ASBK Supersport 300 Winton Round Wrap

Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship 2017
Round Three – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28-30

ASBK Supersport 300 Winton Round Wrap

The new Supersport 300 race division is a class that includes two-categories, an U300 class for machines such as the parellel-twin Kawasaki Ninja 300, that displace less than the 300cc in capacity, and an O300 class for machines between 300 and 400cc in capacity such as Yamaha’s twin-cylinder YZF-R3 and KTM’s single-cylinder RC390.  The third round for the category was played out at Winton Motor Raceway on the weekend, in conjunction with the YMI Australian Superbike Championship.

Hi Tec Supersport 300 Qualifying

Oil Bayliss was in fine form during the Saturday morning qualifying session for the Hi-Tec Batteries sponsored Supersport 300 category at Winton Motor Raceway on the weekend.

Max Croker also showed that the KTM RC390 had what it takes to compete up the front with Kawasaki mounted Bayliss and fellow front row qualifier Jack Mahaffy on the YZF-R3.

Hi Tec Supersport 300 Qualifying Results

1. Bayliss 1m32.340 / Kawasaki
2. Croker 1m32.559 / KTM
3. Mahaffy 1m32.685 / Yamaha
4. Lynch 1m33.184 / Yamaha
5. Bramich T 1m33.836 / Yamaha
6. Nicholson 1m33.995 / Kawasaki
7. Battye 1m34.211 / Kawasaki
8. Briffa 1m34.277 / Yamaha
9. Bramich B 1m34.364 / Yamaha
10. Shaw 1m34.459 / Kawasaki

Hi Tec Supersport 300 Race One

The eight-lap opening stanza for the 300 Supersport competitors got underway at 1520 on Saturday afternoon, but no sooner had it started than a number of riders went down at the first turn, bringing the red flag out to halt proceedings as the carnage was cleared up.

The fallers, who all looked to be okay, included front runners Jack Passfield, Hunter Ford, Tommy Edwards and Billy Van Eerde.  Click the image below to open a page with a scary multi-image sequence of the Winton turn one melee.

At the re-start, less than ten minutes after the red flag incident, it was KTM RC390 mounted Max Croker quickest out of the blocks ahead of Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha) and pole-sitter Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki). Croker put in a 1m37.658 from a standing start on that first lap, by the end of which he had seven-tenths of a second over his combatants.

By halfway around the second lap, however, things had closed up considerably, Bayliss had put in a 1m32.462 to close right onto the tail of Croker, Mahaffy was also right there in the hunt for the lead, and that trio started to break away from the rest of the pack.

Croker still held the lead with three laps to run, but could not shake Bayliss or Mahaffy, that pair sticking to the tail of the KTM like glue. The timing system was crediting Oli Bayliss with the best speed on the straight, clocking 163km/h. 

Bayliss and Croker then went down with two laps to go, with the only thing seemingly injured their pride, and championship points standings… That clash left Jack Mahaffy all by himself at the front of the field, with a six-second buffer over Scott Nicholson and Zac Levy. 

Jack Mahaffy went on to take a clear victory while Zac Levy and Scott Nicholson rounded out the podium. Nicholson was also the first Under 300cc competitor home. 

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Supersport 300 Race One Results

1. Mahaffy (Over 300cc)
2. Levy 5.80 (Over 300cc)
3. Nicholson 5.92
4. Lynch 6.34 (Over 300cc)
5. Bramich T 6.48 (Over 300cc)
6. Battye 7.46
7. Briffa 7.80 (Over 300cc)
8. Shaw 10.70
9. Demmery 12.29 (Over 300cc)
10. Bramich B 12.50 (Over 300cc)
11. Hocking 19.782 (Over 300cc)
12. Edwards 24.214 (Over 300cc)
13. Taylor 29.273 (Over 300cc)
14. Sells 33.344
15. O’Brien 48.12 (Over 300cc)

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Race Two

Max Croker got the early jump from Jack Mahaffy and Oli Bayliss in the eight-lap second race of the weekend for the Supersport 300 category on Sunday morning.

The race was red flagged after Ty Lynch and Oli Bayliss went down. Some damage was also done to the air-fence which caused a lengthy delay as repairs were made to the vital safety barrier that protects riders from the walls on the exit of turn two. 

At the re-start Max Croker again got the jump out of the gate but Jack Mahaffy was right with him as Tom Bramich, Zac Levy and Reid Battye gave chase.

Tom Edwards was aiming to be the cat among the pigeons though, Edwards the fastest rider on lap two with a 1m33.544 enough to bring him into that battle. The next lap Edwards got the better of Battye and was looking to continue his march forwards. 

