2019 ASBK Round One – Phillip Island Supersport Race Three
Sunday’s racing at the opening round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) got underway bright and early today with Race 3 of the Supersport class, held during the FIM World Superbike Championship (WSBK) weekend here at Phillip Island.
It was Tom Toparis’ (Landbridge Transport Yamaha YZF-R6) chance to make it a clean sweep of the weekend and he delivered, putting on an absolutely clinical performance to finish the race more than six seconds ahead of the rest of the field. This performance meant that he took the honour of being the ASBK’s first round winner for 2019.
Second place for the round belonged to Nic Liminton (Yamaha Motor Aust. Yamaha YZF-R6), who had a trio of second places but had to work for the final one- bumping Callum Spriggs (Allsite Concrete Cutting Yamaha YZF-R6) down to third in the last-minute dash for the finish line after Spriggs had spent nearly the whole race in second spot.
Toparis once again started on pole ahead of Liminton and Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing Yamaha YZF-R6). Liminton, battling a shoulder injury picked up earlier in the weekend but had been putting in good performances nonetheless.
Ty Lynch (Russell Phillips Motorsports, Yamaha YZF-R6) couldn’t replicate the performances in the previous races and was down in ninth by lap four and ten seconds off the leaders.
At half distance and Toparis was four seconds up. Spriggs was at the head of the chasing train of riders, having a good day way up from his finishing position of eighth in Race 2 yesterday.
With three laps to go it was, Toparis, Spriggs, Liminton, Broc Pearson (Yamaha YZF-R6), and Bayliss, and it looked like it would stay that way until Liminton pulled off the move of the race to pip Spriggs on the line by a miniscule 0.04 seconds to secure second.
Tom Toparis – P1
“It’s been an awesome weekend; pole and three wins is exactly what we wanted to do for this round. Leading into Wakefield Park we’ve got a 16 point advantage now so pretty happy with that.”
South Australia’s Nic Liminton was thrilled to finish second in the round standings.
Nic Liminton – P2
“It’s been such a good start getting second overall on the new Yamaha R6” he said. “That last race was hard though, Callum was in a solid second position but on the last lap I just managed to get in his slipstream on the line and get second overall.”
Oli Bayliss – P3
“I was hoping at the start of the weekend that I could get a top three and that’s exactly what I did in the last race” said Bayliss. “We struggled a bit off the start and managed to lose Nic and Cal but other than that had a really good race.”
ASBK Supersport Race Three Results
Tom TOPARIS (Landbridge Transport Yamaha YZF-R6)
Nicholas LIMINTON (Yamaha Motor Aust. Yamaha YZF-R6)
2019 ASBK Round One – Phillip Island Supersport Race One
The opening Supersport race of ASBK 2019 got underway at 0900 this morning under clear skies at Phillip Island in front of a building crowd. Goulburn teenager Tom Toparis had looked the man to beat all weekend and the Yamaha rider got away to an early break while Oli Bayliss, Callum Spriggs and Nic Liminton gave chase.
Bayliss the new debutante in the class after moving up from Supersport 300 under the new rule that allows suitably proven 15-year-olds to now step up to the vastly different Supersport 600 Championship. Bayliss has Glen Richards in his corner for his first season in the category, the well-known South Australian back from crew chief duties in British Superbike and a lengthy career within the ranks of BSB in various roles. A busy testing schedule leading up to the season has seen young Oli well-prepared for his step up to the heavier and faster category of racing.
Out front Toparis was streeting the field though, pulling away by more than a second a lap and clearly in a race of his own.
Behind him Nic Liminton had eased his way past Bayliss but could not break away. The pair traded places over the opening few laps while Callum Spriggs and Ty Lynch kept in touch with them. A couple of second behind that quartet a battle for sixth place was unfolding between Broc Pearson, Jack Passfield and Aidan Hayes.
In the closing stages of the race Liminton finally managed to break clear of Bayliss, leaving his younger foe to fight for the final step on the rostrum with Callum Spriggs and at the flag it was the more experienced of the two that got that podium position by a nose, the difference only three-thousandth-of-a-second at the line.
Toparis had backed off in the closing laps but still took victory by more than five-seconds, his pace though was good enough for that to be ten-seconds should he wished to have pushed all the way to the chequered flag.
Nic Liminton second from Callum Spriggs with Oli Bayliss just missing out on a podium in his Supersport debut. Broc Pearson, Ty Lynch, Aidan Hayes and Jack Passfield rounded out an all Yamaha top eight ahead of Sam Lambert on an MV Agusta while Reid Battye rounded out the top ten on a Suzuki.
Aiden Wagner sets second fastest time in final session
By Mark Bracks
At the end of the two day official ASBK test it was Wayne Maxwell who could beat his chest as the fastest Superbike rider on the grid, after setting a 1:32.312 during the final day’s morning session.
Wagner put in a notable final session of the day, setting a late 1:32.451 to post the second fastest time of the test, while close behind was the man who finished third last year in Troy Bayliss, followed by Josh Waters and Daniel Falzon. All bar Falzon and Wagner set their fastest times in the opening session of day two, before the heat really set in.
Defending champion Troy Herfoss meanwhile was sixth fastest, with Bryan Staring, Cru Halliday, Glenn Allerton and Mike Jones rounding out the top ten on the combined timesheets.
See below for individual sessions and the full combined testing times for the weekend.
Superbikes – Sunday Session 1
By 10am Sunday morning, the air temp was over 24 degrees at Phillip Island, with the track temperature already nudging 36 degrees. That meant that with the forecast saying it would only get hotter, it was vital to get the times in early as most expected the track and tyre performance to drop off as the temperatures rose and the day wore on.
