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Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship Round 3 Review: Mike Jones & Wayne Maxwell’s on-track rivalry shares Race 1 & 2 win in the Premier Class at Wakefield Park

by Sports Benches

How good was that to kickstart your Sunday in Round 3 of this year’s Australian Superbike Championship at Wakefield Park in Goulburn, NSW. We love this 1st-2nd placed rivalry between Polesitter Mike Jones in the No.46 Yamaha and reigning champion Wayne Maxwell in the No.1 Ducati. Jones may have lost the lead to Maxwell from the beginning, but he had to bide his time until he got his moment with two laps to go on Lap 18 & held Maxwell in the end for the Race 1 win.

Cru Halliday rounds out the podium in 3rd for the No.65 Yamaha, while the No.17 Honda’s Troy Herfoss improved a spot ahead of Bryan Staring in the No.67 Ducati from 5th in 4th. Arthur Sissis came home in 6th (No.61 Yamaha); two BMWs in 7th and 8th from the No.14 Glenn Allerton & No.21 Josh Waters. And Daniel Falzon & Anthony West once again did a great job from the back of the grid to occupying the last two Top 10 spots, with credit from the Mark Chiodo DNF & a few other drivers out of form.

We then return later in Race 2 with the revisit of Jones and Maxwell duel once again for the top spot battle. Jones may have enjoyed a comfortable first 10-13 laps where he started and kept 1st, but Maxwell was just behind his radar when he at last caught Jones on the inside line towards the final Turn 11 corner before he pulled him away far apart for the remaining six laps with the win.

Cru Halliday also completed his Round 3 weekend at Wakefield with a double podium in 3rd; He too was almost passed by Troy Herfoss on Lap 15 in this Race 2 spell, but Herfoss overcooked it on the inside line at Turn 8 & Halliday remained unchallenged ever since. Bryan Staring rounds off the Top 5 in the No.67 Ducati ahead of Arthur Sissis, who finished in 6th. And Anthony West once again inside the Top 10 places in 9th sandwiched between a few BMWs; 10th placed Lachlan Epis as well as both 7th & 8th placed Josh Waters & Glenn Allerton.

It’s good to see Jones shaking hands with Maxwell after the race, who still leads the Riders’ Standings by 23 points at 132 after Round 3 of 7. The next ASBK round will be held at Hidden Valley Raceway in NT on June 17-19 as part of the Supercars weekend support bill.

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Motorsport

2022 Bathurst 6 Hour: The front row BMW overall lead battle tops the charts where Tom Sargent & Cameron Hill overcame a post-qualifying infringement from the very back in 63rd to conquer Mount Panorama

by Sports Benches

This year’s Bathurst 6 Hour at Mount Panorama Circuit was extraordinary to watch, even though the start time was pushed back by half an hour to 11.45 AM AEST due to the fog, where 63 cars fought for every track position across multiple categories.

The No.40 BMW M4 trio of Karl Begg/David Russell/Aaron Norris launched this race from pole position instead of Tom Sargent/Cam Hill in the No.147 BMW M2 following a post-qualifying infringement during inspection (ride height). However, it doesn’t mean their chances of winning are near impossible for the No.147 Tegra Australia team when they made their way from very back to the Top 3-4 as it goes on.

Then we saw a couple of yellows via a series of spins, mechanical failures & wrecks came up that gave the No.147 BMW team some confidence ahead of these restarts; but at the same time, it was a blow for the No.40 Btuned Euro BMW M4 when the pole sitters forced to stop the car on the start/finish straight. Although we saw a couple of competitors escape some twists and turns that almost bit them out of the race, which was lucky to survive & continued racing at the Mountain.

But the big storyline of this race has been the BMW front row battle; it’s just Brad Carr/Tim Slade in the No.8 Car Mods Australia-backed M3 model; against Sargent/Hill in the No.147 Tegra Australia M2 Competition machinery. Both competitors shared the overall race lead thus far before we witnessed the winning move of this Bathurst 6 Hour race with 20 minutes to go on the clock. Slade & Hill went side-by-side before Hill nudged past Slade on the outside line at Brock’s Skyline (Turn 11 of 23) & eventually held off top spot for the win, which led to an overwhelming reaction back in the No.147 team’s pit garage.

