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Yamaha

The 2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix weekend from Victoria’s Phillip Island race track may be over as MotoGP has already stopped by in Thailand ahead of their next race this weekend. But there’s still a few other things to look back such as the event’s first ever sprint race on Aussie soil as well as two separate thrilling battles up front both on race day and the riders’ championship. Plus, there’s off-track manufacturers and riders’ talk through a mix of current form, silly season stuff and many more with none other than veteran two wheel and four wheel commentator Toby Moody.

Here’s the interview both in written and video/audio form below:


1. Looking back from that incredible Phillip Island weekend of 2024, how good was seeing the best of Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin upfront through the best of Ducati bikes while we finally saw a Sprint race for the first time?

To see Marc getting better and better weekend by weekend, race by race – yes!! First of all, he won a sprint race a couple of races ago & now he’s won a Grand Prix proper. It’s not spoken enough in my view that he’s on a bike that’s not the same specification to Francesco Bagnaia (No.1 Ducati factory bike) and Jorge Martin (No.89 Ducati satellite bike for Pramac Racing), which makes it even more brilliant.

Of course, Marc goes well at Phillip Island where it’s the whole left handed nature of the racetrack that suits him like it does at Motorland Aragon. But he’s just brilliant, isn’t he? You know, he had a bad start, a bit of drama at the start. I could see him looking around even before the red light went off and I thought, something’s going on, something’s happening.

And then I thought, oh, he didn’t turn the launch control on. But of course we now know it was the tear off that was underneath the rear tyre. But isn’t he just brilliant? He’s just brilliant. And you know what, it’s his demeanour when he gets off the bike in that parc ferme.

Surely the celebrations he did, they were just fantastic, weren’t they? And it’s a return to seeing Marc on what he was all about before he had his accident at Jerez back in July 2020. He’s just brilliant, He’s different. And it sets us up so well for what he’s going to be like on a factory Ducati alongside Bagnaia next year as there’s going to be some fireworks between those two. But in the meantime, we’ve got a championship to be decided (with three races to go) between Martin and Bagnaia.

2. When I was looking back on the 2024 MotoGP season so far on the Network 10 TV broadcast from this year’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix weekend, I heard about Jorge Martin defecting to Aprilia next year? Will this be a huge risk since their bikes have rarely been good up front or it’s a matter of should we wait and see?

He didn’t have much choice as he had to go (by leaving Pramac Racing & also his manufacturer contract with Ducati) where he’s been let down by Ducati, the factory Ducati team, twice. And the last time he did get let down (by Ducati) in 2024, I think he was at Mugello, wasn’t it?

You know, he got let down thinking that he was going to get the (Ducati) factory ride next year and then they gave it to Marc [Marquez]. He feels wrongly treated, badly treated I suppose directly by the personnel in Bologna. He didn’t really have much choice than to go elsewhere and it happened to be in the Aprilia. Would this be his first choice? No, but it’s the choice he’s got with the cards on the table than he had at that particular time.

So it can win Grand Prix races? They’ve got good management there of the Aprilia. I like [Massimo] Rivella (sporting director) with his style, his way (of management) & I also like his out of the box thinking. Yes, he’s come from Ferrari who’s got a bit of that F1 thinking as a foundation & that has proven so good for Aprilia to get to where they are now. He has made the difference of that reduction (by closing the gap to the frontrunners), no doubt.

So it’s going to be interesting to see how Martin gets on to motivate people because a lot of people at Pramac [Racing], they get out of bed in the morning and they go to the racetrack with a spring in their step because they know they got a chance of winning a race in getting success and maybe even a championship this year. Can you imagine how much that’s going to lift Aprilia next year? yet Aleix [Esparagro] has done it for Aprilia in the past, but he’s not doing it at the moment.

And Maverick Vinales is just too uphill down Dale, isn’t he? You don’t know which Vinales you’re going to get until you get to Sunday afternoon whereas Martin, you know what you’re going to get? You’re going to get 100% out of him with 100% of the time, so it’ll lift Aprilia.

3. What are your thoughts on Honda not being at their best this season? Will 2025 be the year they can live up to their full potential again? or should we wait until at least 2027 when MotoGP updates their technical regulations?

It won’t happen overnight where they [Honda] won’t just suddenly start winning again. They can’t go any lower to where they are now, unfortunately. You look from the bottom of the power on the left hand side of your screen to find out where the Hondas are, which is a sad state of affairs.

