ASBK 2024
Round Three- QLD Raceway
Australian Superbike / Supersport FP1
A slightly overcast sky was throwing shadows across Queensland Raceway this morning, but the track had started to warm up by the time Superbike competitors exited pit-lane for the first of their scheduled three 30-minute practice sessions at 1025 on Friday. The ambient temperature was registering 23-degrees and the track, a balmy 32-degrees.
Most of the grid tested here earlier in the month, but for Arthur Sissis this morning was the first time the South Australian threw a leg over the new Stop & Seal Yamaha Superbike. Not content with having six Supersport machines on the grid, Robbie Bolger’s team has thrown Sissis a lifeline after his regular Unitech-backed team ran into some problems. Not only has Arthur never thrown a leg over the bike, but no-one has shaken down the bike itself. They did have two Superbikes, but one of those was recently destroyed during testing while being shaken down by a mechanic. Thus, they really do start well behind the eight ball this weekend.
Josh Waters and Mike Jones were in no hurry to hit the track. The 30-minute session was almost at the halfway mark before they bothered to put in a time.
Bryan Staring led most of the opening session before being knocked out of top spot by Mike Jones with ten-minutes remaining.
Staring holds the race lap record here with a 1m07.861 he set in 2022 on the DesmoSport Ducati. The qualifying lap record is held by Troy Herfoss, a 1m07.655, set in 2023.
Glenn Allerton had set the very early pace before Staring went top, and the GT Racing BMW rider returned to the top of the time-sheets with five-minutes left on the clock, displacing Jones from P1. Allerton, was the first man in the 7s today, with a 1m07.945, as the three-time champ as he set about getting his championship back on track after a pre-season injury stunted his progress earlier in the season.
But in the dying seconds of the session, Mike Jones stole Allerton’s thunder, with a 1m07.896 on the YRT man’s 12th and final lap, seeing him start the day where he aims to finish the weekend, on top…. and Jones put in fewer laps than any other rider in the top ten.
Josh Waters ended the opening session in fourth place, ahead of Anthony West and Max Stauffer. Of course, we expect Josh to be battling for the win come Sunday, but it will be interesting to see if West and Stauffer can put themselves in that mix when the lights go out.
Troy Herfoss was in an uncharacteristic seventh place this morning. However, the defending champ had put in 21 laps, more than any other rider, which suggests he was evaluating long-run pace on the DesmoSport Ducati ahead of Sunday’s 16-lap contests.
Eighth place went to Cru Halliday on his 16th and final lap of the session, ahead of Broc Pearson. Young rookie, Cam Dunker, rounded out the top ten.
Arthur Sissis put in 15 laps as he familiarised himself with his new Superbike. The Stop & Seal Team will have plenty of feedback to act on before Superbike competitors are on track again at 1325 for FP2, ahead of their third and final 30-minute session for the day at 1515.
Superbike FP1 Times
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | M Jones | Yam | 1m07.896 |
| 2 | G Allerton | BMW | +0.049 |
| 3 | B Staring | Yam | +0.421 |
| 4 | J Waters | Duc | +0.455 |
| 5 | A West | Yam | +0.617 |
| 6 | M Stauffer | Yam | +0.640 |
| 7 | T Herfoss | Duc | +1.163 |
| 8 | C Halliday | Yam | +1.287 |
| 9 | B Pearson | Duc | +1.378 |
| 10 | C Dunker | Yam | +2.261 |
| 11 | A Sissis | Yam | +2.544 |
| 12 | J Lytras | Yam | +2.622 |
| 13 | T Lynch | Oth | +2.900 |
| 14 | P Hardwick | Kaw | +2.927 |
| 15 | M Edwards | Yam | +4.229 |
| 16 | E Leeson | Yam | +4.244 |
| 17 | R Yanko | Duc | +5.524 |
| 18 | J Soderland | Yam | +5.602 |
| 19 | P Linkenbagh | Yam | +5.862 |
| 20 | M Kemp | Yam | +9.383 |
Supersport FP1
Supersport competitors were on track early this morning, with pit-lane opening for the 18 entrants at 0920. Soon after the session got underway, though, a red flag stoppage interrupted the session, with Jake Farnwsworth going down at the final turn. But Farnsworth was back on track when the session resumed and bounced back to fourth quickest.
It was a Stop & Seal Racing 1-2-3-4 at the end of FP1 headed by Tom Toparis. Both Toparis and his young team-mate. Archie McDonald. were just under the previous qualifying lap record (1m11.127 set by Dunker in 2023), in the opening session. Toparis was on top with a 1m11.065, five-hundredths ahead of McDonald. Jack Mahaffy and Jake Farnsworth were half-a-second behind that duo.
Championship leader, Jonathan Nahlous, was eighth-quickest at the end of the opening 25-minute session, just behind Tom Bramich and Olly Simpson.
Supersport competitors have two more 25-minute sessions today. The second is scheduled to start at 1110, before they finish the day early with FP3 at 1420.
Supersport FP1 Times
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | T Toparis | Yam | 1m11.065 |
| 2 | A Mcdonald | Yam | +0.056 |
| 3 | J Mahaffy | Yam | +0.578 |
| 4 | J Farnsworth | Yam | +0.632 |
| 5 | T Bramich | Yam | +0.994 |
| 6 | O Simpson | Yam | +1.088 |
| 7 | M Chiodo | Hon | +1.166 |
| 8 | J Nahlous | Yam | +1.550 |
| 9 | B Demmery | Kaw | +1.662 |
| 10 | J Favelle | Yam | +1.709 |
| 11 | C Turner | Yam | +1.781 |
| 12 | J Hatch | Kaw | +2.120 |
| 13 | M Hamod | Hon | +2.297 |
| 14 | H Nelson | Kaw | +2.372 |
| 15 | G Nelson | Yam | +2.554 |
| 16 | C Rowntree | Yam | +4.335 |
| 17 | H Ford | Yam | +4.982 |
| 18 | S Pezzetta | Yam | +7.361 |
ASBK Superbike Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Points |
| 1 | Josh WATERS | Ducati | 109.5 |
| 2 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | 84 |
| 3 | Harrison VOIGHT | Ducati | 82 |
| 4 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati | 71.5 |
| 5 | Mike JONES | Yamaha | 61.5 |
| 6 | Cameron DUNKER | Yamaha | 61.5 |
| 7 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha | 60 |
| 8 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha | 58.5 |
| 9 | Bryan STARING | Yamaha | 58 |
| 10 | Troy HERFOSS | Ducati | 47 |
| 11 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW | 41 |
| 12 | Arthur SISSIS | Yamaha | 38.5 |
| 13 | Paris HARDWICK | Kawasaki | 37 |
| 14 | John LYTRAS | Yamaha | 34 |
| 15 | Josh SODERLAND | Yamaha | 29.5 |
| 16 | Declan CARBERRY | BMW | 25.5 |
| 17 | Ryan YANKO | Ducati | 20 |
| 18 | Ty LYNCH | Yamaha | 14 |
| 19 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia | 13 |
| 20 | Tim LARGE | Yamaha | 10.5 |
| 21 | Michael KEMP | Yamaha | 9 |
| 22 | Adam SENIOR | Yamaha | 4.5 |
| 23 | Michael EDWARDS | Yamaha | 3 |
Supersport Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Jonathan Nahlous | 114 |
| 2 | Jake Farnsworth | 85 |
| 3 | Tom Bramich | 76 |
| 4 | Olly Simpson | 70 |
| 5 | Marcus Hamod | 66 |
| 6 | Mark Chiodo | 64 |
| 7 | Jack Mahaffy | 64 |
2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25Round 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