How great was it when Tom Sargent/Cam Hill conquered the Mountain from the very back of the grid!

It’s also good to see Garry Rogers Motorsport’s TCR Australia driver Dylan O’Keeffe take home the A1 class win in 4th overall with Mike Sheargold in the No.45 Mercedes AMG for RAM/GWR. And the same goes with TV personality & reigning Dancing with the Stars Australia Champion Grant Denyer, who won the A2 Class in 8th overall with co-driver Tony Quinn in the No.7 Local Legends Ford Mustang.

If you want to relive the 6-hour race both in full length and bitesize, watch it on ad-free Stan Sport right now at any time if you haven’t already got a subscription. Otherwise, Nine will be showcasing the weekend’s ARG SpeedSeries event from Mount Panorama in a two-hour highlights package via their Free TV Channels on Saturday AM from 11.30-13.30 (9Gem) & Sunday Afternoon from 13.30 to 15.30 (9Go).

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Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD3 on Sunday at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Nathan Herne cleans sweeps in the Trans-Am while Aaron Cameron bounces back with the Race 3 win in the TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

Race 3 of the Trans-Am Australia in Bathurst was a series of twists and turns, most notably between Turns 19 & 20 at Conrod Straight, where race officials abruptly ended the race under yellow. Thankfully, John Hollinger was okay in the No.23 Chevy after this huge wreck; he and the No.12 Dodge of Shaun Richardson were battling for a position side-by-side before Richardson collected him that spun sideways into the wall.

Speaking of the final race results of the weekend, Nathan Herne collected a clean sweep with all three wins in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. Meanwhile, His team-mate Owen Kelly completed his resurgence with back-to-back podiums in 3rd. And arch-rival Tim Brook would’ve loved to end Herne’s long-running stranglehold in the No.38 Ford for Wall Racing when he always had to settle for 2nd. However, he’s happy to take the result as there’s still time for Brook to catch up when it comes to the Drivers’ Standings, even though Herne just extended his lead with four rounds left this season.

Then we look at the TCRs where Aaron Cameron bounced back with the win just a while ago during Race 3 in the No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He would’ve liked to take home the clean sweep when the reverse grid system didn’t benefit him any favors that much after P9 in Race 2 yesterday afternoon. However, it certainly does today when his Race 2 result allowed him to start on the front row, overtook James Moffatt immediately, and held off comfortably through the checkered flag. It’s also good to see fellow GRM driver Dylan O’Keeffe rebound with another podium spot in 3rd on top of a good drive back in Race 1.

And we saw two brilliant drivers who know what it takes to gain a couple of positions all too well at the Mountain. Jordan Cox in the No.33 Peugeot GRM machinery may have endured an unlucky Race 1 yesterday with a DNF after being fasted during practice yesterday. But he wasted no time working his way from the back of the grid to 10-11th following these two remaining races. So does Bailey Sweeny in the No.130 Hyundai i30N for HNO Customer Racing after his breakthrough win on Race 2; he too showed some patience from the 3rd row (6th) to just behind Cameron in 2nd.

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Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries on Saturday at Bathurst: Nathan Herne wins back to back in the Trans-Am while Peugeots filled up the podium spots in Race 1 & Bailey Sweeny wins Race 2 over at the TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

Nathan Herne is unstoppable in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsports after he collected two from two wins today so far at Mount Panorama. He never looked out of pace on race day when he passed Tim Brook immediately and held off ever since, even though he wasn’t fastest in any of the practice & qualifying sessions as the cautions didn’t bother him. We love this Herne v Brook side-by-side rivalry. And shoutout to Herne’s team-mate Owen Kelly, who finished 4th in Race 1 just behind No.03 Ford’s Ben Grice, before he took advantage of Grice’s DNF (gearbox issue) the next race & scored the final podium spot in 3rd.

Then we turned our attention to TCR Australia, with Jordan Cox fastest in both practice sessions in the No.33 Peugeot 308 yesterday. Although, he was unlucky not to continue in 3rd when he had to stop his car on top of the penalty that precluded him from starting on the front row before Race 1. Cox’s team-mate Aaron Cameron stole the show with a comfortable Race 1 spell from start to finish, followed by another set of Peugeots rounding the other two podium spots from Ben Bargwanna (No. 71 Burson) & Dylan O’Keeffe (No. 8 GRM).