Johann Zarco (at LCR) has been a bit vociferous in his media debriefs about where they’re at & such like [Luca] Marini hit the wall (who rides for their factory team), etc. Meanwhile, [Marini’s team-mate] Joan Mir doesn’t exactly look through the joys of spring, but they got to change something and they’ve needed to have changed something quite a while ago. You know, the direction of the team is completely wrong, isn’t it? based on their results where they had all their eggs in one basket with Marc Marquez.

Marc Marquez injured himself at Jerez back in 2020 and it was never the same again. Manufacturers have got to be careful when you got all of your eggs in one basket & you know [Pedro] Acosta is one of those risks that KTM have got at the moment. He’s been out injured who did not ride in Australia and is he going to be recovered before fully before the end of the season and for the post Valencia test? That’s a big question mark at the moment.

But to get back to your question with Honda, they’ve got a lot of work to do. They need to Europeanize their factory racing team and be more reactive to what is prototype racing.

4.  I was wondering the same thing too for Jack Miller when it comes to his performance who may not be on the same standard as the top riders at the moment but what does the future hold for him, especially when he’s set to step down from a factory KTM to a satellite Yamaha bike for Pramac Racing at season’s end?

Well, he turned up at Le Mans last year & said, when I win my next race I’m going to get a bonus and I’m going to go out and buy a boat. It hasn’t shaken out quite, quite well, has it? He’s a marketer’s dream but at the moment it’s not worked out with KTM’s Factory team which is why they didn’t renewed his contract. How he’s going to get on with a second string Yamaha with Pramac, I don’t know. That’s for him to work out.

5. Will we also see Suzuki come back in the fold also at some point and what about Kawasaki who hasn’t been present in the MotoGP paddock for a long time?

We won’t see Suzuki for a while who ran off in a horrid rush a couple of years ago ironically winning two Grand Prix races towards the end of the 2022 season including Australia and Valencia.

But when they’ve won two of the last three Grand Prix that they did and then they went home, I mean what a waste of a good team with good people and a winning bike that’s pulling out of a championship where it should’ve been reversed in some shape or form. Unfortunately, the decision made by Suzuki management got the best of it & it’s a crying shame to people working there because they didn’t want to leave from a team whose been decent enough to score points and win races which was a ridiculous scenario as well.

If a boardroom decision has been made, it’s going to take a while for them [Suzuki] to return these manufacturers & race at MotoGP level once again. They’re not selling a lot of bikes at the moment as they’re not selling fast plastic rockets as well for the road and the fast sports bikes.

So where the other GP teams are getting their budget from in the shape of R & D (Research and Development) on the premise that it’s making sports road bikes go faster and better. But they’re not selling those sports road bikes no matter how fast now, no matter how better they are is also a problem for the future. Where are the teams going to get their budget from?

But MotoGP is going to grow, so hopefully the teams will come back sooner rather than later. Suzuki have left before and they’ve returned while Kawasaki have also left but yet to return to the sport. But it depends where they’re at with their road bikes and what they want to get out of being on the race track because it’s a 50-60 million euro problem a year to go motorbike racing at the moment in a prototype – that would take a couple of million euros to produce a MotoGP spec bike.

Who knows what the Japanese are going to do?

6. What about BMW? Even though they’re currently the sport’s safety car partner.

They did say that BMW would only even consider going to MotoGP if they won the World Superbike Championship and they’ve done that last weekend, so they’ve got to take the step up. They’ve been dancing around MotoGP for over 20 years since they’ve had a safety car involvement there.

Remember when they had a one leg championship race as well with the Boxer Cup and then the Power Cup? That was 20 years ago which was the two wheeled version of the Porsche Supercup as it were for Formula One as a support race & it had all the hallmarks of continuing [a one-make BMW bikes series]; But unfortunately it didn’t after having a successful six, seven, eight years or so.

Are they going to come back with what Liberty Media (the new majority owners of MotoGP) are probably going to do? I think so or should BMW appear, should I say? I think so. I think they’d be foolish not to.

7. I saw your Twitter post the other day as it’s been 13 years since Marco Simoncelli lost his life at the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix on race day Sunday. What was it like when you were commentating that unfortunate scene? And how much did the sport improve on its safety with their bikes compared to the Formula One cars we see today?

