Blow by blow recap from opening Superbike race at Phillip Island

ASBK 2024
Round Five – Phillip Island
Australian Superbike Race One

Images RbMotoLens

The ‘blow by blow’ title could have not been more apt for this one with blustery gales swirling down Phillip Island’s main straight as Superbike competitors formed up on the grid just after 1100 on Sunday morning for the opening bout of this fifth round of the 2024 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship.

The wind would blow them deep into turn one, then turn into a headwind at Hayshed, causing a myriad of complications for the 23 riders on the grid all the way around this 4.445-kilometre circuit.

The track temperature was just over 24 degrees, and the ambient temperature was just under 15 degrees. Keeping any sort of temperature in the right-hand side of the front tyre for the two low-speed turns was going to be a difficult ask, amidst cold tearing or graining dramas at the other end of the spectrum.

Not complicated at all then…

Josh Waters would start from pole while lining up alongside him on the front row was Cru Halliday and Harrison Voight.

Arthur Sissis headed row two and was flanked on the grid by Mike Jones and Glenn Allerton.

On the warm-up lap, Dwayne Tosen had a dramatic tumble through the gravel trap at Hayshed and would thus not participate in this contest.

This led to a momentary delay on the grid when riders readied for the race start. Riders wondered what was going on before long-time ASBK official Brendan Ferrari displayed the ‘State Delayed’ board as officials cleared some signage that had blown onto the circuit.

The decision was also made to reduce the race distance to ten laps.

RelatedPosts

Recapping the Nolan Superbike Masters finale from The Bend

November 15, 2024

Aussie wildcard stars in bLU cRU Asia-Pacific finale

November 14, 2024

Riders headed off on another warm-up lap just after 1115, then came around to grid up once again, only to be delayed once again.

Team personnel headed onto the grid with tyre warmers while Josh Waters jumped off his bike and over the wall to talk with officials. A few more riders also briefed officials on the conditions out on track and voiced their concerns with the heat cycling of tyres.

Cam Dunker seemed to stall when he tried to take off for the warm-up lap but got going again after only a momentary delay, before eventually pulling off the circuit with an electrical problem and failed to make the start.

The race distance was further reduced to nine-laps.

And the lights go out!

Josh Waters led his McMartin Racing team-mate Harrison Voight through turn one ahead of Glenn Allerton, Arthur Sissis and Cru Halliday. That order remained the same until turn four on lap two when Cru Halliday split Sissis and Allerton to scythe his way through to third place in an amazing move.

Up front Harrison Voight was trying to get on terms with Josh Waters, the pair almost nose to tail while both recording 1m31.7s on the second lap of the reduced nine-lap distance. By the time they started lap three the McMartin duo had two-seconds on Halliday.

Arthur Sissis was looking determined to keep Cru Halliday honest, the Stop & Seal rider nipping at the heels of the YRT man throughout lap three as they stretched away from Glenn Allerton.

Mike Jones and Anthony West then pushed Allerton back to seventh place. Westy then ran very wide at turn four on the following lap which ruined his chances of a top seven finish.

Bryan Staring was experiencing some problems on the MotoGo Yamaha and retired to the pits with oil trailing from his machine.

Voight was on the tail of Waters as they started lap five and almost looked to be shaping up for a move at turn one before thinking better of it. That pair had three-seconds on Halliday, who was still being chased hard by Sissis.  Mike Jones had made his way into fifth place by this halfway stage of the race.

Voight went up the inside of Waters at turn four to take the lead for the first time with under three laps to go.

Arthur Sissis moved past Halliday for third place at turn four with less than two laps to run. Also coming into play for that final step on the rostrum was Mike Jones and Glenn Allerton, who had honed in on that pair and the quartet ran almost nose-to-tail through Hayshed. Sissis a little wide at MG which allowed Halliday back through… Jones gets a better run through 11 and 12, but Sissis somehow grabbed the lead on the run to turn one and kept it tidy enough through the opening sequence of turns to keep his foes at bay…

Last lap and nothing separated Voight and Waters, while almost five-seconds further behind, little separated Sissis, Jones, Halliday and Allerton…

Voight the victor!  His first win on a Superbike!

Josh Waters took the flag just over two-tenths behind the 18-year-old to extend his championship lead over Jones to 23-points.

Arthur Sissis did a brilliant job of holding Halliday, Allerton and Jones at bay to take the final step on the rostrum. That was some battle for third that really ramped over the closing laps and Sissis was stoked to break through for his first Superbike podium.

Max Stauffer claimed seventh place with a large gap over Anthony West.

Broc Pearson worked his way through to ninth after a poor start, while John Lytras rounded out the top ten in front of the returning Matt Walters.

Superbike Race One Results

ASBK Superbike Championship Points

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