Supersport race reports from One Raceway ASBK – Results – Points – Images

ASBK 2024
Round Six – One Raceway
Australian Supersport Race One

Archie McDonald had looked in control of the Supersport category here this weekend right from the first time competitors rolled out of pit-lane on Friday morning.

At the other end of the spectrum, championship leader Jonathan Nahlous had experienced his most difficult start to a round so far this year. Nahlous was completely dominant at the Phillip Island season opener and has proved his pace everywhere, but the Complete AV backed team clearly needed to find more speed overnight if they were going to challenge Archie McDonald and his Stop & Seal team-mate Jack Mahaffy today.

Hayden Nelson had been showing some good form throughout the weekend, and the Dunlop runner could spring a surprise if it turns out that the Japanese rubber proves to have an advantage here today.

The likes of Tom Bramich, Olly Simpson, Jake Farnsworth and Sean Condon had been slowly building speed throughout the event and it would be interesting to see if they could find more pace today in order to challenge the likes of McDonald and Mahaffy in Sunday’s 16-lap contests.

They’re away!

Jack Mahaffy got the jump on Archie McDonald on the run to the line, Tom Bramich almost also got the better of McDonald along with Hayden Nelson.  McDonald recovered to hold onto that second position and set about chasing down his team-mate through the Fish Hook.

Across the stripe for the first time Mahaffy led McDonald by four-tenths with Nelson equidistant behind in third.

McDonald moved through to the lead early on lap two and immediately started to stretch away from Mahaffy. Nelson third, Bramich fourth, Simpson fifth, Nahlous sixth, Condon seventh and Farnsworth eighth.

Once out front, McDonald got down to 61.1, which he then backed up on lap four with a 61.0 to extend his lead out to over a second. Further behind, riders were starting to line up behind Mahaffy, little separated Mahaffy, Nelson, Bramich, Simpson and Nahlous, the quintet running line-astern through One Raceway’s twists and turns in what looked like a conga line dance.

McDonald then dipped under the 61 marker, a 60.912 on lap five, a 60.893 on lap six, before slowing slightly on lap seven with his lead over Mahaffy out to two-seconds.  Mahaffy had made second place his, pulling away from Olly Simpson, who had put a great move for third place on Hayden Nelson.  That pair still had Bramich and Nahlous in close company as the four-way fight for the final step on the rostrum was where all the action was..

Then McDonald goes down!  Just when it looked as though he had it run and won, McDonald went down at turn seven!

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Jake Farnsworth then went out in sympathy!

Inheriting a clear lead was Jack Mahaffy, who at half-race distance enjoyed a three-second lead over Olly Simpson.  That was until Simpson saved a big front-end lose with seven laps to run, losing two positions while recovering from what had looked like an almost certain crash, taking advantage were Jonathan Nahlous and Hayden Nelson.

In the championship chase it was extremely important for Simpson to try and get back in front of Nahlous, but the series leader was getting better as the race wore on and had started to pull away from both Simpson and Nelson. Not only that, Tom Bramich was now nipping at Simpson’s heels.

With three laps to run, Nahlous built up a head of steam and put in a 60.9 to start reeling in Mahaffy. With two laps to go the gap was still more than two-seconds, and that distance proved too much to claw back.

Jack Mahaffy the clear and deserved victor, upping his pace in response to the threat with the fastest lap of the race and new lap record on the penultimate lap.

The come-from-behind performance from Nahlous after struggling for pace all weekend perhaps the story of the race though, and perhaps one of the main storylines of the championship. With that second place, Nahlous extends his championship lead over Simpson to 23-points.

Hayden Nelson rounded out the podium on the BCperformance Kawasaki ahead of Olly Simpson, who only just managed to keep Tom Bramich at bay over the final laps.

Jake Farnsworth managed to get back on track and complete the race for a couple of points, but that was a hefty hit to his championship hopes.