However, the race was to come to a premature end when another red flag incident saw the race declared, and half points awarded. Max Croker declared the victor ahead of Zac Levy and Tom Bramich. 

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Race Two Results

1. Max Croker
2. Zac Levy 0.489
3. Tom Bramich 0.623
4. Tommy Edwards 0.974
5. Reid Battye 1.030
6. Scott Nicholson 1.423
7. Hunter Ford 1.692
8. Ben Bramich 2.827
9. Brandon Demmery 2.943
10. Yanni Shaw 6.233
11. Billy Van Eerde 9.659
12. Dan Thomas 10.075
13. Boyd Hocking 10.314
14. Ryan Taylor 10.786
15. Drew Sells 13.687
16. Jarred Brook 14.247
17. Greg Farrell 20.476
18. Bronson Joel Pickett 21.090
19. Austin Barnes 31.880
20. Shelby Turner 36.035

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Race Three

After severely damaging both of his machines over the course weekend Oli Bayliss did not make the grid for the final eight-lap Supersport 300 bout.

Again at the start it was Croker versus Mahaffy engaged in battle as Bramich, Levy and Battye gave chase.  

The race was red flagged after five laps, when Tommy Edwards and Max Croker became entangled at turn two. 

The race was then re-started using grid positions as per the race order at the end of the fourth lap. The three-lap restart saw Tom Bramich take the win by the narrowest of margins over Jack Mahaffy, with Zac levy only a couple of bike lengths further behind. It was an all Yamaha YZF-R3 podium for the outright, while Reid Battye in fourth was the first Under 300cc category machine home. Tommy Edwards completed the top five, and less than half-a-second covered that top five riders.

With that race victory Tom Bramich also took the Over 300cc round win with 51 points to Zac Levy’s 48 and Jack Mahaffy’s 45. Zac Levy holds the outright championship lead on 139 points from Bramich on 130.5. 

In the Under 300cc category the round win went to Reid Battye with 57.5 points ahead of Scott Nicholson on 55 points and Yanni Shaw on 45.  The win strengthened Battye’s lead in the Up to 300cc class, his buffer now 36-points over Scott Nicholson.

Tom Bramich

“It was all on after the red flag with everyone desperate to get to the finish in the three lap restart, but to come out with a win after such a hard start to the season, I just can’t thank my team enough.”

Reid Battye

“I’d really love to thank my sponsors for getting me here today and setting me up with the right gear. The tumble I took into the air fence the other day has worn off. All I had to focus on was the person in front of me and with all the craziness that was going on around me I just had to stay safe but still try to get up to the front of the pack as best as I could. I didn’t get the win overall in the last race, but I did get the win in my class and that’s all that matters.”

Scott Nicholson

“It was all on out there in that race with run offs and crashes and everything! We were going well until the restart where we lost a few positions but the whole package is there with the Pirelli tyres, Traction Control suspension and the NextGen Motorsports support. We didn’t get the result we wanted but we will try harder next time.”

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Race Three Results

1. Tom Bramich / Yamaha
2. Jack Mahaffy / Yamaha 0.016
3. Zac Levy / Yamaha 0.354
4. Reid Battye / Kawasaki 0.460
5. Tommy Edwards / Yamaha 0.468
6. Scott Nicholson / Kawasaki 0.682
7. Brandon Demmery / Yamaha 0.900
8. Hunter Ford / Yamaha 1.105
9. Jack Passfield / Yamaha 1.833
10. Corey Briffa / Yamaha 4.216
11. Ben Bramich / Yamaha 6.875
12. Boyd Hocking / Yamaha 6.960
13. Yanni Shaw / Kawasaki 7.962
14. Billy Van Eerde / KTM 14.593
15. Jarred Brook / KTM 15.036

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Over 300cc Championship Points

1. Zac Levy 139
2. Tom Bramich 130.5
3. Brandon Demmery 127
4. Jack Mahaffy 114
5. Billy Van Eerde 112
6. Corey Briffa 103.5
7. Hunter Ford 99.5
8. Ben Bramich 97.5
9. Jack Passfield 94
10. Ty Lynch 94

Hi-Tec Supersport 300 Under 300cc Championship Points

1. Reid Battye 185
2. Scott Nicholson 149
3. Yanni Shaw 129
4. Drew Sells 123
5. Bronson Joel Pickett 94.5
6. Oli Bayliss 92
7. Laura Brown 79
8. Gregory Farrell 72
9. Tom Edwards 70
10. Keegan Pickering 63

ASBK Supersport 300 Winton Round Wrap