DesmoSport Ducati’s Troy Bayliss has opened proceedings with the fastest time in practice at Phillip Island’s first round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

The three-time world superbike champion set a blistering 1m32.478s time, finishing comfortably ahead of Aiden Wagner (Yamaha) on the timesheets, who concluded practice with a 1m32.873s lap.

The top three was rounded by Wayne Maxwell’s (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia) 1m33.09s lap-time ahead teammate Josh Waters in fourth with a 1m33.131s lap, as 2018 Supersport champion Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) was fifth after recording a best-lap of 1m33.360s.

Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team) was just outside the top five in sixth, followed by Mike Jones (Kawasaki), Bryan Staring (BCperformance Kawasaki), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW) and reigning champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing).

In the Supersport category, Nic Liminton topped the times with a flying 1m37.411s after completing 15 laps, edging out Callum Spriggs (Yamaha) and Aiden Hayes (Yamaha), who wound up with 1m37.844s and 1m37.921s times respectively.

Fourth and fifth were credited to Reid Battye (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia) and Ty Lynch (Yamaha), while title favourite Tom Toparis (Landbridge Transport Yamaha) opted out of the session as he takes on double duties this weekend, landing a wildcard opportunity in WorldSSP.

Max Stauffer (Yamaha) was quickest in the Supersport 300 class, edging out Senna Agius (Kawasaki) and Locky Taylor (Yamaha), as the the top five was completed by Harry Khouri (Yamaha) and Seth Crump (KTM). Bikes will return to the circuit tomorrow for the opening day of racing, along with the opening session of the FIM Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK).

Detailed results