Blow by blow recap from opening Superbike race at Morgan Park

ASBK 2024
Round Four – Morgan Park
Australian Superbike Race One

After an incident-packed qualifying session on Saturday Broc Pearson emerged with pole position ahead of Max Stauffer and Mike Jones.  Stauffer and Glenn Allerton both had major crashes, separately, at turn three, and both crashes brought red flag stoppages to the session. The second of which, for Allerton, saw officials call an early end to proceedings and declare the session.

Both crashes were front-end losses due to a lack of temperature in the left-hand side of the tyre, brought on by a track temperature that struggled to break 20-degrees on Saturday.

This made the tyre decision for the Pirelli runners pretty simple. The safe bet was the ‘A’ option rear slick for the 16-lap race distance. The ‘X’ looked likely to be a gamble due to abrasion issues that started to tear the tyre up after a few laps, and it is a gamble that some may choose if conditions warm up this afternoon. And that they did…

While Pearson would start from pole, Mike Jones had gone quicker in the Q1 session. However, it is only the times in Q2 that count towards the grid positions. Max Stauffer, too, had been quicker than Jones before the session was prematurely ended, and that trio made up the front row for today’s pair of 16-lap contests.

Championship leader Josh Waters would start from the front of the second row alongside Cru Halliday and Glenn Allerton. On the form we have seen so far this weekend, though, both Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday have showed more speed than Waters.  Thus, I would tip them to perhaps be the pair most likely to fight Mike Jones for the race victories today.

Cru has been quick in every session, apart from the shortened qualifying session, and Glenn was full of confidence. However, that was before his crash during qualifying that left the Thrumster Business Park-backed BMW looking very much the worst for wear, in need of a lot of work and dollars to get it ready for action today. Ultimately, Glenn decided to race the spare bike today.

Pearson and Stauffer certainly can’t be discounted, and both have been quick here in testing. However, in these conditions, I think that Allerton and Halliday’s experience might give them the edge. Nothing would make me happier than to be proved wrong on that score and the youngsters put one over their more experienced foes.

Arthur Sissis and Anthony West started the weekend well, but they didn’t carry that pace through to the colder conditions we experienced yesterday. Bryan Staring starts alongside them on the third row but has yet to really fire here this weekend.

Superbike rookies Cam Dunker and John Lytras are on the fourth row alongside Ty Lynch.  The red flag incidents in Q2 stunted Dunker’s hot runs in qualifying, which cruelled his chances of a better grid spot. However, I believe Dunker might have the speed for a top-five finish today if things go his way.  Lynch tore his Achilles in a crash on Friday and is dealing with a fair bit of pain.  Lytras’ Superbike campaign is a low-budget, largely family affair, but this place is his backyard.

The 18-rider entry list includes a single BMW M 1000 RR and two Ducati V4 R. The remaining 15 are all Yamaha riders, the only Japanese brand on the grid.

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Broc Pearson topped the morning ‘warm-up’ session ahead of Josh Waters and Cam Dunker.  Glenn Allerton was fourth in the ten-minute warm-up session ahead of Max Stauffer and Cru Halliday. Allerton on the spare bike after a big crash on Saturday during qualifying.

The track temperature was actually a little better than expected at 26-degrees as the race had been delayed by more than an hour after incidents in some of the support races.  The race distance was also reduced to 14-laps to help try and claw back some of that lost time in the schedule.

This morning it looked as though the ‘X’ tyre for the Pirelli riders would be a major gamble but the unexpected warmer conditions made that choice much less of a gamble than it would have been and some might run that gauntlet considering the reduced race distance.

The opening lap would always be a fraught affair, balancing risk and reward. Who would be the one to push that envelope furthest? And would they all make it through the opening lap…?

And the lights go out!

Broc Pearson capitalised on his pole position to lead the field through the opening turn ahead of Max Stauffer, Mike Jones and Josh Waters. Arthur Sissis pushed wide at turn one and off the circuit, rejoining at the back of the field.

Stauffer through on Pearson for the lead around the back of the circuit, Jones then pushed Pearson further back to third. Stauffers leads Jones across the stripe to start lap two, Pearson third, Waters fourth, Halliday fifth, Allerton sixth.

Max Stauffer continued to keep Jones at bay and actually pulled a couple of bike lengths out on the YRT man over the second half of the next lap. Jones perhaps looking a little quicker through the opening sequence of turns but Stauffer strong through other sections of the circuit.

Bryan Staring had a big tumble at turn ten, not so big for him, but certainly very big for the MotoGo Yamaha which went high in the air before tumbling into the sand-trap.

Up front it was still Stauffer versus Jones, that pair had more than a second over Pearson with ten laps to run. Josh Waters fourth and Glenn Allerton fifth after getting the better of Cru Halliday.

Mike Jones looked to be doing a little bit easier than Max Stauffer, the YRT machine looked to be turning in and holding a tighter line much better, but through some of the fast parts Max was letting the Penrite Yamaha have its head with the rear lit up and sliding, no shortage of brave pills with his weet-bix this morning for the youngster.

Stauffer still had his nose in front of Jones at half-race distance, and while they had clear air over third-placed Pearson, they were not really streaking away from the DesmoSport Ducati man. Josh Waters was not far behind Pearson but there was then a two-second gap back to Cru Halliday in fifth and Glenn Allerton in sixth.

The pace of the front pair then started to slow ever so slightly and Pearson started to reel them in.

Mike Jones through to the lead with 4.5 laps to go after a small slide by Max opened up the opportunity to make a safe pass. Jones was perhaps also aware that Pearson was now closing in.

Broc Pearson then got the better of Max Stauffer after slotting up the inside at turn one which sent Max wide and out onto the ripple strip. The time lost by Max there allowed Josh Waters to close right onto his tail.

Mike Jones wound up the YRT bike to stretch away from his pursuers over the closing laps. Jones taking victory over Pearson by 2.4-seconds.

Max Stauffer tried valiantly to keep Josh Waters at bay over the final couple of laps and managed to do exactly that, the youngster claiming that final spot on the rostrum.

Cam Dunker steadily worked his way forward from outside the top ten early on, past the likes of Anthony West, Glenn Allerton, and then Cru Halliday late in the race, scoring a brilliant fifth place.

Kudos also to Arthur Sissis, who recovered from a run-off on lap one and worked his way back to ninth place by the flag.

Superbike Race One Results

ASBK Superbike Championship Points

2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

• Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25
• Round 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