Halliday dominates 2nd Supersport bout at The Bend

2018 ASBK – Round Three – The Bend

ASBK Supersport Race Two

The fog had lifted in time for the second Supersport race of the weekend to get underway at 0945 this morning at Tailem Bend. One rider missing from the grid though was young Broc Pearson, who finished on the podium here yesterday. The likeable Queenslander suffered an accident during the opening Asian Supersport race here yesterday afternoon and is currently in hospital having spinal injuries investigated and treated. A terrible blow to a young man who had already had to fight back from serious adversity too many times in his career.

Max Croker again got a brilliant run off the line as did local rider John Hunt and it was Hunt that led them through the first few turns as Tom Toparis worked his way past Croker and started to challenge the South Australian for the race lead.

Cru Halliday then worked his way past Zac Johnson and Damon Rees as Toparis took the race lead from Hunt. Halliday then picked off Croker, then Hunt, and set about reminding Toparis who had been the fastest Supersport rider around The Bend all weekend.

Toparis and Halliday then broke away and Cru made his move on Toparis with six laps to go. The Kawasaki of Toparis more than a match for the new YZF-R6 down the kilometre long Tailem Bend straight but Halliday managed to hold the Goulburn youngster off under brakes and retained the lead.

Retirees through either accident or mechanic problems by half race distance included Matt Barton, Jack Passfield and Scott Nicholson. Luke Mitchell suffered technical problems a couple of laps later and stopped on the circuit.

Once Halliday broke Toparis he started to disappear into the distance. Cru has gelled with this circuit and earlier in the weekend it looked as though no rider would get close to challenging him here this weekend. Toparis worked hard to broach that gap and Cru’s poor starts allowed the Kawasaki rider to be in the game, but once on a clear track Halliday simply had way too much speed.

The YRT man then strung together a series of 1m56s to romp away from the field, leading Toparis a lonely race in second place. Further back Max Croker had managed to break away from John Hunt and was looking to secure a strong podium.

John Hunt’s fourth placed had looked safe but a lap from the end the South Australian came under attack from Zac Johnson and Giuseppe Scarcella. Hunt managed to hold on to the line though to claim that fourth place by a tenth over Johnson.

Some nine-seconds earlier though Halliday had taken the chequered flag five-seconds ahead of Toparis with a further three-seconds back to Max Croker.

Cru Halliday now leads the Supersport Championship by seven-points over Toparis while the injured Pearson still lies third ahead of Damon Rees.