In the end, though, we witnessed a different winner on Race 2 in Bailey Sweeny over at the No. 130 Hyundai i30N for HNO Customer Racing. Now he may have been unable to get around Michael Caruso at the start from reverse 2nd, having finished 9th in the previous race earlier this afternoon. However, you have to praise his patience as this race goes on when Sweeny finally passed Caruso side-by-side at the Chase (Turn 20); that turned out to be a winning move before Sweeny got to celebrate on top of the podium for the first time.

Race 3 of the Trans-Am and TCR will take place on a bright and early tomorrow morning, before it’s all about the 6-hour feature race in Bathurst.

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Motorsport

2022 Australian Rally Championship Round 1 Review: National Capital Rally in Canberra

by Sports Benches

What an unreal spell from reigning Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen when he got his wish in rallying thanks to Team Red Bull. They supplied him with the Skoda Fabia R5 alongside co-driver Glen Weston, where he & Glen managed to finish runner-up in the opening round of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship. Although it’s a one-off effort since he’s got full-time Supercars duties to defend, Van Gisbergen was running in Top 3-4 all the time, especially towards the end of the rally yesterday on Day 2 with two-stage wins (SS12 & SS13) that includes the Power Stage finale.

In the end, though, you can’t underestimate the brilliance of the current Australian rally champions Harry Bates & his co-driver John McCarthy in the Toyota GR Yaris AP4 for his family-run team. They were too good to pull off the opening day with all the first seven stage wins that put them way upfront before Bates/McCarthy stayed ahead, which was enough to secure an easy win.

Apart from Harry Bates & SVG’s success stories, other competitors stood out throughout the opening round in Canberra. Good to see Brendan Reeves and Kate Catford round off the final podium spot in the Hyundai i20 RN. They started not bad on Day 1, but their late turnaround sets them for an improved Day 2 when ending H.Bates/McCarthy stranglehold with the Stage 8 win, which boosted their confidence.

Taylor Gill & Kim Bessell also had a great showing in 4th, where they also secured the NSW Rally class win in the Subaru WRX STi for Curiositi. And shoutout to Tom Clarke/Ryan Preston (White Wolf Ford Fiesta) & Timothy Wilkins/Jim Gleeson (Wilkins Mitsubishi Evo IX). These guys may have languished in and out of the Top 10 at the start, but a few other competitors’ DNFs given them progress as this rally goes on with a respective 5th & 6th finish.

It will be interesting to see who will challenge Bates & McCarthy up close with six rounds left of the 2022 ARC season, as this series moves over to the Forest Rally in WA on Saturday & Saturday, May 21-22.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on when the ARG SpeedSeries highlights from Phillip Island was supposed to be on air this AM on 9Gem

by Sports Benches

I’ve tried to tune in to 9Gem this morning & watch a bit of the two-hour Round 2 ARG SpeedSeries highlights package from Phillip Island. However, I saw normal repeated programming instead, such as a quiz show named Pointless and a classic TV drama.

I don’t know what happened as to why Nine chose to remove from their schedule so late, but it’s still a lack of promise for the fans to those who don’t have the money to subscribe to Stan Sport.

Yes, it’s frustrating not to watch every ARG SpeedSeries race live like it was last season and 2019.

However, the need of $$$ to keep the series afloat amongst teams, drivers and organisers across several categories ARG runs for 6-7 events a year, has to be necessary at the end of the day, as well as benefitting an increase of genuine TV production coverage.

It’s these times we have to get used to it from now on where the good ol’ heydays of watching free-to-air motorsport non-stop are over.

Now I see two more viewing opportunities to watch the Round 2 highlights this Saturday (12.30-2.30pm) and Sunday afternoon (1.30-3.30pm) on 9Go.

But we already know the results from a week earlier by then as this isn’t a great idea to reach out to new audiences like that, especially when most of the content now is behind a paywall.

It’s better to go for a 90-minute highlights package of every other round on Tuesday night at 7.30 pm on either 9Gem or 9Go, as suggested last week.

