2014 ASBK Championship – Round Two – Phillip Island – Supersport
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By Trevor Hedge
Supersport Race One
Aiden Wagner fell off his Yamaha YZF-R6 on the out lap and thus started the warm-up lap from pit-lane. He did take his place on the grid for the race start though, alongside pole-man Daniel Falzon with Matt Davies rounding out the front row.
It was Kane Burns that found the still very damp Phillip Island conditions most to his liking, leading the field on his Moto National sponsored Suzuki GSX-R600 over the opening laps with a slender advantage over reigning Supersport Champion Daniel Falzon on his Caterpillar backed YZF-R6. That pair steadily pulled away from a third-through-fifth placed triumvirate of Matt Davies, Luke Burgess and Aiden Wagner.
Falzon made his move on lap five to get the better of Burns, but the Victorian was having none of it and came right back past to again lead across the stripe with seven laps to run.
Riders were already seeking out the places on the track holding water when upright, to help cool down their wet-weather tyres as the track started to dry a little.
As the race approached half of the 12-lap race distance, that aforementioned third-through-fifth placed trio started catching the leading duo hand-over-fist.
Matt Davies was the first one to wind his way past Burns before then attaching himself to the back of race leader Falzon with four laps to run. Burns tried to maintain the pace but went down at turn nine.
Falzon responded to the pressure from Davies and stretched his lead out to a full-second with three laps to run. Aiden Wagner stepped his efforts up a level to challenge and then pass Davies for second place and with two laps to run Wagner was all over the back of Falzon.
Wagner took the lead around the back of the circuit on the penultimate lap but Falzon returned the favour down the main straight as they received the last lap board. Game on…
The pair came around turn 12 with Wagner’s nose in front but Falzon won the drag race to the line and took the race victory by 0.085 of a second. Matt Davies took third, 3.6 seconds behind the leading duo. Luke Burgess carded a fourth place result a further 10-seconds behind with Adrian DiGiandomenico rounding out the top five.
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Supersport Race Two
All the riders got away cleanly as the final ASBK Supersport bout of the weekend got underway on a mainly dry Phillip Island circuit on Sunday afternoon. Championship leader Daniel Falzon on dry tyres front and rear, as was Luke Burgess, while Aiden Wagner and Adrian DiGiandomenico had chosen to go with a wet front and dry rear ‘shandy’.
Hudson Pitt got wound up through the latter third of the 4.4km circuit to close in on and pass all the riders in front of him and cross the stripe for the first time with a two-second lead over Burgess and Michael Blair. Race one podium finisher Matt Davies pulled into the pits to retire at the end of lap one with some sort of problem.
With ten laps to run Falzon had slipped to sixth, playing it safe as he only needed to finish the race within a few places of Aiden Wagner to secure back-to-back Supersport Championships. In contrast, of course, Wagner had nothing to lose and chased down Pitt for the race lead with nine laps to run. With Falzon in sixth place that would still be good enough for the South Australian to secure the 2014 Championship, something that he, of course, only knew too well.
Luke Burgess got the better of Wagner for the race lead as the 12-lap race approached half distance. Adrian DiGiandomenico was in a lonely third place ahead of Sam Lambert while Daniel Falzon had moved past Hudson Pitt for fifth place.
With three laps to run Wagner got the better of Burgess for the race lead and on the next lap put in a new fastest lap of the race with a 1m43.99 to gain a couple of bike lengths on Burgess, but the Kawasaki man was sticking doggedly to his tail and was not going to give in without a fight. Falzon remained in fifth place, secure that barring no major mistakes, the Title was going to be his.
Wagner took the race win over Burgess by 1.5-seconds after the Kawasaki man made a mistake on the final lap. Adrian DiGiandomenico took third place while Sam Lambert crashed at turn eight, thereby promoting Falzon to fourth and Hudson Pitt in to fifth.
Aiden Wagner took the round win with 45-points to Falzon’s 43 but the major prize of the 2014 Supersport Championship went to Daniel Falzon with 93-points to Wagner’s 86.
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