2017 ASBK – Round One – Phillip Island – Australian Supersport Race One
19-year-old Triumph rider Mark Chiodo blasted the 675cc triple off the line at 1615 this afternoon but the youngster was challenged by both Mason Coote and Ted Collins down towards turn one but it was the Repsol Triumph that led the 35-strong field through Southern Loop for the first time.
As they negotiated the Hayshed it was Mason Coote doing the best job of trying to keep Chiodo honest, the pair immediately starting to pull away from Ted Collins and Luke Mitchell.
On the next lap Luke Mitchell was cannonballed by Sam Muldoon at turn four, both men out of the running as a result.
Then with seven laps to go Mark Chiodo lost the front at MG Hairpin, the Triumph sliding down the road and on the grass. He picked it up and rejoined the race in 13th position but now with a clear lead and looking likely to be unchallenged at the front of the field was Mason Coote, while Ted Collins and Ryan Taylor would battle it out for the remainding steps on the podium.
Nic Liminton was in a fairly lonely fourth position while young Supersport debutante Tom Toparis was engaged in a battle for fifth position with Jordan Carlsson, Ben Burke and Sam Condon.
Liminton then made a mistake and lost a lot of ground, shuffled all the way back to eighth spot and promoting young Toparis into fourth position, but still with Burke, Carlsson and Condon all over the tailpipe of his ZX-6R.
At the flag it was Coote the clear victor, the Western Australian’s Yamaha YZF-R6 almost four-seconds clear of second placed Ted Collins, the youngster had managed to stretch a clear gap over Ryan Taylor who rounded out the podium.
Ben Burke used his experience to take fourth place from Toparis on the run to the line.
Mark Chiodo had clawed his way back through the field to squeeze up to ninth place at the flag after getting the better of Callum Alderson.
Mason Coote
“I can’t believe it! It’s my first podium and first win! I haven’t raced since 2015. I was fortunate that Mark made a mistake and I was there to pick up the pieces. Most of the sponsorship for this round has come from my mates, they are the back bone of my operation and I can’t thank them enough.”
Mark Chiodo
“I had a good start to the race and had maintained good pace, however on the third lap I probably was going a bit too quick over at Lukey Heights and tried to make the corner but ran out of road and lost the front end at only about 60kph. Once you wash out like that you can’t make it back to the front. It’s pretty disappointing as we should be collecting all the points this weekend, but that’s racing and we still have two more tomorrow.”.
Australian Supersport Race One Results
- Mason Coote / Yamaha
- Ted Collins +3.795 / Suzuki
- Ryan Taylor +9.964 / Yamaha
- Ben Burke +18.394 / Yamaha
- Tom Toparis +18.418 / Kawasaki
- Jordan Carlsson +19.135 / Yamaha
- Sam Condon +19.287 / Yamaha
- Nic Liminton +21.877 / Yamaha
- Mark Chiodo +25.447 / Triumph
- Callum Alderson +26.113 / Yamaha
- Hayden Spinks +39.029 / Kawasaki
- Brian Houghton +39.104 / Honda
- Cam Russell +39.583 / Yamaha
- Lincoln Gilding +48.526 / Yamaha
- Michael Knight +50.732 / Yamaha
- Rhys Belling +51.425 / Yamaha
- Zac Levy +51.268 / Yamaha
- Aidan Heyes +53.751 / Yamaha
- Adrian Forde +55.744 / Suzuki
- Grant Davis +56.304 / Kawasaki
