Wayne Maxwell quickest as ASBK 2017 kicks off at P.I.

Wayne Maxwell quickest as 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship kicks off at Phillip Island

ASBK 2017 launched in to action at Phillip Island this afternoon with a 30-minute opening practice session for each category that will contest the opening round of the series, staged in conjunction with the FIM Superbike World Championship season opener at the seaside Victorian circuit.

This weekend marks the opening ASBK championship round for Superbike, Supersport and the new Supersport 300 category. While the Period 5/6 Historic bikes also take to the track, they are not officialy a part of the ASBK series. 

For the first time eight different manufacturers are represented this season, which will be contested across seven rounds, the final of which will be staged back here at Phillip Island in early October.

The viability of Barbagallo Raceway to contest the TBC round four of the championship has seen circuit amendments and subsequent approvals blow out further than anticipated. Thus, a replacement venue for that round four is expected to be announced by Motorcycling Australia at some stage this weekend.  

2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

• Round 1 Phillip Island GP Circuit, WSBK, VIC        23-26 February
• Round 2 Wakefield Park Raceway, NSW                 17-19 March
• Round 3 Winton Motor Raceway, VIC                      28-30 April
• Round 4  (TBC)                                                            June
• Round 5 Morgan Park Raceway, Warick, QLD         25-27 August
• Round 6 SMP Eastern Creek, NSW                           8- 10 September
• Round 7 Phillip Island Circuit, VIC                            6-10 October

Recent news also broke that ASBK is to be televised live on SBS in 2017

Early form today showed a Yamaha triumvirate of Wayne Maxwell, Glenn Allerton and Daniel Falzon leading the initial charge ahead of Josh Waters, who is debuting Suzuki’s new GSX-R1000R here this weekend.

Wayne Maxwell

“We ran two bikes with two different setups to try and find a bit of direction for this race. I think we’ve found a setup that will work and that showed in our results. There are high spirits ahead of 2017, with the addition of live TV and all the work that’s going in behind the scenes from Motorcycling Australia and the ASBK team, it’s all going in the right direction. It’s the strongest field of past and present champions we’ve had in Superbike. Yamaha have been working really hard in the off season with Dunlop. All of these things combined make for a great result!”

Josh Waters

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“It was the first session out and the first time the Suzuki has turned a wheel! Despite this we ended up in P4! Not bad considering we only got the bikes last Friday. Unlike us all the main players were here at the Official Test Day in January. Considering I’ve only just got the bike, I feel that I am really gelling with the GSXR after only 10 laps, and I see no reason that I won’t improve further over the weekend. It’s a real credit to the team.”

Robbie Bugden was fifth quickest on the BCperformance ZX-10R ahead of defending champion Troy Herfoss, and his new Crankt Protein Honda teammate Bryan Staring.

“We did have an issue with the wind which slowed us up a bit in a couple of the sectors,” explained Bugden. “But overall we are really happy with P5. It’s a good start, we just need to tidy ourselves up on a couple of those middle sectors, but for the moment we are really happy.”

Cru Halliday finished the opening session eigthth quickest ahead of Matt Walters, while Beau Beaton rounded out the top ten ahead of Michael Blair and Superbike rookie Callum Spriggs. 

Troy Bayliss – DesmoSport Ducati

“With Mike (Jones) making the change and moving on over to Europe, we needed someone on the bike and Callum has been good on the 600 for a few years now. He’s always been toward the front of the field, so he deserves this opportunity, even though it is a big step. If you can win Supersport races, still being young, I think he can do really well on the Superbike. We don’t know yet how good he can be, but it’s an opportunity. We’re all working closely between myself, Ben and Chris [Jones], who is doing the suspension, and he’s just getting comfortable on the bike. I think we will be stronger as a team this year, with what we learned last season, and for Callum, he’s only going to get stronger. He’s a little bit nervous just yet, but when he has a race under his belt I can see him growing in confidence.”

ASBK competitors will next hit the track at 1300 tomorrow, Friday, afternoon for a 15-minute FP2, followed by a 15-minute qualifying session at 1340.

Saturday morning will see competitors hit the track bright and early, with the first of three 12-lap races slated to commence at 0915 while race two and three for the Superbike category are both scheduled for Sunday. Race two set to commence at 1150 on Sunday before the final stanza at 1610.

Tickets for the Yamaha Finance round of the WorldSBK are available through Ticketek, with a three-day general admission pass costing $120 – a saving of $35 over the gate price. BarSBK passes, for undercover viewing locations at some of the most spectacular parts of the circuit, are $260, while adult single-day passes cost $30 for Friday, $65 for Saturday and $80 for Sunday.

Camping is available for up to four nights for $105.   Best of all, children aged 15 and under are in for free, making the event affordable for families of all sizes.