We were recording the race for it to be broadcast an hour later – that’s the way that it worked with British Eurosport at the time because the BBC showed the race live. We did show the Moto3 and Moto2 live where the BBC didn’t have those rights other than the premier class races. So it was a trade off between the two channels here in the UK and as soon as the accident happened, I turned the microphone off. I just turned it off and we knew it was off.

We weren’t being broadcast live when we actually never said anything else ever again and obviously the broadcast was never made it on-air. The race was never broadcast on British Eurosport here in the UK and it was deleted from the computer hard drives. Horrible day, Horrible day; Very upsetting.

But how has it improved? Ironically, there was two races remaining in the 800cc era when [Marco] Simoncelli lost his life and then we turned to the bigger bikes again with a 1000 cc formula which is where we are now & arguably it would’ve suited him better. Was he a multiple world champion in a MotoGP? No. Would he have won races? Yes. Would he have won more Hearts of fans the world over? Undoubtedly, Yes. You don’t have to win lots and lots of races like a metronome to be a hero.

Heroes are people that you want to be no matter how many races you do or you don’t win. If you’re cool, people like you where he had that magic – so we got robbed of what he would be like on a bigger bike.

Has the safety improved? Yes, it has. The tech with race suits, the tech with airbags but there are still some decisions that are a little bit questionable, particularly in Moto3 qualifying. They’re not exactly blessed with the hindsight of what it’s like to have huge accidents with the difference of speed.

But unfortunately, the majority of lives that have been lost to people at a MotoGP race track in whatever class over the last 15 years is because they’ve been struck by a following rider and you can’t plan for that. So what we can do as a sport is to make it as safe as possible & all the circuits including the circuits of motorsport need to play the game.

We don’t want to have accidents at some circuits because the safety is not very good because then the whole of motorsport will get blamed for it and you don’t want to have that headline on a national news or an international news channel like such and such has lost their life at a racetrack because we all get put into the same box, don’t we? It’s not that motorsports is dangerous but there are some racetracks out there that are significantly safer than others.

8. Going into the last two Asian rounds in Thailand and Malaysia, as well as the traditional Valencia finale. Who would be your champion in 2024? And once Marc Marquez goes into a factory Ducati and up to date bike. Will he win another world title?

Who do I want to be the world champion in 2024? it’s going to be Jorge Martin. Who do I think is going to be the world champion? It’s not clear cut one that, it’s not a clear cut.

And the only way I would say the clear cut, that hot favorite is not but he made that Misano mistake. What was in his head when Pramac didn’t do on the Saturday night because arguably he’d have a plan – that plan should have been all the scenarios being discussed about whether it rains or not.

Whatever you do, you copy the bloke in front of you being Francesco Bagnaia.

Yes, Bagnaia was in front of him but if Bagnaia made a mistake, Martin had a few metres to correct his line or whatever. All you’ve got to do is shadow the opposition & he threw 20 odd points away that day.

Is Marc Marquez going to win the world championship in the future on the factory Ducati? Yes. It’s a no brainer isn’t it?

Post-Notes

So there you have it, the title race is still on towards the road for mid-November’s season-finale race in Valencia with either Bagnaia retaining his crown for the possible three-peat or Martin finally able to end Bagnaia’s long-running dominance by tasteing his first premier class championship – going to be one thrilling storyline that you don’t wanna miss before we turn turn our attention to post-season testing and the 2025 season.

As Toby said, there has been some safety improvements over the last 10-15 years since Simoncelli’s death with still a long way to go. Although also looking back from that late Sprint race crash from last weekend’s Phillip Island premier class event, yes it was scary when Marco Bezzecchi made heavy contact at the back of Maverick Vinales going into Turn 1 and Bezzecchi had to be taken to hospital as a result that went flying over 300km/h. Fortunately, good to hear that both riders were given the thumbs up though as lets hope the sport can look at more into it that would make MotoGP both more safer (as they possibly can) and also entertaining to watch.

And lastly, thank you Toby for agreeing to chat for around 10 or so minutes to talk all things MotoGP. He is someone who always know best about the sport that goes back from forming a successful commentary partnership with Julian Ryder when it was broadcast on British Eurosport much like Simon Crafar who also formed a brilliant connection with the MotoGP’s world feed audience over the last couple of years it comes to the technical side of things as Simon was also a former rider himself.

