Mike Jones very quick at Wakefield Park during testing

Quick chat with Mike Jones

We recently caught up with Mike Jones while the championship leader was testing at Wakefield Park. Rain interrupted the second day of the planned two-day test last week, but the 28-year-old was at the circuit testing again this week as he further refines the YRT YZF-R1M ahead of the third round of the Mi-Bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship at the Goulburn venue later this month.

Trevor Hedge: A productive day?

Mike Jones: “Yeah, look the Yamaha R1 for me is just… I’m adapting well to it, I feel quite comfortable on the bike. I think that this was going to be the ultimate test, to go away from a track I know very well and am very familiar with (QLD Raceway), and to take this package to another circuit and straight up here we are in the lows 57s and really only half-a-second off my personal best here. So for me that’s a really big achievement as we lost the first half of today, the weather conditions being quite drizzly and damp. So in the two sessions we had – you know my crew chief Dylan – we had a plan, we worked through quite a lot of stuff to be honest, and got a really clear direction for me. Obviously we are going to try and do the test tomorrow, but the forecast is for rain. If that isn’t going to be possible, we’ve got a really good direction for the race.”

Trev: In that first session where you got some dry laps, you did look fast from the off, so it doesn’t look like Queensland raceway will be a one off?

Mike Jones: “I don’t think so, *laughs* only time will tell I guess, until we get to the race and have a proper crack at it. This first couple of sessions here are quite telling aren’t they. If you turn up and you’re quite slow straight away…  but if you turn up and you’re quick straight away you know that things are in the ballpark and you’re feeling pretty comfy. You can’t do that if that bikes not working well and you’re not comfortable on the bike.”

Trev: You tried a different tyre in that last session there in the cold conditions?

Mike Jones: “We’ve got the two Pirelli control tyres here to test today, and we backed to back both of those, one is better for the heat and one is a bit better for the cooler temperatures, we just wanted to see how that effected our motorbike. Because if this is going to be the kind of conditions we’ll be in, in the race condition, in a couple of weeks time we need to know what our options are in terms of tyres.”

The third round of the 2022 Mi-Bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship roars to life on the weekend of April 23-24 at Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW.

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ASBK Wakefield Park Schedule

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2022 ASBK Calendar

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