Supersport & F3 round ups from St. George Summer Nights finale

MOTUL Summer Night Series hosted by St. George MCC
Sydney Motorsport Park – Gardner GP Circuit
Round Four – Supersport & F3

Words by Nick Edards – Images by Half Light & RbMotoLens

This is going to be the final race report for MOTUL St George Summer Nights Series 23/24 (aka SNS04). It covers Round Four, AMA Warehouse 600 F1/F2 and AGV Unlimited F3.

You can find the Pirelli Unlimited Report for Round Four here.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 (international/national racers) and F2 (clubbies) share track time. AGV Unlimited F3 is for clubbies not expected to break the 1:40sec laptime barrier and this class makes a return to Summer Nights after giving way to AGV 400cc/Formula St George at Round Three.

The usual format of MOTUL St George Summer Nights racing applied, with both classes having a short qualifying followed by three sprint races. The format was repeated for both Friday and Saturday nights, this being a double-header, with points accumulating across the two nights to decide who takes out the event win. Being the last round of the series, Saturday evening would also see the series champions crowned.

Previous Round reports are here:
Round One Main Report, Round One Supports;
 Round Two Main Report, Round Two Supports.
Round Three Main Report, Round Three Supports

Heading into Round Four, in the F1 class, Jonathan Nahlous (Yamaha R6) was sitting on 249-points, a 56-point lead over Jack Favelle, but with Favelle not in attendance at Round Four, JJ’s closest rival was Marcus Hamod (Honda CBR600RR), 78-points back.

With six races to run and twenty-five points to the winner of each, Nahlous hadn’t quite secured the series title but given his consistency, he certainly had one hand on it already. Sean Condon (Yamaha R6) and Marianos Nikolis, also not attending Round Four, held fourth and fifth places on the ladder.

In F2 things were a little closer, although Tim Rodley (Yamaha R6) on 226-points did have 25-points of air between him and Tim Hunt (Triumph Daytona 675). Keith Mulcahy – not at Round Four, John Hore (Suzuki GSXR600) and Kristian O’Donnell (Kawasaki ZX6R) were 90-points away from Rodley so not quite out of the game but unlikely to catch Rodley or Hunt.

AGV F3 returned to the Summer Series dance card after sitting out Round Three. Coming away from the previous round, Andrew Lee held the series lead but was bumped to Pirelli Unlimited F2 because of consistent sub 1:40sec lap times.

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That promoted James Berkley to the top of the table on 77-points with Muhammed Burhanuddin just one point behind. Craig Boyd had held fourth but was also bumped to Pirelli Unlimited F2 for the same reason as Lee.

This put Luigi Franco into third spot on 66-points. So to summarise, Berkely (BMW S1000R), Burhanuddin (Kawasaki ZX10R) and Franco (Yamaha R1) were the main contenders for the AGV Unlimited title but Berkley, recovering from recent injury, wasn’t at full fitness and wouldn’t feature prominently in the weekend’s results and would drop back in the points as a result.

AGV Unlimited F3 Friday Qualifying

Franco took out pole with a 1:38.541 ahead of Simon Spicak (Ducati V4R), Burhanuddin, Jason Cleland (Yamaha R1) and Hugh Jollye (Kawasaki ZX10R).

AGV Unlimited F3 Qualifying Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race One (Friday)

In Race One, Spicak took the win by half a second from Kristo Raam (Yamaha R1M) with a fastest lap of 1:37.970.

Franco crossed the line less than half a second behind Spicak. Cameron Prentice (Yamaha R1) and Burhanuddin had done well to keep the lead trio in sight whilst taking out fourth and fifth.

AGV Unlimited F3 Race One Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race Two (Friday)

Kristo Raam took out Race Two with a three second margin back to Phil Cloros (Ducati V4). Prentice took third with Spicak right on his tail. Burhanuddin placed fifth. All five were able to crack the 1:40sec mark with their fastest laps.

Bumping riders to Pirelli Unlimited F2 because of consistent sub-1:40sec laps can only happen between rounds, not between races, so riders breaching 1:40sec in races during Round Four were permitted to remain in the class for the rest of the weekend.

AGV Unlimited F3 Two Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race Three (Friday)

Race Three and, again, all of the top five finishers had the fastest laps under the 1:40sec mark, with Cloros taking the win from Raam by just four-tenths of a second. Burhanuddin scored more valuable points with a third-place finish. Prentice and Spicak rounded out the top five.

