Robbie Bugden has not played a starring role at any round this year since the season opener at Phillip Island. But few mistakes and excellent consistency has seen Bugden on the outright podium at almost every round, and at the ones he wasn’t he still placed fourth overall. That all came to an end in the grass at Morgan Park. That was the first serious mistake the Queenslander has made all season, but he is most certainly still has a red-hot shot at the title. The five-time NZ Superbike Champion is one of the only men to have ever dipped into the 1m29s at Sydney Motorsport Park. Bugden’s 1m29.842, set on a GSX-R1000 in 2013, is the current qualifying lap record around the 3.93km Gardner Circuit layout. Previously known as Eastern Creek International Raceway.
Josh Waters has had his ups and downs during the season but there is no doubt that both himself and the GSX-R1000 have plenty of speed. The Mildura based 30-year-old won the Australian Superbike Championship in both 2009 and 2012 on PTR prepared Suzuki’s and showed in Darwin how strong that package can be. Tyre wear held them back at Morgan Park but Josh still scored an outright podium, he is sure to be strong in these latter stages of the season.
Josh Hook is expected to be back in the mix this weekend and could upset some of the series regulars on the Ducati Panigale R. Straight after this round Hook will fly to Europe to contest the opening round of the FIM Endurance World Championship with FCC TSR Honda
Glenn Allerton’s arm will be stronger than it was at Morgan Park as the Sydneysider continues his return to form after that devastating injury at Wakefield Park early in the year. The 36-year-old is the current race lap record holder at SMP with a 1m30.366 recorded in 2016.
