Morning round up from ASBK Superbike and Supersport practice from P.I.

ASBK 2024
Round Five – Phillip Island

Images by RbMotoLens

A condensed fifth round of the 2024 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship got underway on Saturday morning. Little was lost by not having any on-track action scheduled for Friday, as it was a wet and horrible day at Phillip Island yesterday. However, conditions were brightening nicely on Saturday morning ahead of what would likely shape up as quite a pleasant afternoon.

The forecast for Sunday is much the same, but a chance of a late afternoon shower may complicate proceedings late in the day.

It took some time for the track to dry out on Saturday morning, so few competitors took to the circuit for FP1 until the dying minutes of the 25-minute session, even then no rider went under 1m40s.

The sun didn’t really have much bite until after 1100, just in time for the second Supersport practice session. Missing from the Supersport grid this weekend is Tom Toparis. The Goulburn based speedster suffered significant pelvic injuries at Morgan Park and is having to sit this one out.  Back in the fold, though, after a short absence, is Mark Chiodo.

Jonathan Nahlous dominated here at round one, pole position and three victories setting the Sydney youngster up with a perfect 76-point haul from the season opener. Nahlous led the FP2 session here this morning before being usurped by Archie McDonald at the flag, the Albury-based youngster the only rider into the 35s in FP2, a 1m35.990 good enough to top the session ahead of Nahlous (1m36.096) and Olly Simpson (1m36.342).  Mark Chiodo led the session early on but eventually slipped to fourth as his rivals steadily improved. With more warmth in the track and rubber down this afternoon, we expect those times to be dramatically improved upon when riders hit the track for their qualifying sessions this afternoon.

Immediately following the second Supersport session was Superbike FP2.  The times tumbled quickly, Anthony West, Broc Pearson and Glenn Allerton all in the 34s on their second lap before Josh Waters slotted in the first 33 on his third lap of the day. Neither Waters nor his young McMartin Racing team-mate Harrison Voight turned a wheel in the earlier FP1 session. Westy was also quickly down to 33s, as were Broc Pearson and Harrison Voight.

With just under ten-minutes remaining in the session, Mike Jones moved up to P2 on a 1m33.251, but Waters was still on top thanks to an earlier 1m33.049. Anthony West then bested them all with the first 1m32 of the day, a 1m32.514 on the Addicted To Track Yamaha. Sissis joined him in the 32s with three-minutes remaining to go P2.

Josh Waters crossed the stripe to go second quickest just before the chequered flag came out to signal the end of the 25-minute FP2 session. Then, on his final flying lap, he was a fraction under that in the first sector but lost a tenth in the second sector, he was still a tenth behind at the third split but had a great run through 11 and 12 to put in a 1m32.545. That time, though, just shy of Westy’s marker.

Superbike competitors will be back on track at 1415 for their third practice session before Q1 gets underway at 1530, immediately followed by Q2 for the Top 12 at 1600.  Supersport final qualifying is scheduled to take place at 1505.

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