AGV Unlimited F3 Race Three Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Saturday Qualifying

AGV Unlimited managed to get qualifying and two dry races in before the heavens opened with only four racers taking to the field of play for that final race.

In qualifying, Cloros impressed with a 1:37. 152 to take pole from Raam, Spicak, Richard Zaja (Honda CBR1000RR) and Jason Cleland (Yamaha R1).

AGV Unlimited F3 Qualifying Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 1 (Saturday)

Race One and Cloros carded a 1:35.122 on his way to a 12-second win from Raam.

Simon Spicak crossed the line in third, but a ten-second penalty for a jump start relegated him down to seventh. Zaja, Prentice and Cleland took third through fifth.

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 1 Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 2 (Saturday)

Race Two and it was Richard Zaja’s time to be penalised for a jump start, which bumped him from third to sixth at the finish.

Cloros took another win ahead of Kristo Raam, this time by four-seconds. Burhanuddin placed third, continuing to amass points, Prentice was fourth, Spicak fifth.

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 2 Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 3 (Saturday)

Spicak, who removed his fairings, Burhanuddin, Prentice and Richard Draper (who had switched from the Ducati Monster he’d been riding in dry conditions to a Triumph Street Triple), were the only riders to hit the track for Race Three when the rain was still coming down.

And that was the finishing order. Burhanuddin had fastest lap with a 1:56.303 which is fifteen second off his qualifying time, Spicak took the win by a little over a second.

With that, AGV Unlimited was done for the series.

AGV Unlimited F3 Race 3 Results

AGV Unlimited F3 Overall

The meeting points spread at the top of the table was very close with just 10-points splitting first from fifth. It was Simon Spicak taking it out with 113-points from Phil Cloros on 109, with Kristo Raam taking the third podium spot on 105.

The outright Series points win went to Muhammed Burhanuddin on 179-points, second went to Phil Cloros on 163 and Cameron Prentice scored third with 134-points.

AGV Unlimited F3 Round Overall

AGV Unlimited F3 Standings

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Friday Qualifying

Qualifying saw Nahlous in command, a 1:33.848 given him pole ahead of Tom Toparis (Yamaha R6), who was making a welcome return to Summer Nights.

Corey Snowsill (Kawasaki ZX6R) and Cameron Swain (Yamaha R6) took third and fourth positions on the grid. The fifth spot went to Tim Hunt, the fastest of the F2 crew, with a 1:37.480.

The F2 racers did well in qualifying, with Simone Boldrini (Yamaha R6) taking sixth and F2 series leader Tim Rodley taking seventh overall and third fastest in class.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Qualifying Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race One (Friday)

Race One saw Nahlous and Toparis sprint away from the field with Nahlous taking the win by two-tenths of a second. Sean Condon (Yamaha R6) took third spot and fastest lap with a 1:33.484. Hayden Nelson (Kawasaki ZX6R) and Mark Chiodo (Honda CBR600RR) rounded out the F1 top five.

In F2, Boldrini took the win, five seconds ahead of Hunt. O’Donnell and Rodley were separated by less than a second in third and fourth. Brian Bolster (Aprilia RS660) took fifth.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race One Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race Two (Friday)

Race Two saw an exciting tussle up front with Toparis taking the win from Chiodo.  Nahlous, Condon and Nelson were right behind them with less than half-a-second between the first four, and Nelson just a few-tenths off their tails.

Marcus Hamod sustained an injury in Race Two and whilst he finished the race in sixth position, he wouldn’t race again on Friday or Saturday.

O’Donnell took out F2 from Boldrini and Rodley. Bolster and Sarah Batten (Triumph Daytona 675) rounded out the top five.

Title contender Tim Hunt crashed in Turn 8 while battling with O’Donnell, Boldrini and Rodley which put a serious dent in his chances of grabbing a class win in the series.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race Two Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race Three (Friday)

Race Three saw Nahlous and Toparis make a break from the field.  While Toparis took the fastest lap of the race with a 1m33.036, it was Nahlous in front by less than a tenth of a second at the flag.

Condon was three seconds back in third, Chiodo and Snowsill filled out the top five. Such was the pace of Nahlous and Toparis, that Snowsill in fifth was nearly half a minute back from them.

