ASBK Superbike morning round-up from One Raceway

ASBK 2024
Round Six – One Raceway
Friday Morning

It was a cool but gloriously bright and sunny morning in Goulburn on Friday morning, but as we rolled into the new look One Raceway, the circuit was shrouded in dense fog.

The fog quickly lifted to reveal a largely cloudless sky before some clouds again rolled in. The temperature was a chilly five-degrees before 0800, but then started to warm quite nicely, heading towards a forecast maximum somewhere in the low-mid 20s.

Riders had taken to the resurfaced and slightly changed lay-out for the first time on Thursday afternoon, each category getting a full hour of track time.

Unfortunately, Cru Halliday suffered a horrible off-throttle high-side in the final turn on Thursday. Cru was down for some time and looked in a world of hurt. Even his team thought it highly unlikely that the Camden-raised YRT rider would be on track again this weekend, but the 36-year-old sought and gained medical clearance this morning to take part in the event.

The riders briefing this morning was a lively affair, with the majority of the Superbike field suggesting the track was too fresh and too dirty for us to hold a championship round here this weekend.

Twenty years ago, this track was once the scene of a rider revolt that saw competitors get together on the Sunday afternoon of what was the second round of the 2004 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship and refuse to ride. Essentially, boycotting the event.  In the end, only a number of privateer riders took to the grid for the second race; all factory-backed teams collectively chose not to ride the second race due to safety concerns.

It had been a weekend where quite a number of riders had been injured. There had been much talk that Goulburn Hospital could take no more patients and that the medical services provided at the circuit, and their response times, were inadequate.

The local hospital was exceptionally busy due to various reasons, with a total of 157 patients presenting to the Emergency Department over the course of that weekend. The majority of those, of course, were not from the race event. Investigations after the event concluded that at no time did the local hospital refuse to take patients. However, that was the word getting around the paddock at the time.

Derryn Simmons, Mick Edwards, Scott Charlton and Jason O’Halloran all suffered serious injuries. Edwards, who is racing here this weekend, broke his neck in four places, along with a few other bones. Charlton broke his left collarbone, crushed his L3 vertebrae, and cracked his L4.  O’Halloran broke his ankle quite badly.  Simmons remained in Goulburn Hospital for many weeks with a punctured lung and extensive life-changing damage to his right arm.

The track was subsequently widened and safety significantly improved over the following years and eventually returned to the calendar. And now, in 2024, we are here for the opening of the new look venue, on a fresh surface and again we have plenty of riders voicing their concerns about safety. The morning rider briefing was a lively affair, and it is fair to say that ASBK Series Race Director Tom Williams has been copping an earful from all and sundry here this morning.

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That said, I believe the track will start to rubber-in today and the event is not under threat. So many people have put so much work into getting the track back up and running that it would be a travesty for this event to be under a cloud. The new owner, Steve Shelley, has spent more than $20 million on bringing the circuit back to life after it was closed in August of 2022 due to noise concerns.

Circuit staff, and a large band of local volunteers, did plenty of work overnight with cars going around the circuit and street sweepers, etc., but what it probably really needs is a significant downpour in order to wash the new surface. There is an ever-so-slight chance of rain tonight, but Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be mainly fine, albeit windy, with tops of around 20-degrees.

Fingers crossed for a safe and highly successful event. If you have some spare time this weekend and can make the trek down from Sydney or across from Canberra to support the event, please do so.

Archie McDonald topped practice this morning in Supersport on the 16th of his 16 laps. In fact, many riders put their fastest lap of the session in on their final lap, as the track started to clean up on the racing line and some rubber was laid.

Most of the Superbike field were taking a cautious approach this morning as, with the track still cleaning up, there was not all that much to be gained from really pushing the envelope or taking any risks.

It is fair to say that in recent years Pirelli has had it all its own way in Australian Superbike. There have been some brief interruptions to their dominance, the most striking of which in recent times came in 2019, when a Dunlop shod Bryan Staring came from behind to chase down and then pass everyone to take clear wins in all three Superbike contests on what was a very abrasive surface at The Bend.

There are currently no Dunlop runners in Superbike, but Ty Lynch has been running Michelin rubber all season. One might expect that a few other Superbike runners might be tempted to give the French rubber a run at some point today if the level of tyre degradation being experienced by some continues.

Anthony West topped the opening practice session this morning, narrowly edging Broc Pearson out of top spot late in the session.  Archie McDonald’s 61.037s lap in the earlier Supersport session would have placed him seventh in Superbike this morning!

It is fair to say that much is still to come regarding outright speeds and lap-times, but I am glad to report that this morning has been largely incident free. Glenn Allerton’s GT Racing crew have a bit of work to do though after the veteran went down unhurt at the top part of the circuit.

Young Cam Dunker put in the most laps at 24 in what was only a 30-minute session.

The track temperature for FP1 was nudging 30-degrees while the ambient was just under 20-degrees. A fair bit of the temperature has come out of some of the riders since the rider’s briefing this morning, and the racing line is starting to rubber in quite nicely.

More track cleaning is currently underway before the FP2 and FP3 sessions.

Superbike FP1

ASBK Superbike Championship Points

Supersport Championship Points

Supersport 300 Championship Points

2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

• Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25
• Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Mar 22-23
• Round 3: Queensland Raceway, QLD Apr 26-28
• Round 4: Morgan Park Raceway, QLD Jul 12-14
• Round 5: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC Sept 7-8
• Round 6: One Raceway, NSW Oct 4-6
• Round 7: The Bend Motorsports Park, SA Nov 8-10