Like Toby and most others when things come and go after a certain period of time, Simon will be swapping his time reporting on pit road for the Head Stewards’ role beginning next season. Hope is all well for Simon and so does Toby as the world’s best riders will be back once again for the next Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix edition at Phillip Island on the weekend of Sunday October 19, 2025.

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What a race and what a comeback with Marc Marquez who just shut down Jorge Martin on time to take home that 2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix win for Gresini Racing (Ducati) at Phillip Island. 

He may had a bad start over from 2nd to 10th when he forgot to tear off his visor sheet that could’ve been so costly had M. Marquez spun out of control, which was so, so close. But fast forward over the next 20-25 odd laps, M. Marquez made up so much lost time by closing in on the race leader Martin before he finally got around him for 1st with only a few laps to go, and he too has defended really well that saw the best of the Spaniard once again…in a Ducati at Phillip Island. This is his 4th win Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix win here since 2019 when he was with the Honda Factory Team back then with a big move ahead to the Ducati works team next season alongside an up-to-date bike rather than a year old bike.

For Martin, commiserations on finishing 2nd for Pramac Racing (Ducati) when he was leading out in front for the most part, having seen him take home the Sprint race yesterday. But this feature race is so different though where no front running rider will give one away lightly as M. Marquez’s brilliant late race fight proved so difficult for Martin to shut him down towards the end there, especially with little time remaining. The good news is though that not only he’s happy to take home 2nd but Martin still has a 20-point lead in the riders’ points ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (who finished 3rd for Ducati) with three rounds left this season.

What else? Plenty of Ducati success also to fill up the Top 6 alongside some Aprillias a bit down the order including two x KTM Red Bull factory bikes, with South African rider Brad Binder in 7th & Aussie’s own Jack Miller in 11th respectively. For Miller, we may not seen much of him this season but at least he will have a ride next year at Pramac albeit in a Yamaha satellite bike.

That’s it from Phillip Island as best of luck over the rest of this season and most of next year before all the world’s best riders come back here for another edition of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. And last but not least, great to see a few other well-known people during this weekend – such as two legendary Australian motorsport icons in former 5 x 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan & former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber as well as New Zealander Simon Crafar who will be leaving his seasonal pit reporting post for the World Feed at season’s end after 7 years to become the chief steward.

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It was brilliant watching the sprint race of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix for the first time at Phillip Island with Jorge Martin too good all along in the No.89 Ducati bike for Pramac Racing. Not only that we’ve also saw a series of disappointments including that late Turn 1 crash between Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi while battling for 5th with three laps to go (big debate there) while our Aussie own Jack Miller unfortunately ended his race early a little after he was spun off into the gravel. 

If Jorge’s sprint race win wasn’t enough, here’s another Ducati rider who absolutely had a great ride this late – it’s Marc Marquez in the No.93 bike for Gresini Racing. He may have started m poorly from 2nd to 8th but he made up plenty of lost time though despite time running out against him to chase down Martin. 

He had excellent long-form pace to pull himself back up front including that excellent pass on Ducati factory rider and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia for 2nd at the halfway mark with Bagnaia eventually being pushed out of the Top 3 podium spots by team-mate Erea Bastianini in the sister No. 23 bike.

There’s always another day and another great battle to come tomorrow afternoon (2-3pm) to try & unseat Jorge Martin when it comes to trying to win that 27-lap feature race with lead-in support races like Moto3 & Moto2 earlier during the day.

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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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And we turn our attention to the premier class in Round 5 of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship starting with Wayne Maxwell who was too good all along in Race 1, even though he was relieved to see off a late challenge from Mike Jones in the No.46 Yamaha.

Later in Race 2 though, there were so many lead changes that brings so much excitement. This time Jones was off to a flying start over the first half out of lap 16 before Maxwell regained the lead for a while. But then there was a new challenger up front in Troy Herfoss who set the fastest lap at this track in his No.17 Honda. Sadly, Herfoss’s extended run was short lived when his soft tire gamble didn’t keep him up there in 5th after a strong start in 3rd in Race 1. He has showed excellent form of late though with two podiums from last round in Darwin. 

So that leaves between Jones & Maxwell now for the win that went down the wire. Jones tried to hold off 1st on the last lap before Maxwell found the inside line at Dunlop Corner & took back first once more, as Maxwell capped off with back-to-back wins in the No.1 Ducati for the K-Tech Team. 