That way, it’ll be a perfect time to help introduce a casual sports viewer to have a first look at this series, or a die-hard motorsport fan, who may not have a Stan Sport subscription, but can relive these moments from the weekend’s event.

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Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries Round 2 weekend review with the TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000 from Phillip Island

by Sports Benches

If the Australian Superbikes weekend at Queensland Raceway wasn’t enough to keep you excited, why not look back at four-wheel action over in Phillip Island for the ARG SpeedSeries.

We’ll start with the S5000 Open-Wheelers when James Golding enjoyed a fantastic Friday and Saturday run on-track. Not only was Golding 1st in all two practice sessions & qualifying, but he dominated Race 1 from start to finish. Although his Sunday spell wasn’t the same, at least he finished in the Top 5 all weekend long at 5th in Race 2 with four spots behind Tim Macrow & 2nd to Joey Mawson in Race 3. And 17-year-old Cooper Webster was again outstanding to stand on the podium all weekend long (3rd in Race 1 & 3). Webster was close to securing his first race win in this category earlier today on Race 2, but he’s sure he will keep his eye on the prize in a few weeks at Albert Park.

Next up is the Trans-Am muscle cars in a series of three wild races on show. We look back at this last-lap battle in Race 1 between Nathan Herne & polesitter Ben Grice for the chequered flag; when Herne benefited from these safety car restarts & overtook Grice on the inside line that sealed the winning move en route to victory lane. Meanwhile, we go into Sunday AM for Race 2 with Owen Kelly as the race winner. But it’s Herne who rebounded back on top of the podium in Race 3, which reflected his super weekend at Phillip Island in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport.

And we round off with the Touring Car Australia category as this 18-year-old Jay Hanson is a bright whizkid in the No.9 Audi RS3 for Melbourne Performance Centre. He was fastest in Practice 1 and Qualifying before Hanson dominated the entire field from Pole in Race 1 against a mix of more experienced racers with the Saturday afternoon win. But Sunday is all about Fabian Coulthard in the No.24 Stan Sport Honda Civic Type R machinery for Wall Racing, where he collected back-to-back race wins through a fantastic display in Races 2 & 3. Also last but not least, well done to Ben Bargwanna with the rebound throughout Sunday in the No.71 Peugeot 308, after he finished on the podium twice (Races 2 & 3) for Burson Racing.

The S5000s will head off Albert Park in Victoria alone as part of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix support categories on April 7-10. We will see these open-wheelers re-join the ARG group on May 27-29 at Sydney Motorsports Park. On the other hand, TCR Australia and Trans-Am will be part of the Bathurst 6 Hour International schedule on April 15-17 at Mount Panorama Circuit.

If you’re lucky enough to pay $20 a month to watch Stan Sport or if you’re a subscriber right now, go and relive the highlights from this weekend and the previous round from Symmons Plains Raceway before waiting for the next race in Bathurst in a few weeks. Otherwise, the only opportunity to catch these midweek highlights for free is Wednesday from 10 am-12 pm on 9Gem.

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Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship, Mike Jones too good to pull off with back to back race wins at Queensland Raceway

by Sports Benches

Outstanding start to begin the Sunday afternoon from Mike Jones in the No.46 Yamaha, who started from pole position after an impressive qualifying run yesterday and finished in the same 1st placed spot with ease. Wayne Maxwell came home 2nd in the No.1 Ducati where he bided his time at his starting 3rd spot over the first 9-10 laps. Although he may have been out of reach when trying to chase down Jones in the final few laps, he benefitted a spot when fellow Ducati rider in the No.67 Bryan Staring lost control on Lap 11 of 16.

Nice to see Josh Waters secure a podium spot in the BMW in 3rd place ahead of Glenn Allerton in the same BMW bike. They both fired off well & were both on top of their game before the Bryan Staring accident on Lap 11, gave them another lifeline to redeem themselves for the final podium position, and Waters held off Allerton towards the finish line. Cru Halliday caps off the Top 5 out of Race 1 in the No.65 Yamaha while Troy Herfoss did well to guide his No.17 Honda as the lone Top 10 finisher there in 6th from 9th. And special mentions to a couple of Yamahas, such as Anthony West in the No.13 from 13th to 8th, as well as the No.28 of Aiden Wagner from 12th to 9th, and the No.2 Mark Chiodo from 11th to 10th.

