, Corney, Lazos and Johnson. “It felt really good to win my first race in OJC,” said Charlett. “I had heaps of fun this weekend, as I was running around at the back of the grid last year, so to be at the front is a sign of how much I’ve improved in 12 months.”

All detailed ASBK Championship class results are here.

The 2024 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul will continue at Queensland Raceway for round three of the championship on April 26-28.