Jones was disappointed not to stop Maxwell’s outstanding spell when he didn’t have enough time to upsurge him in Race 1 before he lost the lead a few times during the 2nd half of Race 2. However, he’s still the championship leader & top quality rider nonetheless in the hope of wrapping up the title with two rounds left of the ASBK season. 

Plus, we give a few shoutouts starting with No.3 of Jed Metcher who never looked out of place just inside the Top 10 (9th in Race 1 & 10th in Race 3). The same goes to Anthony West after he rebounded from a Race 1 DNF in 8th during Race 2. And how about last year’s Supersport champ Broc Pearson after he finished back-to-back in 4th, especially when he was this close towards passing team-mate Bryan Staring in Race 2. He’s blessed to be given the opportunity by Troy Bayliss & Ben Henry at Desmosport Ducati where he took it with both hands from the 3rd row (7th) to just outside the Top 3. 

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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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Oh boy! How good was Wayne Maxwell in the No.1 Ducati bike? He was stalled a bit at the start that cost him a couple of track position from 3rd on the grid. However, he made plenty of lost time all the way back up front throughout this 2nd 16-lap race.

Not only he overcame a series of close battles for the first-place spot when Maxwell got around team-mate in the No.67 Bryan Staring with a few laps to go, but he even held off a late threat from the No.46 Yamaha of Mike Jones on the last lap that secured him the Race 2 win.

As said just now, Jones finished in 2nd ahead of Staring where he would’ve loved to capture Maxwell just in time before the finish line but it’s still a great ride nonetheless.

Then we go into the 3rd and final race of the weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway, as Mike Jones was just too good once again by a huge six second gap from 2nd on the grid. Meanwhile, Race 2 winner & polesitter Wayne Maxwell was unfortunate to have lost control at the Turn 6 hairpin during the halfway distance of Lap 16 before he got back up & eventually finished P11. That paved the way for Glenn Allerton to fill in 2nd for his No.14 BMW bike which has been a incredible run to climb from 10th on the grid. Troy Herfoss also came home 3rd that shut off 4th-placed Bryan Staring for the final podium spot in the No.17 Honda.

Plus there’s a couple of shoutouts to mention before we move onto Round 5 at Morgan Park in QLD in early August – including Arthur Sissis with a brilliant Sunday outing – when he led the first half of Race 2 before he slipped away to 7th but kept the consistency later on where Sissis held off Cru Halliday to round off the Top 5. How about Anthony West who is best at capitalising on other rider mistakes from the back half of the grid, having finished back-to-back Top 10s today in 9th on top of P11 yesterday in Race 1. And so does Daniel Falzon where he kept a sound Top 10 without any trouble in all three races; 9th in Race 1 followed by a slight improvement to 8th for the rest of today.

#ASBK #Superbikes #MikeJones #WayneMaxwell #TroyHerfoss #GlennAllerton #ArthurSissis #BryanStaring #AnthonyWest #DanielFalzon #Yamaha #Ducati #Honda #BMW #Darwin

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What a race that is to kickstart Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Bryan Staring off to a great start with the early lead that took away polesitter & his team-mate Wayne Maxwell, as soon as the green flag was dropped straightaway in the No.67 Ducati bike.

However, it’s Mike Jones who was unstoppable in the No.46 Yamaha, having captured Staring for the lead at the halfway mark of this opening 16-lap race, before he held off top spot comfortably ever since with the win.

Then we saw an amazing ride by Troy Herfoss in the No.17 Honda machinery in 2nd.

He too started from 6th where nothing much has changed in the first half as he would’ve loved to put the pressure on Jones if Herfoss wanted to put in a full-race performance. Nonetheless, he had a better 2nd half momentum that helped him move a couple of spots – especially in the last 2-3 laps when Herfoss nailed down not one but both Ducati’s that saw him hold off Bryan Staring really well on the run home.

Staring’s Ducati team-mate Wayne Maxwell finished in 4th followed by Glenn Allerton – who had a great race today from 10th to 5th in the No.14 BMW bike.

Race 2 will take place tomorrow morning at a bright and early 10-10.40 am before we wrap up the ASBK weekend with the 3rd and final race in Darwin at 1.55-2.30pm.

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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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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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