Moving onto Race 2 now and Mike Jones once again unstoppable all weekend long with the pole position plus two race wins now in the No.46 Yamaha. He controlled Queensland Raceway as soon as Jones kept 1st spot, where no one couldn’t find a way to chase him down. Good to see Bryan Staring bounce back in 2nd for the No. 67 ahead of his fellow Ducati rider Wayne Maxwell in 3rd, after Staring spun out into the gravel earlier in Race 1. Shoutout to Arthur Sissis at 4th in the No.61 Yamaha ahead of the BMW Pair of Josh Waters (5th) & Glenn Allerton (6th), having finished a series of Top 7-10s beforehand. And the same goes with Anthony West once again in the Top 10 through another 8th placed finish, when he benefitted from moving up spots with patience, especially after the DNFs later on of Cru Halliday (Mechanical) & Jay Metcher (crash).

It’s been a wild weekend of Australian Superbikes in Queensland, as Mike Jones leads the Riders’ Championship in the Premier Class by 86 points. We can’t wait for Round 3 when the ASBK moves to Wakefield Park in Goulburn, NSW, next month on Friday, April 22 to Sunday, April 24, 2022.

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Thoughts on the ARG SpeedSeries free to air highlights on Wednesday morning next week on 9Gem

by Sports Benches

I just checked the TV guide today via the Foxtel website, where the free-to-air highlights of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries season will be on Wednesday, March 23 at 10 am-12 pm on 9Gem.

Speedcafe reported before the season began last month that the ARG SpeedSeries highlights for the remaining six rounds on 9Gem throughout the year would slot during midweek on prime time, as a way to grow the series’ fanbase, as well as increase exposure to competitors, teams and advertisers.

Unfortunately, it’s going to play on a daytime morning which means most people would have to miss out due to work, with no on-demand content to view afterwards on the free 9Now streaming service.

Perhaps, it would be best slotted for 90 minutes between 7.30 to 9 pm on a Tuesday via 9Gem; that way, it would be a perfect time to help motorsport and causal sports fans reflect the high and low moments from the usual race weekend.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on NASCAR on TV right now in Australia as the competition between paid streaming services heat up

by Sports Benches

In addition to IndyCar being aired on Free TV in Australia, NASCAR was also aired for free nearly a decade ago on Network 10’s former digital channel, One, when Australian Marcos Ambrose was around at the time.

But Fox Sports/Kayo only show highlights nowadays via subscription, while the only way to watch live and on-demand NASCAR here is the sport’s in-house paid Trackpass service.

If Stan Sport was to add NASCAR, it’s going to be a tough ask since NASCAR has a similar service here & both of them offer $20 a month unless NASCAR discontinues Trackpass for the Australian market. But it’s possible though, with Trackpass unavailable in New Zealand right now due to an exclusive streaming deal with Sky Sport to prevent direct competition.

Time will tell as Stan Sport has quickly increased their suite of motorsports content in no time against Foxtel/Kayo Sports’ offering of Formula 1, Supercars, World Superbikes & MotoGP.

P.S. Foxtel/Kayo now returned airing live NASCAR Cup Series races again predominately on Monday mornings this season, having aired selected races in 2020 & 2021 when the series was abruptly paused for a while between early March to mid-May due to COVID-19. I guess Foxtel/Kayo used the unexpected break when they got the revised agreement they wanted with NASCAR, as explained above in addition to highlights every week.

Then you look at the recent loss of IndyCar, Australian Superbikes, World Rally Championship & some Motocross rights to Stan, which opened the return of live NASCAR Cup racing for all races on Foxtel/Kayo. They just re-added them in a bid to boost competition and prevent subscribers from switching to Stan, so race fans can watch the best of motorsports on Kayo/Foxtel if they don’t want to pay more than one streaming service. There’s Formula 1, MotoGP, Supercars, World Superbikes, and AMA Supercross content there other than NASCAR Cup racing.

And regarding the Xfinity & Truck Series, there may be no plans to put them back on Foxtel/Kayo like it was in the past. However, Trackpass is still the only way to tune in to these other two national series, with both Trackpass & Foxtel/Kayo currently showing all Cup races live here in Australia.

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