Tim Rodley finished sixth overall and first in F2, with Kristian O’Donnell just two-tenths away and taking second in class.

Boldrini, Bolster and Smith took third through fifth. Hunt’s Race Two crash prevented him from starting in Race Three but he would return to the action on Saturday.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race Three Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Qualifying 2 (Saturday)

AMA Warehouse 600 class was the most affected by the rain with Races Two and Three run on a wet track. This meant only 11 runners, all F2, took to the track for Race Two and 19 – including just one F1 competitor – out for Race Three.

At least qualifying and Race One enjoyed dry conditions. Tom Toparis elected not to race on the second night of Round Four.

In F1 qualifying, Nahlous was still on top form taking pole with a 1:32.756 from Mark Chiodo with a 1:32.822. These two were the only racers to break the 1:33sec mark. Condon, Nelson and Snowsill took third through fifth.

Kristian O’Donnell was fastest in F2 with a 1:38.117 ahead of Rodley, Boldrini, Bryce Thompson (Kawasaki ZX-6R) and Hunt, back in the fray after his Friday challenges.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Qualifying 2 Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 1 (Saturday)

Nahlous and Condon battled out for the win in Race One, with Nahlous eventually taking the win by two-tenths of a second and also carded the fastest lap with a 1:32.764. Chiodo took third, Nelson and Swain fourth and fifth.

Kristian O’Donnell maintained his strong form of Friday to take out F2 with a near three-second win over Boldrini. Rodley, Thompson and Smith taking the remaining top five positions.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 1 Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 2 (Saturday)

And then came the rain. F1 class was a complete no-show for the very wet Race Two, which was won by Kristian O’Donnell after a very entertaining battle with Tim Hunt.   The fastest lap of the race was recorded by Hunt, that 1:50.771 roughly 15-seconds from his dry track time, giving some indication of just how wet it was out there.

Rodley, John Hore (Suzuki GSXR600) and Bolster (who had switched to his trusty Suzuki SV650 for the wet races), rounded out the damp top five.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 2 Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 3 (Saturday)

The rain had eased for Race Three but the track was still very damp. More of the F2 riders took to the track but the only F1 rider on track was Corey Snowsill.

O’Donnell and Hunt picked up where they left off from Race One, fighting all the way to the flag with O’Donnell taking the win by less than two-seconds.

Lone F1 man Snowsill was third. Rodley and Hore completed the top five.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Race 3 Results

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 & F2 Overall

With all the track action in AMA Warehouse 600 F1/F2, the attention then turned to the event and series winners.

Nahlous took out the event win for F1 with 93-points, 20 ahead of Sean Condon with Corey Snowsill on 91 points in third.

With five wins from six starts, Kristian O’Donnell, on 138-points, topped F2 from Tim Rodley on 114. Brian Bolster’s efforts on the twin netted him third place for the weekend.

Wrapping it all up was the AMA Warehouse Summer Nights series standings. Nahlous taking the F1 title with 342-points, a 142-point margin over Marcus Hamod, who missed most of the final round after crashing early in the meeting.

Given Nahlous’ form through the weekend, it seems unlikely that Hamod would have been able to close the gap, had be been able to make the grid for the races he missed after the Friday Race Two incident.

F2 and what a series it was. Tim Rodley extended his lead a the top of the table, taking out the series win on 340-points with Tim Hunt in second on 276 and Kristian O’Donnell third on 265.

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 and F2 showcased some fabulous Supersport action through the MOTUL Summer Nights series. 600cc action always has plenty of battles at the front and all the way through the field and never fails to entertain.

That’s it. SNS04 is in the books and St George MCC can be proud of pulling off another classic series of racing under lights.

Summer Nights attracts bigger crowds of spectators and more competitors every year, this year’s innovation of giving AGV 400c/Formula St George a place in the schedule was a resounding success and the class is pretty much assured of a return in future.

Like all clubs, St George MCC could do with more volunteers so if you want to get close to the action and spend time around a fabulous bunch of people, reach out to the club (you can find them on Facebook) and have a chat.

End Transmission…

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 Round Overall

AMA Warehouse 600 F2 Round Overall

AMA Warehouse 600 F1 Standings

AMA Warehouse 600 F2 Standings

MOTUL Summer Night Series hosted by St George MCC