Mike Jones the favourite as ASBK heads to QLD
By Trevor Hedge (with quotes by M.A.)
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The second ASBK round for 2015 will take place at Morgan Park this weekend, April 10-12, with an 88-rider entry list across the Superbike (15), Supersport (20), 250/300 Production (9), Moto3 / 125 (11), Supermoto (18) and Formula 3 (15) categories.
Team Honda dominated the opening round of the ASBK series, which was held in conjunction with the World Superbike event at Phillip Island. Also on the podium at Phillip Island was Mike Jones, and with Team Honda and Yamaha Racing Team absent from Morgan Park, it is the queenslander that will be the favourite heading into this weekend’s second round of the ASBK Championship.
Speaking ahead of the Yamaha Motor Finance ASBK Championship round, Mike Jones said that he is hoping to use his hometrack advantage to get the best result possible on the weekend.
“I’m really looking forward to racing the second round of ASBK as it is my home round, and I think it will give me a great advantage when it comes to circuit knowledge,” he said.
“I think that competing at this round is pretty important – with the knowledge I have here it will give me a great chance to possibly take the championship lead since I am currently sitting in third place.
“So it is really important to get there, do as well as we possibly can, and see how we are sitting at the end of the weekend.”
In terms of the competition on the weekend Jones admitted Falzon would be a threat, but also noted that there are a host of other riders to keep an eye on.
“I think that anyone can be a threat on any given race weekend, and we definitely have an advantage with the circuit and our bike since we have already had a season racing on it.
“In particular for Daniel (Falzon) he will be racing a new model bike so they will still have a fair bit of developing to do, and that should give me a bit of a head start this weekend with bike and circuit knowledge.
“I am pretty confident with trying to get race wins and trying to take the round win, but like I said at the end of the day, everybody is a threat out there and we will need a bit of luck to finish on the top step of the podium.”
In the Superbike class Mike Jones should provide a good measuring stick for the form of Superbike rookie Daniel Falzon who will ride a new Yamaha YZF-R1 at the event.
Racing alongside Jones will be team boss Ben Henry on another Cube Racing ZX-10R while New Zealand’s Ryan Hampton will front the grid on a NextGen BMW HP4. The Kiwi might well be at home on the tight environs of the Morgan Park circuit a little reflective of the tarmac back home although there are few places where the top-end horsepower of the BMW can be unleashed on such a circuit.
Phil Lovett (Kawasaki), Chas Hern (EBR) and Adam Senior (Suzuki) are the remaining A-Grade riders entered in the Superbike category.
B graders Phil Czaj (Aprilia), Tony Keogh (BMW), Andy Fisher (BMW) and James Mutton (Ducati) will bring some European flavour to the ASBK Superbike field.
MCNews.com.au would not be at all surprised to see some of these B graders perhaps upset some of the more fancied A graders in the field. The wildcard of the group may indeed be James Mutton as the Queenslander has spent the past few season competing in the ranks of the British Superbike support categories, and his B grading perhaps more reflective of his experience prior to leaving our shores than his current form.
While the ASBK Superbike field numbers 15 riders, the competition looks fiercer in the Supersport ranks with 20 riders taking to the 3km Morgan Park Raceway.
Brayden Elliott, Troy Guenther, Alex Phillis, Thyron Van Vuuren, Chris Quinn and Aaiden Coote are all potential podium protagonists in the 600cc Supersport category.
Supersport favourite would be Callum Spriggs, but after the Queensland Yamaha rider crashed during testing for the Asia Road Racing Championship last week, his form will be in doubt. We spoke to Spriggs this morning though and he is going to try and ride.
Qualifying takes place Saturday including a Pirelli Superbike Superpole session slated for 1520 on Saturday afternoon. Pirelli is sponsoring the Superpole session with a new Pirelli Superpole awards program which features separate awards for the fastest qualifiers in the Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Superbike and Yamaha Supersport classes. The fastest qualifiers in each class win a free set of Pirelli Tyres on offer as the prize.
All categories apart from the premier Superbike and Supersport also have their first race on Saturday afternoon.
The ASBK Sunday schedule starts with the 250/300 Production category race two at 0930 with the first Superbike bout set down for 1135.
ASBK Ticket Prices: Adults: $20 – Concession: $10 – Under 15: Free
2-day passes: Adults: $30 – Concession: $15 – Under 15: Free
Spectators can also win the ride of a lifetime on the back of a Superbike piloted by an Australian Champion! Click Here for more.
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After Morgan Park ASBK heads to Barbagallo Raceway (WA) on the weekend of May 24 for round three. Then it is across the Tasman to Symmons Plains for round four on September 6 before returning to Phillip Island on October 4 for the fifth and final round of the series.
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