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John Lytras

Motorsport

Jack Passfield was lightning fast around Phillip Island with Tom Bramich dominating both Sunday races in the Supersport ASBK class

by Sports Benches

Also part of the World Superbike Australian round support bill here at Phillip Island was the second-tier Michelin Supersport class from yesterday.

Earlier in Race 2, we were gutted to see Ty Lynch and Dallas Skeer being taken down at Turn 2 while they both tussled for 5th on Lap 2 of 10. Lynch must’ve limped away even though he came here this weekend with two broken ankles as reported on commentary, but Ty never wanted to give up as he was okay to ride again for Race 3 with good sportsmanship there from Skeer.

Then we saw such a three-way battle for first between Tom Bramich who led the most laps, as well as John Lytras trying to get on hold of the race leader & Jack Passfield where not only he won Race 1, but he has been incredibly fast as always around Phillip Island that saw him enter Bramich’s and Lytras’s radar. 

In the end, Passfield overcooked it going out wide at Turn 10 on the final lap before Bramich saw the winning move on the inside with two corners left and he held off both Passfield and Lytras towards the checkered flag on what has been an excellent finish in Race 2 by only a few milliseconds.

And we round off the weekend with Race 3 of 3 where we saw another front row battle between race leader Bramich and the ever-fast Passfield for top spot. Sadly, there was drama along the way with two laps left (8 of 10) when Passfield couldn’t hold on at Siberia Corner (Turn 6), especially when struggling with a fractured wrist before he lost control into the gravel which left Passfield disappointed out of this race. It paves the way for Bramich to close out Race 3 unchallenged who had an outstanding with back-to-back wins in this class.

It all comes down to the final round of this year’s Michelin Supersport class season this weekend at The Bend in South Australia, as one rider will walk away with the Championship.

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Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship Round 5 Review Part 1 at Morgan Park Raceway: Oceania Junior Cup, Supersport 300 & Supersport support categories

by Sports Benches

We start off with the Australian Superbike Championship support categories where we saw two thrilling finishes in Race 3 of the Oceania Junior Cup & Supersport 300. There were multiple front runners fighting for top spot, especially on the last lap as Cameron Rende & Cameron Swain both took home with the Oceania Junior Cup & Supersport 300 wins respectively.

Not only they both fired off from the second row on the grid (6th from Rende & 5th from Swain) but they had to be patient along the way before making made significant progress in the 2nd half run where they got what they wanted past the checkered flag in the last minute. What a ride by Cameron Rende who used the slipstream to surprise three other riders on the run home, such as Harrison Watts, Bodie Paige & Marcus Hamod in the Oceania Junior Cup. Although the 2nd Lap of 6 changed everything when Hudson Thompson tried to regain the lead off Paige & Harrison Watts in 3rd, but he was unfortunately slipped away into the grass that saw him end up with a DNF. 

We also saw another Cameron dominating over at the Supersport 300 in Cameron Swain after he edged Taiyo Asku by millimetres past the finish line which is sensational. It’s hard to look at from Asku who led the majority of this race, but it’s racing at the end of the day as he will take home 2nd & Jonathan Nahlous joins the two Yamahas in the No.20 Kawasaki bike who rounds the Top 3 with Asku & Swain.

Then we move over to the Supersport category with John Lytras being too good in Race 2. He may have lost the lead at the start straight away to Ty Lynch in 2nd, but got his position back not long later where he never looked back throughout the whole time up front. Plus, there was a brilliant four-way battle for 4th behind Tom Bramich when Tom Drane had a excellent show ahead of Scott Nicholson (5th), Rhys Belling (6th) & New Zealander Luca Durning (7th). So plenty of top-notch young talent being showcased from the weekend at Morgan Park Raceway in QLD.

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Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship R3 at Wakefield Park Support Categories (Oceania Junior Cup, Supersport & Supersport 300) Review

by Sports Benches

Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship continues at Wakefield Park in Goulburn, NSW, starting with the six-lap showdown in the Oceania Junior Cup. We saw a brilliant front row battle for 1st between Hudson Thompson and Harrison Watts; Thompson fired off well & held top spot for the majority before Watts found his way past him for the winning move towards the checkered flag. And Levi Russo rounds the final podium spot when he dropped a couple of track positions earlier on from 2nd but managed to rebound in 3rd. Although we’ve followed up after the TV broadcast when Thompson and Watts’ final Race 2 results were penalised over the drop of position, so Russo was promoted to Race winner instead.

Then we move on to the Supersport class & John Lytras in No.308 stole the show during Race 2, where he made an immediate impact from 3rd in the beginning & never looked back ever since with the win. Ty Lynch finished in 2nd, while Sean Condon’s return to ASBK after a seven-year absence was a great weekend at Wakefield in 3rd alongside his 2nd place finish from Race 1, even though he lost the lead as pole starter earlier in this race.

And how about a competitive four-wide battle towards 1st out of this ten-lap Supersport 300 Race 3 spell. It was between Cameron Dunker, Taiyo Aksu, and the Nelson brothers in Glenn and Hayden. Dunker was off to a brilliant start unchallenged over the first couple of laps before the pressure began to test him. Now he may have lost 2-3 places with two laps to go when G.Nelson & Aksu briefly shared the lead. However, he kept his cool going into the final lap and found his way back to 1st, where Dunker held off three other competitive riders in such a photo finish past the finish line.

Before we finish off the ASBK weekend at Wakefield Park, it was also great to watch some Aussie Racing Cars (Race 4) alongside the other usual two-wheel support categories. Tom Hayman was too good from start to finish in the 1st placed position for his No.30 Ford, while Joshua Anderson was superb straightaway from 4th to 2nd in the No.36 machine. Meanwhile, Lachlan Ward in the No.117 may have lost a couple of spots when he wanted to keep a close eye on the race leader (Hayman), but at least a rebound back to 3rd is a great result. And Joel Heinrich was another standout driver in Race 4 from 15th to 5th behind Reece Chapman in the No.25, especially in the 2nd half run when being patient for that whole time & caplitised plenty of track positions ahead of Kody Garland (6th) & Rylan Gray (7th).

We won’t be able to see the ASBK support categories for a while since the premier class will be part of the Supercars support bill at Hidden Valley Raceway in NT for June 17-19. However, we expect these two-wheel support categories to return for Round 4 on 5-7 August at Morgan Park Raceway in Warwick, QLD.

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Other Sports

2022 ASBK Round 2 Support Categories review in the Oceania Junior Cup, Michelin SuperSport & Dunlop SuperSport 300 at Queensland Raceway

by Sports Benches

Aside from premier class, we saw a fantastic six laps in the Blu Cru Oceania Junior Cup category in Race 3 earlier this afternoon at Queensland Raceway. There was plenty of competition amongst the up-and-coming juniors upfront, with greater honours to achieve through the ranks someday. In the end, Harrison Watts came out of nowhere from 4th before he usurped No.48 of Ryan Larkin & No.40 Hudson Thompson with the Race 3 victory in the No.14 Yamaha.

Then we move onto the Michelin Supersport category in Race 2, where Tom Edwards was outstanding from start to finish in the same 1st place position in the No.26 Yamaha. And while John Lytras and Olly Simpson finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively, hats off to Scott Nicholson in the No.38, who improved some track position in the last few laps from 6th to 4th.

And now this Dunlop SuperSport 300 Race 3 portion oversaw a lot of competition especially during the last lap. We love the 1st place battle between polesitter Glenn Nelson and Cameron Dunker, but Nelson held off Dunker towards the finish line by 0.043 seconds in the No.39 Yamaha. Then there’s a four-way battle for the final podium spot between two Kawasakis (Johathan Nahlous & James Jacobs) and two Yamahas (Henry Snell & Sam Pezzetta). The Yamahas eventually split the Kawasakis with Nahlous being denied a podium spot in 4th & Jacobs in 6th, while Snell finished 3rd & Pezzetta rounds off the Top 5.

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