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Phillip Island

What a finish it has been to the afternoon of MotoGP at Phillip Island when Jorge Martin almost led the entire 27 lap race upfront before his soft rear tire strategy was unfortunately backfired during the last lap, which paved the way for Pramac Racing team-mate Johann Zarco to secure his first win in the top class at age 33 & also his first win in many years since the 2016 Valencian GP over in Moto2. 

Gotta feel sorry for Martin who was way ahead of the field as soon as the race started, but then began to lose ground when it comes to the 2nd half run & he too instead ended up in 5th. This added some setback when it comes to his championship hopes as he sits 22 points behind leader Francesco Bagnaia after he finished 2nd for the main Ducati team.

Another great highlight from the last few laps of the race is the 4-5 way battle upfront where Zarco got around his team-mate on the inside before he blocked Bagnaia at Miller corner in that captured the race winning move en route with a few corners left towards the checked flag. He too has came from a long, long way where he wasn’t happy at KTM back in 2019 to rebuilding his premier class career within the Ducati satellite teams over the last few years & now he will move to the Honda LCR team on a two-year deal next year, which is a great move from him indeed. There will be a bit more MotoGP tomorrow at 1pm when it comes to the 13-lap sprint race that includes the Moto 2 & 3 races beforehand in the morning, as they have swapped out with the main race of this weekend’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix schedule due to impending weather.

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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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It’s been a while but the Australian Superbike Championship is back for Round 6 of 7 in 2022, as we join the support bill by the main Australian World Superbike Championship leg here at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria.

Race 1 was wet & wild for a start when Daniel Falzon fired off well ahead of polesitter Josh Waters due to an excellent qualifying run beforehand that saw him start in 2nd. Although his bike is capable  of Top 7-10 finishes, but then it was difficult to stay ahead when trying to keep up with the regular front runners. 

We saw one rider lost control not long later into the gravel in Wayne Maxwell (No.1 Ducati) after he put on the gas a bit too early down at Turn 2, before there was a three way battle on the run home between the two Ducati’s of Josh Waters & Bryan Staring, as well as the No. 14 BMW of Glenn Allerton. But the winner goes to Bryan Staring (No.67 Ducati) ahead of Allerton & Waters, as he won his first race since Round 1 at this same venue back in February this year.

Then we fast forward into Sunday morning with improved weather this time in Race 2 of 3. The centre of attention focused on the two Ducati riders battling side-by-side in Maxwell and Waters for the Race 2 win; and it was Maxwell who bounced back beautifully following a successful late winning move on Waters with two laps to go (10 of 12) while Cru Halliday (No.65 Yamaha) joined them on the podium in P3.

And we round off the second-last weekend of this year’s ASBK season in Race 3, where Maxwell endured another early heartbreaking moment this time down at Turn 4. He made contact with the back end of Troy Herfoss while trying to get past him for P3 before he lost control into the grass that not only marked another DNF, but it also dented his title hopes with one round to go. Plus, We also a few other riders fell off at the same corner as Maxwell when Senna Agius & Daniel Falzon spun off while battling for 5th before it collected Cru Halliday, as all three riders joined Maxwell back into pit lane. 

As the race goes on, we saw a couple of big movers along the way, particularly Mike Jones (No.46 Yamaha) & Bryan Staring before they began battling each other for 2nd. But it’s gotta be Josh Waters’s moment (No.21 Ducati) who got his first race win of 2022 ahead of Staring who got around a late move on Jones. Although Jones may not have stopped Ducati’s outstanding weekend at Phillip Island, but he’s in the box seat right now to take home the 2022 ASBK for the 3rd time going into this weekend’s finale at The Bend in SA. The last time a Yamaha rider won the ASBK was Jamie Stauffer back in 2007.