For WorldSBK Tickets visit www.ticketek.com.au

ASBK 2017 – Round One – Phillip Island – Superbike First Practice

1. Wayne Maxwell 1m33.952 / Yamaha
2. Glenn Allerton 1m33.979 / Yamaha
3. Daniel Falzon 1m34.128 / Yamaha
4. Josh Waters 1m34.472 / Suzuki
5. Robbie Bugden 1m34.826 / Kawasaki
6. Troy Herfoss 1m34.856 / Honda
7. Bryan Staring 1m35.286 / Honda
8. Cru Halliday 1m35.415 / Yamaha
9. Matt Walters 1m35.955 / Kawasaki
10. Beau Beaton 1m36.003 / Ducati
11. Michael Blair 1m36.172 / Yamaha
12. Callum Spriggs 1m36.255 / Ducati
13. Sam Lambert 1m36.663 / BMW
14. Paul Byrne 1m37.091 / Honda
15. Aaiden Coote 1m37.296 / Kawasaki
16. Chas Hern 1m37.402 / MV Agusta
17. Simon Galloway 1m37.593 / Yamaha
18. Kyle Buckley 1m37.646 / Kawasaki
19. Mitch Levy 1m37.703 / Yamaha
20. William Davidson 1m37.955 / Yamaha
21. Troy Guenther 1m38.010 / BMW
22. Corey Turner 1m38.284 / Yamaha
23. Albie Wheeler 1m38.496 / Yamaha
24. Trent Gibson 1m38.571 / Yamaha
25. Adam Senior 1m38.613 / Yamaha
26. Brendan Schmidt 1m39.516 / Kawasaki
27. Alex Phillis 1m39.615 / Aprilia
28. David Barker 1m39.688 / Kawasaki
29. Paul Dutton 1m40.391 / Yamaha
30. Nathan Spiteri 1m40.459 / Kawasaki
31. Ashley Manuel 1m41.176 / Kawasaki
32. Jack Baker 1m41.727 / Kawasaki
33. Gary Smith 1m42.004 / Yamaha
34. Heath Griffin 1m44.199 / Ducati
35. Max James-Beatsonbell 1m45.064 / Yamaha
36. Jake Drew 1m45.309 / Yamaha
37. Hamish McMurray 1m46.392 / Kawasaki
38. Tracey Davies 1m49.120 / Ducati
39. John Quinn 1m52.117 / Suzuki
40. Ashley Fleming 2m02.484 / Aprilia

Australian Supersport

Mark Chiodo, who recently celebrated his 19th birthday, continued his pre-season testing form to again top the Supersport ranks at Phillip Island this afternoon as the opening 30-minute practice session for 600cc competitors got underway just after 1400 this afternoon.  

The Triumph rider blitzed the field to end the session almost two-seconds clear of second placed Ryan Taylor (Yamaha), and Ted Collins (Suzuki). Chiodo’s 1m36.885 would have been good enough to put him 14th in the Superbike ranks, ahead of Paul Byrne, Aaiden Coote and Chas Hern. 

ASBK 2017 – Round One – Phillip Island – Supersport First Practice

1. Mark Chiodo 1m36.885 / Triumph
2. Ryan Taylor 1m38.568 / Yamaha
3. Ted Collins 1m38.754 / Suzuki
4. Chris Quinn 1m38.940 / Yamaha
5. Mason Coote 1m39.049 / Yamaha
6. Nic Liminton 1m39.171 / Yamaha
7. Luke Mitchell 1m39.252 / Yamaha
8. Sam Condon 1m39.663 / Yamaha
9. Giuseppe Scarcella 1m39.726 / Honda
10. Tom Toparis 1m39.833 / Kawasaki
11. Jordan Carlsson 1m40.126 / Yamaha
12. Sam Muldoon 1m40.563 / Kawasaki
13. Ben Burke 1m40.623 / Yamaha
14. Brian Houghton 1m40.994 / Honda
15. Cambridge Olivier 1m41.110 / Yamaha
16. Hayden Spinks 1m41.645 / Kawasaki
17. Cam Russell 1m41.849 / Yamaha
18. Callum Alderson 1m42.147 / Yamaha
19. Brendan Wilson 1m42.296 / Yamaha
20. Justin Case 1m43.448 / Yamaha
21. Aidan Hayes 1m43.632 / Yamaha
22. Grant Davis 1m44.309 / Kawasaki
23. Adrian Forde 1m44.382 / Suzuki
24. Jimmy Broadbent 1m44.803 / Kawasaki
25. Michael Knight 1m44.850 / Yamaha
26. Steve Haslam 1m45.072 / Triumph
27. Bob Mackenzie 1m45.703 / MV Agusta
28. John McCabe 1m45.932 / Kawasaki
29. Jack Dawes 1m46.172 / Yamaha
30. Rhys Belling 1m46.238 / Yamaha
31. Steven Willmott 1m47.034 / Yamaha
32. Joel Rhodes 1m47.146 / Yamaha
33. Zac Levy 1m48.064 / Yamaha
34. Jake Pruiti 1m53.500 / Triumph

Supersport 300

The new Supersport 300 category hit the track at 1440 this afternoon for their first 30-minute session of the weekend.  FP2 for the tiddler category is slated for 0845 tomorrow, Friday, morning ahead of their one and only 15-minute qualifying session scheduled for 1730 Friday afternoon.