The first session saw Maxwell kick the day off well and continue his form, topping the sheets again with a blistering 1:32.312, which was only fractionally outside Troy Bayliss’s lap record of 1:32.224.
There were four other riders under the 1:33 mark for the first session of the day, with Bayliss, Waters, Wagner and Herfoss all claiming that honour. There was then a further one second gap back to Halliday in sixth.
Kawasaki Superbike – Practice 5 (Sun Session 1)
Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR 1:32.312
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati Panigale FE +0.319
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.364
Aiden WAGNER (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.532
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP +0.672
Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1.587
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha YZF-R1 +1.635
Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) BMW S RR +1.642
Arthur SISSIS (SA) Suzuki GSXR RL7 +1.706
Mike JONES (QLD) Kawasaki ZX10RR +1.842
Superbikes – Sunday Session 2
The second session was held just before the lunch break and saw Bayliss return to the top of the timesheets, while a multitude of consistent laps from Falzon propelled him into second for the session. Wagner and Maxwell completed the top four and these were the only other riders to also descend into the 1:32s for the session.
The consensus of those that were asked is that they were all still trying to find a setup to suit the new Pirelli tyres. All bar Bayliss, who basically just adapted to the new tyres well.
To me, that gives an indication of the man’s adaptability, a skill that would have been honed on those many laps in the Superbike World Championships where a new compound or new profile change from either Michelin or Pirelli was more common than many changing underwear!
Kawasaki Superbike – Practice 6 (Sun Session 2)
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati Panigale FE 1:32.676
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.108
Aiden WAGNER (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.281
Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.281
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.628
Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.636
Bryan STARING (WA) Kawasaki ZX10RR +0.793
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP +0.882
Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) BMW S RR +1.338
Mike JONES (QLD) Kawasaki ZX10RR +1.408
Superbikes – Sunday Session 3
By the time the third session of the day commenced the track temp was over 55 deg with lap times dropping by over a second across the board.
Daniel Falzon topped the time sheets for the first time, as he set the benchmark of 1:33.208 for the session. Closest was Bayliss, who went within 0.038 second of equaling the time on his last flying lap, with Waters third and Wagner fourth.
Kawasaki Superbike – Practice 7 (Sun Session 3)
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:33.208
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati Panigale FE +0.036
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.215
Aiden WAGNER (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.217
Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.256
Bryan STARING (WA) Kawasaki ZX10RR +0.317
Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.317
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP +.403
Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) BMW S RR +0.411
Mark CHIODO (VIC) Honda CBR RR SP +0.792
Superbikes – Sunday Session 4
With the final session of the two days approaching, a massive blackout hit the Island after a tree came down on a power line, shutting off power to the track and thus power to tyre warmers and other equipment in the pit sheds. As such over half the field of Superbikes decided to pack up for the day, including Daniel Falzon and Glenn Allerton.
After the final 25 minute session with the remaining riders – and a red flag delay after Mark Chiodo crashed at Lukey Heights for the second time of the weekend – it was Aiden Wagner who was the fastest from Maxwell, Halliday, Waters, Mike Jones and Bayliss.
Kawasaki Superbike – Practice 8 (Sun Session 4)
Aiden WAGNER (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:32.451
Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R ELR +0.492
Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 +0.760
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-R EL R +0.853
Mike JONES (QLD) Kawasaki ZX10RR +1.335
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati Panigale FE +1.487
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP +1.524
Max CROKER (NSW) Suzuki GSX-R +2.287
Alex PHILLIS (VIC) Suzuki GSXR +2.429
Arthur SISSIS (SA) Suzuki GSXR RL7 +2.504
Sunday Superbike Wrap
While there are no prizes for being fastest at a test there is certainly a form guide we can take away, especially with the first round of the Australian Superbike Championship at the same venue in a little under three weeks time.
There may be the usual bunch of street fighters that have battled out the championship over the last couple of years at the front of the field, but Aiden Wagner has certainly made a few sit up and take notice.
The 25-year-old Queenslander was never out of the top five during the two days and his consistency in lap times was impressive. Also when you peek into the pit box of the Landbridge Transport/Wagner Soil Testing Team and see what isn’t there, it makes his effort even more outstanding.
It is very much a true privateer team with good personnel around him and while the focus will be on the manufacturer teams, just keep an eye on the #28 Yamaha R1 of Wagner. He will be ready to pounce, and he is certainly ready to win.
The first round of the Australian Superbike Championship will be held alongside the opening round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island 22-24 February.
Kawasaki Superbike – Phillip Island Test – Merged classification
Troy Bayliss had been setting the pace for most of the opening day of the two-day 2019 ASBK Test session staged by Motorcycling Australia at Phillip Island, but late in the final session Wayne Maxwell knocked TB out of top spot by just under a tenth-of-a-second to finish day one on top of the charts.
Maxwell recently broke his collarbone in a bicycle crash and underwent shoulder surgery only nine days ago, but that didn’t stop the freshly signed Ecstar Suzuki putting in 40 laps on the GSX-R1000R and being the only rider to dip in to the 1m32s on the opening day of testing.
Bryan Staring is looking very competitive on the new ZX-10RR and finished the day third fastest ahead of Josh Waters.
Privateer Aiden Wagner upstaged the Factory Yamaha squad to finish as top Yamaha in fifth, fractionally ahead of defending champion Troy Herfoss.
The YRT duo of Daniel Falzon and Cru Halliday were seventh and eighth respectively ahead of Glenn Allerton while Mark Chiodo rounded out the top ten in front of Mike Jones and Ted Collins. Only a second covers a fairly close top ten.
Tom Toparis dominated the Supersport rankings on his new Yamaha while Tom Bramich debuted the Kawasaki Ninja 400 on top spot in the Supersport 300 results.
Lucas Quinn looks like the early one to beat in the bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup.