Callum Alderson undefeated in the YMF R3 Cup at Round 3 of the ASBK
Callum Alderson had plenty of reason to celebrate yesterday, battling across two action packed races to wrap up Round 3 of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli on the top step of the YMF R3 Cup podium.
After a brief warm up session it’s was straight into racing for the R3 Cup competitors at SMP, and it was Alderson who got the jump off the start, and moved into the race two lead. Hunter Ford, Ty Lynch, Aiden Hayes and Mitch Levy followed closely behind to round out the top five.
But before one lap had even been completed, a crash at turn nine forced the race to be red-flagged.
When the R3 Cup machines lined up on the grid for a second time, the race was reduced to six laps, but it didn’t deter the likes of Alderson, who after a brief battle with Yamaha mounted Levy, took control of the race once again.
By the second lap Alderson made an ever so slight gap on second place holder Levy, and from there the battle for second and third positions heated up. Ford making the move on Levy to snatch away second position going in to turn one on lap three.
With Ford on a charge the Ford Brothers Racing rider then set his sights on race leader Alderson, and it wasn’t long before Ford made use of the the slip stream to make the pass for first position.
Despite Ford looking strong out in front, Alderson and Levy continued to apply the pressure, but it was Alderson who proved that he had the pace once again, over taking Ford for the lead with only three laps remaining.
In the closing stages, the top six had almost a 25 second lead on the remainder of the YMF R3 Cup field, and with a flash of the last lap board, Alderson and Ford were once again neck in neck.
However, when the chequered flag flew, Alderson held on to take the race two victory, while Ford and Levy finished in second and third places respectively.
With rain falling in the early afternoon yesterday, the YMF R3 Cup competitors were forced to prepared their bikes for a wet track, and with time constraints also against them, the third race was reduced to six laps.
When race three got underway, the battle for the lead was between Alderson and Hayes, as the pair managed the wet conditions.
By the half way point in the race, Alderson remained out in front, followed by Hayes in second place. With only marginal gaps developing in the field, there were limited changes, however with only two laps remaining on the board, Hayes crashed marking the end to his battle with Alderson.
Alderson was then in a lonely first place, and the battle then shifted to second and third positions between Lynch and Michael King, with under a second separating the pair.
And when the chequered flag flew for the final time for the YMF R3 Cup competitors, Alderson crossed the line undefeated, marking a positive weekend for the teenager.
Lynch managed to cross the finish line in second ahead of King, who finishing the final race in third position. Zac Levy crossed the finish line in fourth, while Hunter Ford rounded out the top five positions.
With a successful weekend under his belt, Alderson walked away holding the overall trophy for Round 3 of the ASBK, and shared his thoughts on the win after being showered in champagne on the podium.
Callum Alderson
“The awesome Yamaha YZF-R3 is a little beast of a bike, so much fun to ride, I can’t thank the team at Yamaha enough for their work in getting this series of the ground. It’s given dad and I a great affordable category to race in, where we don’t need to be rocket scientists to be contenders!.
“The Pirelli tyres worked faultlessly all weekend both wet and dry and I’m stoked to have them on board, the product and technical support definitely gives me an extra edge! Usually with so much spray from the other bikes visibility is very limited, thankfully though the new Yamalube silicon cleaner helped keep my vision clear throughout. A big thanks to all my sponsors and supporters for the hard work and massive efforts and the Marshals and officials for their work! And of course my parents for letting me live the dream!
“The weekend’s results have me at the top of the table for the Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup and in second place for the Over 300cc Production class. Whilst earlier in the year our intention was to only compete in 5 rounds of the R3 Cup, the strength of the results in Over 300 mean we’re going to hit the road for Barbagallo in Western Australia in June!
Zac Levy
“I just played it consistent, as I know you don’t have to win every race to win the championship,” said Levy. “You simply just have to finish every race, so I’m pretty happy to come away with second and it’s been a good round for me.”
Ty Lynch
“It’s been a pretty productive weekend,” said Lynch. “I believe we came away with a lot of positives. In saying that we made a few bad decisions with setup, but we managed to recuperate and get things headed in the right direction.”
YMF R3 Cup Round Points
- Callum ALDERSON 75
- Zac LEVY 55
- Ty LYNCH 53
- Hunter FORD 50
- Michael KING 48
- James BOYLE 42
- Aidan HAYES 33
- Arkadiusz DEPCZYNSKI 26
- Steven MASON 24
- Daniel MOORE 24
YMF R3 Cup Championship Standings
- Callum ALDERSON 133
- Zac LEVY 130
- Hunter FORD 106
- Ty LYNCH 103
- Michael KING 93
- James BOYLE 84
- Aidan HAYES 82
- Steven MASON 58
- Daniel MOORE 57
- Glenn FOSTER 35
Over 300 Production class
In the Over 300 Production class, YRD’s supported rider Brandon Demmery kept his winning performance going, by snaring a 1-3-1 result, beating fellow YRD riders in Alderson and Jack Mahaffy.
Goulburn teenager Tom Toparis also enjoyed an impressive weekend in the Up To 300 Production ranks, finishing fourth overall with a 2-4-4 scorecard at the conclusion of the round. He climbed to fifth in the championship in the process.
YRD’s director John Redding said both the Yamaha R3 Cup class and the Over 300 Production class has proven to be some of the closest racing out of all the categories over the weekend.
“We are really excited about what has come out of the two classes thus far. We are really happy about the specification of the R3 Cup bike, because they have shown they are equally competitive as the 300 Production class bikes.”
Redding now believes that they just have to work harder on trying to get more people to come and see the bikes and the racing and then hopefully sign up and start racing in that class.
Round 2 Australian Over 300 Production Results
- Brandon Demmery – 68
- Callum Allderson – 63
- Jack Mahaffy – 51
- Aiden Hayes – 49
- Ty Lynch – 47
- James Boyle – 40
- Hunter Ford – 36
- Jack Dawes – 30
- Michael King – 28
- Steven Mason 25