Supersport Race One Results

Australian Supersport Race Two

Jonathan Nahlous did a great job in race one to find the pace that had been evading him all weekend, which enabled him to take great advantage of the mistakes made by championship challengers Archie McDonald and Jake Farnsworth in that opening contest.

Nahlous went into this second bout at One Raceway on Sunday afternoon 23-points clear of Simpson, 40-points ahead of Tom Bramich, and with a 43-point buffer over Jake Farnsworth. With two crashes in as many races, Archie McDonald was now 56-points behind Nahlous.

Jack Mahaffy had taken the clear victory in the opening race and set a new lap record, but was not in the championship contest.

It looked clear that the Supersport silverware was not going to end up in the Stop & Seal trophy cabinet this season, no matter what happened from here…

It was on like Donkey Kong as they entered turn one, but it was Archie McDonald and Jack Mahaffy who emerged in front of Olly Simpson, Tom Bramich, Hayden Nelson and Jonathan Nahlous.

Race one winner Mahaffy led them across the stripe for the first time, his lead at the end of the opening lap an impressive half-a-second over team-mate McDonald, who in-turn had half-a-second on Simpson.

Hayden Nelson and Tom Bramich almost brushed fairings as the Kawasaki man forced his way up the inside of Bramich early on lap three to take fourth.

Mahaffy continued to pull away out front, his lead out to a full second on lap four, but McDonald responded and stopped that gap getting any larger.

The Stop & Seal pair continued to pull away from the field, after six laps Mahaffy led McDonald by a second, with Simpson a further 1.6-seconds behind in third, but with 1.4-seconds over Hayden Nelson.  Jonathan Nahlous was a further two-seconds behind in fifth and battling with Tom Bramich at this juncture.

As the race reached the halfway point, McDonald upped his pace, dropping in a 60.558 on lap seven to pull half-a-second back on Mahaffy.  McDonald right on Mahaffy’s tail-pipe as they started lap nine.

Olly Simpson then crashed out of third place at turn ten. That will be costly in the championship chase for the South Australian!

That promoted championship leader Jonathan Nahlous to fourth place, 1.4 seconds behind third-placed Hayden Nelson, but with a four-second buffer over fifth-placed Glenn Nelson.

Up front, McDonald continued to shadow Mahaffy, the Stop & Seal pair almost eight-seconds clear of Hayden Nelson with five laps to go.  McDonald briefly put his nose in front of Mahaffy but got in too deep, which allowed Mahaffy to sweep back under him with ease.

McDonald into the lead again with three laps to go, and this time, the effervescent youngster made it stick and then dropped in a 60.595 to pull a couple of bike lengths out on Mahaffy.

Nothing separated the pair at the last lap board, Mahaffy on McDonald’s tail all the way around the circuit, pulled alongside him on the run to the flag but McDonald takes the win by a nose, his fourth victory of the season.

McDonald was stoked with his win but ruing what could have been if not for crashing out while leading race one.

A great breakthrough weekend for Mahaffy with the round win.

Hayden Nelson rounded out the podium 11-seconds further behind, two-seconds clear of Nahlous, but very happy with his performance this weekend.

Sean Condon won a heady battle with Farnsworth and Glenn Nelson for fifth place, which earned him fourth place for the round.

Jonathan Nahlous never had the speed to challenge for victory this weekend. Yet, the teenager stuck it out, stayed on the bike and scored good points to emerge from this round with his championship lead doubled.  Nahlous came into this round with a 20-point lead and left with a 40-point lead. Despite his lack of pace here, JJ got the job done, made the best of what he had, kept his nose clean, and has now put himself in a commanding position with one round to go.

Tom Bramich also somewhat of a quiet achiever here this weekend, as he has been all season, never really figuring highly at the pointy end, but staying on and racking up the points. That form sees him now third in the championship, only three-points behind Simpson.

There are three races to go at The Bend finale, but it is fair to say that Nahlous now has one hand on the 2024 Australian Supersport Championship crown.

Supersport Race Two Results

Supersport Round Points

Supersport 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