Supersport 300 at SMP had everything! We recap the three contests

ASBK 2024
Round Two – Sydney Motorsport Park
Race and Road Australian Supersport 300

Supersport 300 Race One

Josh Newman worked hard to try and break away from the pack, but couldn’t shake the likes of Valentino Knezovic, Jesse Stroud, Ryan Larkin, and Mitch Simpson.

Young Kiwi, Jesse Stroud, had his nose in front when it really mattered, taking the win by a nose over Newman at the flag.

Knezovic rounded out the podium ahead of Larkin with less than two-tenths covering that top four at the stripe.

Stroud also set the fastest lap of the race on lap five at 1m43.120, which also happened to be a new lap-record.

Supersport 300 Race One Results

Supersport 300 Race Two

Tayla Relph and Oscar Lewis both went down on the warm-up lap. No such problems for Josh Newman who lined up in pole position, keen for revenge on Jesse Stroud after the young Kiwi pipped him to the line on Friday night.

Josh Newman was the early race leader, ahead of Mitch Simpson and Valentino Knezovic. Race one victor, Jesse Stroud, was in fifth place, ahead of Harrison Watts.

At Turn Five on lap two, Ryan Larkin hit the deck. Just as that happened, officials were promulgating jump-start penalties for Knezovic and Short.

At half-race distance, Newman still held sway up front, but Stroud had moved up to second place. Knezovic was into third, with the Simpson brothers fourth and fifth just ahead of Harrison Watts. That top six had pulled away from their pursuers.

Over the course of the next lap, Josh Newman streaked away from that bunch. A 1m43.497 on that fourth lap, backed up by a 1m43.527 on the fifth lap, saw him extend his lead out to just over a full second.

Stroud and the Simpson brothers also got down to that mid-43 pace, despite tripping each other up at almost every turn in what was developing into a titanic battle for the remaining steps on the rostrum.

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It was a five-wide battle at times over the course of the final lap for second place. Jesse Stroud, Jordy Simpson, Mitch Simpson, Valentino Knezovic, and Harrison Watts were the protagonists in that contest. It was Knezovic who had his nose in front at the flag to claim that second position, while Watts rounded out the podium. Mitch Simpson third, Jesse Stroud fourth, and Jordy Simpson fifth. A meagre tenth-of-a-second covered those second through fifth positions.

Taking the chequered flag first, though, was Josh Newman. A dominant victory to the local lad extending his championship lead.

Supersport 300 Race Two Results

Supersport 300 Race Three

As final preparations were underway for the third and final Supersport 300 bout, drops of rain started to gently fall at various points around the circuit.  This caused the SMP track surface to shine under lights, quite a nice sight, unless you plan on barreling towards Turn One at full pelt…

Josh Newman and Valentino Knezovic traded the lead over the course of the opening lap, as Ryan Larkin, Mitch Simpson and Harrison Watts gave chase.

Race one victor, Jesse Stroud, was in sixth place early on, trailing Will Nassif. Not for long though. Stroud made short work of Nassif and Simpson, to quickly move up to third with seven laps to run.

There was no escape act for Newman in this one. If anything, the front group got tighter as the laps wore on as everyone diced and sliced each other up for position. Those battles allowed Jordy Simpson to join in on the fun, growing the numbers of that leading group to seven. And then there were ten!

With three laps to run, Stroud and Newman were side-by-side down the chute before ten riders covered just about every inch of available tarmac at the apex of Turn One, the entire group covered by around a second. Crazy!

Then Stroud and Newman both went down at Turn Nine on the final lap!

Valentino Knezovic led the rest of the throng onto the main straight for the final time, and got great drive to take the victory ahead of Will Nassif, while Calvin Moylan rounded out the podium.

Jordy Simpson fourth, Harrison Watts fifth, John Pelgrave sixth and Ryan Larkin seventh.  A mere 1.2-seconds covered that septet at the flag.

That win also gave Knezovic the round victory and moved him into third place in the championship.

Josh Newman and Harrison Watts leave SMP as joint championship leaders on 106-points apiece.

Supersport 300 Race Three Results

Supersport 300 Championship Points

Supersport Combined 300 Qualifying

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