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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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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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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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Great to see Wayne Maxwell bounce back with the Race 2 win in the main Superbike category at Phillip Island in the No.1 Ducati, having been unlucky not to hold on while leading earlier today on Race 1. This time Maxwell has done it comfortably from start to finish in 1st place without any hassle, even though a sore finger and a spare bike didn’t bother him too much.

There’s another Ducati rider on the podium that rounds off a 1-2 finish where Race 1 winner Bryan Staring just came home 2nd in the No.67. Yes, he would’ve loved to double up 1st all day today when Maxwell was too good but he fended off a massive threat from Cru Halliday in the No.65 Yamaha, as he leads Halliday (38) by 7 points (45) in the Riders’ Championship after Round 1 of 8.

We also saw another competitive battle further down when Anthony West, Aiden Wagner & Jed Metcher were battling for 10th, in the end it’s Metcher, who pulled off that final Top 10 spot when he came from 17th on the grid, after Broc Pearson were out of form from 8th to 15th & Lachlan Epis wasn’t able to continue with a DNF.

Wow!! So much competitive superbike racing across multiple categories today in Round 1 of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria.

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Sunday afternoon action of Australian Superbike Championship racing continues with the Oceania Junior Cup, where it was a competitive five laps despite the race ending red flag via the Lachlan Moody crash. There were so many lead changes with Levi Russo at the beginning from pole position, but it’s Marcus Hamod, who took out the Race 3 win from 12th, having worked his way into the Top 3 with two laps to go before he took the winning move & stayed 1st by the final lap.

Then we move into the Supersport category as Senna Agius just outsmarted a predominate field by Yamahas from start to finish in Race 2. He had a great early battle against Tom Edwards where he regained the lead after the first lap and pulled off very comfortably against Edwards by nearly five seconds, despite a brake scare at one point that almost saw him lose the lead. A good pre-season run by the way from Agius, who took two wins in this category on one weekend, as he will be heading overseas shortly in the Moto2 European series.

And we round off the Supersport 300 class before the 2nd Superbike race, with another competitive show on Race 3 where we’ve seen so many riders battling back and forth for the top spot. But it’s Varis Fleming who just won in such a photo finish v the two Kawasakis, James Jacobs (2nd) & Joseph Mariniello (3rd) by 0.028 & 0.059 secs respectively. He began the race from 6th spot having been patient for the whole time, before the Glenn Nelson & Johnathan Nahlous crash on Lap 6 opened the door for Fleming to enter the bidding late and steal that race win.

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Such a brilliant opening race to watch that kickstarted Sunday during Race 1 of 2 in the main Superbike Category at Phillip Island.

Comfortable start from defending champion Wayne Maxwell through the first 5-6 laps of 12, who started on pole position following a fantastic qualifying run yesterday. However, he just couldn’t hold on while leading when Maxwell lost control at Turn 8. But it’s good to hear that he’s okay now & will race again in time for Race 2 later this afternoon.

While one Ducati Maxwell rode on may unluckily be out early, there’s still another same machinery that still dominated this race & his name is Bryan Staring in No.67. He started from 5th where he fired off through to 2nd immediately before Staring had to be patient behind Maxwell by a second for a while, took advantage of Maxwell’s downfall & he took control of this race by over 5 1/2 seconds which is too easy to pull off.

The two Yamahas round out in 2nd and 3rd when Cru Halliday battled hard to keep his runner-up spot despite a poor start, which successfully fended off against fellow Yamaha rider Mike Jones. Jones did a great job earlier on where he passed Josh Waters for 3rd, now he may have struggled past Halliday but at least he takes home the final podium position.

Also great to see Glenn Hallerton stay in the Top 10 for this entire time from 9th to 6th, where he was just one spot shy of the Top 5 behind Daniel Falzon.

And a special mention to Anthony West, who may have started at the back in 15th, but he overcame an early error in Turn 4 at Honda Corner before he caught up some lost time & eventually finished 10th.

Race 2 will begin at 3.15 pm this afternoon AEDT.

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