Australian Supersport 300 Championship results still up in the air

ASBK 2023
Round Seven – The Bend
Supersport 300

Supersport 300 Race One

After a forced restart following an Abbie Cameron crash which brought out the red flag, the racing in the Supersport 300 opener was as tight as ever before boiling down to a three-way fight between Cameron Swain, Brodie Gawith and Marcos Hamod.

And that’s how they finished, Swain victorious by a narrow 13-thousandths of a second to take a nine-point lead in the championship.

Supersport 300 Race One Results

Supersport 300 Race Two

Henry Snell went down at turn two, his championship aspiration ending up in the dirt with him and his YZF-R3. Ryan Larkin also an early faller.

Leading at the start of lap two was Marcus Hamod ahead of Jordy Simpson, Brodie Gawith and Cam Swain.  That quartet broke away from the rest of the field and started swapping positions between themselves.

Nothing separated them over the following laps but Swain looked more efficient than his fellow protagonists.

In the midst of the busy to and fro up front, it appeared that while tucked in behind Hamod, both Swain and Gawith had missed a yellow flag, thus both overtook Hamod who had slowed in response to seeing the yellow.   On the footage we have seen there were no yellow flags evident, but Tara Morrison was clearly on the grass after crashing at that point of the circuit, which would generally see a yellow flag produced. Further to that, people on the ground reported seeing the yellow flag and confirmed it had been shown.  However, it is not surprising that in the tight cut and thrust of battle in this crazy class riders could easily miss a flag while tucked in behind each other.  No boards were shown by officials for either Swain or Gawith to give up a position, as, at the time, officials were unaware of any pass under yellow happening.

In the final couple of laps Swain took up a rearguard position in that top four, biding his time for the final lap charge, a nine-point lead in the championship up his sleeve and on his mind…  

Swain made his move early on the final lap though and immediately stretched away from his pursuers. Gawith managed to inch back up on the tail of Swain around the back of the circuit.  Three abreast into turn 13, Swain, Gawith and Hamod, but Swain takes charge and swoops across to defend his lead. 

Brodie Gawith put it all on the line at the final turn but he ended up out on the grass and very sideways, his challenge for victory was done. 

It was then a run to the line between Hamod and Swain but it was Swain with his nose in front to take the victory, and with it Swain extended his championship lead over Hamod.

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Jordy Simpson rounded out the podium after being in that mix-up front all race, crossing the line half-a-second behind, while Brodie Gawith recovered from his final turn excursion to claim fourth place.

Sam Pezzetta headed the second group across the line, nine-seconds behind the race winner, but ahead of Brandon Demmery, Tayla Relph and Calvin Moylan. That foursome tussling over those positions throughout the seven-lap distance in their own separate battleground.

However, a protest was lodged by Marcus Hamod’s team alleging that Cameron Swain passed under a yellow flag in race two. That protest was initially dismissed as we believe at the time stewards did not have access to any footage that showed a yellow flag at that point of the circuit. The timing loops were also of no help due to their position in relation to the incident.

Hamod’s team later appealed that decision not to penalise Swain. Their protest was subsequently upheld (after racing had finished for the day), and thus Hamod was deemed the winner of this second race.  Subsequently, Swain was demoted to second. That would ultimately end up deciding the championship…

Supersport 300 Race Two Results

Supersport 300 Race Three

Brodie Gawith and Josh Newman were the chief early protagonists in the final Supersport 300 contest, but that pair were being chased hard by Marcus Hamod, Jordy Simpson, Cam Swain and Henry Snell.

Swain hit the lead for the first time halfway around the second lap only to then be swamped by the pack into turn one as they started lap three.

In the earlier contests, Tayla Relph had lost touch with the leading group, but this time around was keeping her hat in the ring, along with Brandon Demmery and Sam Pezzetta.  The leading group still numbering nine with little separating the ennead at half-race distance.

Swain into the lead again with three laps to go. Jordy Simpson then went down and out at turn three, reducing the size of that leading group to eight.

With two laps to run the leading group now started to stretch out.  Swain, Hamod and Gawith dropped the hammer and started to break away from their pursuers.

Swain took the last lap board with Gawith and Hamod right on his pipe. Gawith into the lead at turn one, Hamod up to second, Swain third. Hamod then into the lead at the end of the first sector, meanwhile Snell had caught onto the tail of that group and swelled its number to four.

Snell up the inside of Swain to take that third place late on the final lap.  Hamod leads Gawith onto the main straight, closely followed by Snell and Swain….

Hamod takes the win by a nose over Gawith with Snell rounding out the podium. Swain fourth.

Swain and his crew believed that he only but yeah as far as racing in the series Absolutely love it. needed eighth place to secure the championship, and Cameron rode to that target, however, the aforementioned protest over the results of race two was not decided until well after the completion of race three.

By that time Swain had been crowned champion in parc ferme, only to be later stripped of that honour, and the championship awarded to Hamod. A bitter pill to swallow for Swain, as there is no doubt he would have played the tactical game in this bout very differently if he had known the state of play heading into it.

It is never nice for a championship to be decided in the steward’s room, especially well after the fact, but I guess the lesson learned is that if there is any slight question over any incident, protest or appeal, you must race for the best result you can obtain, rather than play it safe.  Conversely though, if you crash when going too hard when not required, you would get called immature for not playing it safe. Doubled-edged sword, cruel game this racing business..

Congratulations to all competitors for an exciting hard-fought year of competition, and of course a special congratulations to Marcus Hamod for being crowned the 2023 Australian Supersport 300 Champion.

However, the final championship outcome still remains under a cloud, as the Swain family have told us they will be lodging an appeal.  As it stands at the moment though, Marcus Hamod is our 2023 Australian Supersport 300 Champion.

Supersport 300 Race Three Results

Supersport 300 Round Points

Supersport 300 Championship Points