Senna Agius reflects on first Superbike outing with Penrite Honda in ASBK

Senna Agius

17-year-old Senna Agius raced a Superbike for the first time last weekend when he jumped straight in at the deep end to contest the penultimate round of the 2022 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island.

Senna qualified 1.3-seconds off the qualfiying lap record set by Josh Waters but was only a few tenths off his Penrite Honda team-mate Troy Herfoss.

Senna claimed a highly respectible sixth place result in the opening 12-lap bout, 20-seconds behind race winner Bryan Staring in what were extremely treacherous conditions.

Senna again claimed good points in the second bout with an eighth place finish, 13-seconds behind race winner Wayne Maxwell in what were fine conditions.

Agius was in a group tussling over fifth before getting caught up in accident that was no fault of his own in the final race of the weekend.

The youngster was a bit frustrated about his potential being halted after just being taken out in the final race when I spoke to him on Sunday afternoon.

Trev: So jumping in at the deep end on the Penrite Honda Fireblade, and a pretty good first weekend mate. A little bit of a disappointment at the end there, but that was sort of out of your control, you must be pretty happy.

Senna Agius: “Yep I was feeling good, I was there… I was being conservative because I know at the end of the race it really shows who has played the first half smart, so I was just playing the game keeping myself in the pointy end. That was just something that I felt like was coming, with how the race played out. It was unfortunate there was nothing I could have done about it, I just paid the consequences, but overall our first weekend has been really good.

“Even in the wet conditions, I have no experience on this bike, no experience really in the wet, I haven’t ridden the wet in over a year other than yesterday, and I have to be happy.

“The Bend is next weekend, we go to a different style of track where I think I can be stronger than here.

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“To come here first up on a Superbike is a bit daunting, so I’m looking forward to next weekend and working with the guys.”

Trev: Obivously the Moto2 bikes you ride in Europe are a lot lighter, less power, so probably not quite as brutal, and most of the circuits are not as breathtakingly fast at Phillip Island. You’re in the mix with a lot of guys over there in Europe, huge highly competitive fields of hungry kids, how did it feel coming and jumping into this pond with the old boys here?

Senna Agius: “The established front superbike riders here are valid guys, they are fast, the lap times we did this weekend even compared to WSBK are quite impressive on what are essentially superstock rules.

“I did better than I thought with adapting, but I still need to learn how to get the most out of the bike, especially in qualifying, it was so tight this weekend in qualifying. I think if I’d been further up the grid I could have been out of the chaos on the first lap a bit more.

“But everything to learn for next weekend, we’ve got the bike in a really good spot. Looking forward to getting the max out of it next weekend.”

Trev: We’ll see you at the Bend next weekend, best of luck for that one, and then back in Europe in the FIM juniorGP Moto2 next year?

Senna Agius: “Yep, back over in Europe next year and hopefully do some stuff here in January on the Superbike (NSW Summer Series), as its the perfect training bike for me, and helping me with the skills I need to develop next year. It actually highlights what I need to work on for next year, so there’s no better opportunity for me for than this weekend and next weekend to help me set up for next year in Europe.”

Superbike action gets underway at The Bend on Friday with first practice at 0950 (South Australian time), and we will cover all sessions right here on MCNews.com.au.

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