Tom Edwards dominated proceedings this afternoon, a clear second ahead of second placed Jack Passfield, who in turn had a full second on third placed Reid Battye.

Fourth on the charts was Laura Brown ahead of 13-year-old Oliver Bayliss, the always smiling youngster making his ASBK debut here this weekend. 

Oli Bayliss

“It’s going to be a really good event to open the season and a lot of people on the track as well,” Bayliss commented. “With 42 people on the grid it’s going to be good racing and so much fun. I’m focusing on my riding and it’s been pretty easy so far, just getting used to it all. I just hope that I have a good year and get to learn a lot along the way.”

Another youngster making his debut this weekend is young dirt track star Billy Van Eerde, the 14-year-old finishing the first session seventh quickest on the KTM RC390. 

Supersport 300 Free Practice Times

1. Tom Edwards 1m51.26 / Kawasaki
2. Jack Passfield 1m52.157 / Yamaha
3. Reid Battye 1m53.173 / Kawasaki
4. Laura Brown 1m53.790 / Kawasaki
5. Oliver Bayliss 1m54.019 / Kawasaki
6. Zac Levy 1m54.031 / Yamaha
7. Billy Van Eerde 1m54.215 / KTM
8. Scott Nicholson 1m54.368 / Kawasaki
9. Drew Sells 1m54.455 / Kawasaki
10. Hunter Ford 1m54.704 / Yamaha
11. Jack Mahaffy 1m54.793 / Yamaha
12. Brandon Demmery 1m55.140 / Yamaha
13. Zane Ford 1m55.239 / Kawasaki
14. Ben Bramich 1m55.516 / Yamaha
15. Zackary Johnson 1m55.682 / Kawasaki
16. Tom Bramich 1m55.774 / Yamaha
17. Corey Briffa 1m55.788 / Yamaha
18. Yannis Shaw 1m55.828 / Kawasaki
19. Ryan Taylor 1m56.367 / Yamaha
20. Max Croker 1m56.623 / KTM
21. Locky Taylor 1m56.920 / Kawasaki
22. Bronson Joel Pickett 1m57.220 / Kawasaki
23. Lewis Wright 1m57.447 / Kawasaki
24. Mark Ferrari 1m57.482 / Kawasaki
25. Luke Sanders 1m58.043 / Kawasaki
26. Keegan Pickering 1m58.477 / Kawasaki
27. Grace Poutch 1m58.819 / Kawasaki
28. Boyd Hocking 1m59.634 / Yamaha
29. Jonah Sita 1m59.621 / Yamaha
30. Tyler Ferrari 2m00.04 / Kawasaki
31. Peter Nerlich 2m00.24 / Kawasaki
32. Austin Barnes 2m00.33 / Kawasaki
33. Jarred Brook 2m00.773 / KTM
34. Mark Rogers 2m00.957 / Kawasaki
35. Nicholas Clair 2m01.06 / Kawasaki
36. Gregory Farrell 2m01.803 / Kawasaki
37. Peter Avery 2m02.057 / Kawasaki
38. Javad Ashgari 2m02.128 Kawasaki
39. Shelby Turner 2m02.388 / Kawasaki
40. Matthew Cartellone 2m03.571 / Kawasaki
41. Sean Jarvis 2m05.158 / Kawasaki
42. Scott Chapman 2m05.365 / Kawasaki
43. Julie Klinker 2m15.284 / Kawasaki

Australian Period 5/6 Historics First Practice Results

1. Chas Hern 1m38.257 / Yamaha
2. Dean Oughtred 1m43.109 / Suzuki
3. Murray Clark 1m43.789 / Suzuki
4. Jarrod Hurst 1m44.694 / Yamaha
5. Craig Ditchburn 1m44.694 / Yamaha
6. Scott Webster 1m45.732 / Harris XR69
7. Stephen Kairl 1m46.312 / Yamaha
8. Robert Ruwoldt 1m48.03 / Harris Kawasaki
9. Denis Ackland 1m49.245 / Kawasaki
10. Craig Stewart 1m49.589 / Yamaha OW01