Australian Supersport Race One Report – By Trevor Hedge
Daniel Falzon used his pole position to good effect in the opening Australian Supersport bout of the weekend but Callum Spriggs was up for the battle and the pair swapped positions numerous times over the first half of the opening lap.
Aaron Morris threw his hat in the ring at Lukey Heights to move up to second place but by the end of the chute for the second time Matt Davies had declared his intentions by moving up to second place, pushing Morris back to fourth.
The battle for second place allowed Callum Spriggs enough breathing space to eke out a small gap over his pursuers, the gap half a second as they started lap three but only 1.5 seconds covered the top quartet with eight laps to run.
Falzon hit the front with seven laps to run after successfully chasing down Spriggs with a 1m36.48 to the Queenslander’s 36.97. Sam Lambert had joined the battle for third place, and came together with Matt Davies which allowed Morris to gain an advantage in that third place tussle.
Up front Spriggs had chased down Falzon and the two went around turn two side-by-side with five laps to run, dusted each other up at turn four. That battle for the lead was unfolding 2.3 seconds ahead of third placed Aaron Morris at half race distance.
Spriggs lifted a leg a few times with three laps to run, and lost a couple of bike lengths on Falzon, perhaps indicating some sort of problem.
The leaders started to get caught up in lapped traffic with two laps still to run in the 10-lap race. Both the leading duo got tripped up but it was Spriggs that got baulked the worst through the all-important turn 12 which allowed Falzon to really break away on the run down the chute.
Falzon took the win by 0.845 ahead of Spriggs. Aaron Morris rounded out the podium 1.68 seconds behind the race winner. The battle for fourth place was no holds barred with Matt Davies eventually getting the better of a combative Sam Lambert.
Daniel Falzon will head into tomorrow’s second race of the Phillip Island Championship, a two-round series staged at the Phillip Island World Superbike and MotoGP rounds, with first blood under his belt. Spriggs, Morris, Davies and Lambert will be eager to make amends tomorrow (Sunday) for race two which is scheduled to get underway at 1010.
Daniel Falzon – “We’re very happy with a win in race one; it wasn’t easy at all. Callum and I traded positions for the lead many times and were obviously both lacking grip with the low track temperatures compared to testing last week. Aside from that, the Dunlops held up well for the duration and rewarded us with a gracious win!”
