Troy Guenther dominates ASBK SS Opener

Troy Guenther takes first ASBK Motul Supersport spoils

When the Motul Supersport category hit the track for their first race of the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli this afternoon, Troy Guenther showed the crowds that he came to round one to impress.

ASBK 2016 - Round One - Supersport Race One - Phillip Island - Image by Cameron White — ASBK 2016 – Round One – Supersport Race One – Phillip Island – Image by Cameron White

Guenther was on fire from the minute his bike left the grid this afternoon, getting his Graffiti Alley Racing Yamaha machine in to the early race lead, ahead of Kyle Buckley (Kawasaki) and Banhams WA Racing’s Sam Clarke.

After only one lap in the books, yesterday’s second fastest Supersport qualifier Mark Chiodo (Repsol Triumph) made his presence known, taking advantage of a mistake from Clarke, allowing him to move in to second position.

However, Chiodo’s second position was relatively short lived – the young rider crashing after only a few laps of racing, leaving him uninjured but unable to finish the race. The misfortune of Chiodo however, meant an advantage for another, with Kawasaki mounted Buckley and Yamaha’s Luke Mitchell, both able to move up the field in to second and third places respectively.

For Guenther, a race win looked to be a task he was up for and after four laps looked in no way to be slowing down – stretching out his lead out to an impressive 6.8 seconds, from second place holder Clarke, who had managed to recover from his earlier set back, and return to the front of the pack after making his way around Mitchell.

With Guenther well out in front, the fight for positions were left to happen behind him – with a five-way battle between Clarke, Mitchell, Cube Racing’s Callum Spriggs, Ryan Taylor (Yamaha) and Ben Blyth, keeping spectators on the edge of their seats.

With three laps to go Spriggs made the move on Mitchell allowing him to move in to third behind a hard charging Clarke.

It was Spriggs however who was on a real mission to the front, with the Kawasaki mounted rider beginning to apply the pressure on Clarke with only a few laps remaining. And after a short battle, Spriggs executed a pass on Clarke and slotted himself and his Cube Racing machine in to second position.

When Guenther received the last lap board, his lead remained healthy at six seconds, and when the chequered flag flew, the Yamaha mounted rider took the first Motul Supersport race win of the 2016 ASBK Championship by a total of 5.4 seconds, ahead of Spriggs and Clarke who concluded the race in second and third places respectively.

Guenther spoke straight after collecting the race win, sharing that his Pirelli Tyres had a lot to do with getting the job done.

“It was great to grab the first race of the ASBK Supersport season. It was quite a difficult race, but I did have a bit of a gap thanks to bit of drama behind me but it was probably the longest ten laps of my life,” he said.

“I was just trying to stay focused and the Graffiti Alley R6 Pirelli Tyres worked great – with the consistency in the tyre I am really happy with it.

“It was a bit warmer this afternoon, I was dirt tracking a little bit. The Pirelli tyres were handling the heat quite well and sliding around like a dirt tracker, I was really loving it.”