Passfield and Watson duel for top Superbike Masters honours at SMP

ASBK 2024
Round Two – Sydney Motorsport Park
Australian Superbike Masters

It should be noted the Superbike Masters field is far from equal. That is not a criticism or an attempt to take anything away from the winners, it is just a statement of fact. The Superbike Masters field at ASBK events has five sub-categories across the Period 5 and Period 6 machinery. In this report we just cover the overall, without drilling down into the sub-categories.

Superbike Masters Race One

Keo Watson (FZR1000) and Jack Passfield (FZR1000) quickly broke away from the pack when the opening race got underway late Friday night. Alex Phillis (XR69) gave chase, but with that leading duo straight into the 1m36s, he had to really put his head down to claw back ground.

Jack Passfield took the lead after two laps, while Alex Phillis started to reel in Watson, after also dipping into the 36s. Watson then got his head down again, though, pulling away from Phillis and taking the fight for victory back up to Passfield.

Watson was back into the lead with two laps to run after putting in a new fastest lap of the race, 1m36.256. Phillis couldn’t match that pace, but was looking safe in third with ten seconds over Ryan Taylor (GSX-R1100).

Passfield didn’t give up the chase, hounding Watson all the way to the flag. Passfield was into the lead around the back of the circuit, and it would come down to the run through the final turns and the best launch out of the final turn down the chute. Passfield held Watson off for the win by a nose at the flag.

Alex Phillis took third place five-seconds further behind, but with a hefty 13-seconds over fourth-placed Ryan Taylor.

Superbike Masters Race One Results

Superbike Masters Race Two

The second Superbike Masters contest got underway at 1815 on Saturday evening, and again, Keo Watson and Jack Passfield immediately established their dominance, streaking away from Troy Corser (Katana) and Alex Phillis.

After four laps, Watson and Passfield were more than nine-seconds ahead of Alex Phillis and Troy Corser.

A red flag then came out after Damion Davis fell heavily at Turn Three, and the race was declared. The Kawasaki rider was transported to hospital for precautionary scans.

Superbike Masters Race Two Results

Superbike Masters Race Three

The track was quite wet when the Superbike Masters competitors took to the track for their third and final six-lap contest that would also round out the Sydney Motorsports Park round of the Australian Superbike Championship.

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Keo Watson once again got down to business and led the way. This time, though, he didn’t have Jack Passfield in close company. Passfield couldn’t match Watson’s early wet pace. Josh Mathers (FZR1000) was in third place but he had a jump-start penalty. Glenn Hindle suffered the same fate.

Mathers got the better of Passfield for second place, but had that jump-start penalty to serve, which promoted Passfield back up to second place.

By the flag, though, the gap to fourth-placed Dean Oughtred was still so large that even after the jump-start penalty had been applied, Mathers was still 27-seconds clear of the Victorian on the final time-sheets.

Keo Watson the victor in this final race of the night, but Jack Passfield was the round winner with 70 points.

Superbike Masters Race Three Results

Superbike Masters Championship Points

Superbike Masters 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