Durning hopes the drama stays in the rear view mirror as ASBK lights up Morgan Park
The Kiwi rookie wants a clean weekend in Queensland as he chases his first Q2 and that elusive top 10 with two rounds to go
By Kent Gray
If Luca Durning’s 2026 ASBK season was a screenplay, the producers would probably send it back to the writers. A bit too much drama to be realistic, not enough payoff. Not yet anyway.
A qualifying crash caused by an electronics package mistakenly set for dry conditions in the wet at The Bend. A race two oil pressure scare that forced the Whanganui 21-year-old to manage his pace and nurse his DesmoSport Ducati Panigale V4R home.
And now, before a wheel has been turned at Round 4 of the Penrite Australian Superbike Championship at Morgan Park Raceway in Warwick, Queensland, a Thursday evening storm that sent crew member Jo Taylor flying off a canvas wall and scattered a mobile toolbox full of tools across the garage.
“Yeah, it turned into a bit of a shit show,” Durning said with the good humour of a man who has learned to roll with it.
Everyone is okay. The toolbox is back ship-shape. The weekend weather forecast much more favourable. And the Kiwi rookie, sitting 13th in the SW-Motech Superbike championship on 49 points, is ready to get on with the business of learning.
Specifically this weekend, that means graduating to the next level at a circuit perched some 475 metres above sea level in the Southern Downs region of Queensland, about 130km south-west of Brisbane.
“It’s because we’re real high up,” Durning noted of the cool temperatures that have surprised those expecting Queensland warmth. “We’re up in the hills.”
The 2.967km Morgan Park circuit, tight, bumpy and unforgiving, sits in sharp contrast to the monster 4.95km expanse of The Bend. Durning has ridden here before — a couple of years on an R6 and one season on a V2 — but never on a Superbike. That is both the challenge and the opportunity.
“I don’t mind this track, actually. It’s a bit closer to home with the layout and the quality of the track. So it’s a bit easier for us Kiwis, I’d say,” he said.
“Bumpy, tight. Yeah, just a bit hard. It’s a very hard track, especially the first sector because it’s so tight. And then there’s heaps of bumps, and the surface of the track is like brand new surface for half the track and then the old stuff for half as well. So it’s very mixed quality.”
Getting the DesmoSport Ducati setup right on Friday is the priority — and after a season spent wrestling with a bike that has been, in Durning’s own words, “really good on the brakes but then once it gets into the corner, just real sluggish,” the team believe they have identified the core issue following The Bend.
“It’s been struggling to finish a corner,” Durning said. “Like, it doesn’t finish the corner and carry the lean angle I want to carry the speed. So if we can hopefully make some forward progress with that, especially at this track, it would be good. Because I really do like this track, so it would certainly benefit if we could then get some pretty good results. Would be exceptional.”
Those results have a clear shape. Q2, reserved for the top 12 from Saturday’s Q1, has been the holy grail all season. Reaching it would be a result in itself for a rider in his first full Superbike campaign. And with only Morgan Park and the season finale at Queensland Raceway remaining before ASBK transforms into its groundbreaking new summer calendar, time is of the essence.
“Just learning. It’s pretty much just learning the tracks on the superbike with the speed differential and just to have fun, really,” he said.
“Hopefully we can make some advances with the setup, how we’ve been struggling all season, so that’s really the main goal. Just to fully get my head around all the tracks, especially with the new season starting later in this year. It’ll be good to have that knowledge.”
That new season begins in October with Round 1 of the all-new ASBK summer calendar at Phillip Island — doubling as Round 18 of the MotoGP World Championship from October 22-25 — and Durning is clear-eyed about what these final two rounds represent in his development.
“Yeah, a top 10 would be awesome, but mainly just time on the bike and improving, showing that I can improve no matter what,” he said. “And I would like to get maybe a second or two faster off my lap time. That would be the overall goal, but a top 10 would also be just the cherry on top.”
He has a top 10 in him. Anyone who watched him at The Bend — methodically trimming 1.5 seconds across 23 laps of free practice, absorbing the electronics drama with composure, managing a mechanical issue mid-race — knows that. Anyone who saw him edge eventual champion Rogan Chandler in a thrilling final race of the NZSBK season at Taupo Motorsport Park knows that (admittedly on his beloved BMW). It’s a question of when, not if.
The SBK championship picture: Voight under the pump at his Morgan Park Superbike debut
Championship Standings: 1. Harrison Voight (Ducati) 147pts; 2. Josh Waters (Ducati) 136pts; 3. Jacob Roulstone (Honda) 124pts. Also NZL: 13. Luca Durning (Ducati) 49pts.
WATCH LIVE: Sky Sport 4, Sunday 3pm-6pm
The SW-Motech Superbike title fight is shaping as one of the most compelling in years. Queenslander Harrison Voight leads the standings but his McMartin Racing / Ducati team-mate and five-time champion Josh Waters has clawed back ground, sitting just 11 points behind with Morgan Park specialist Mike Jones lurking as the biggest wildcard of all.
Waters finally broke his Morgan Park duck with a win here in 2025 — a circuit that had historically tormented him — while Jones has three wins at this venue from 11 starts.
Jacob Roulstone, 23 points back in third, needs a big weekend to stay in touch in this battle of the young guns versus the “old” guys. Talking of the kids, Roulstone (7th and 7th), Voight (8th and 9th) and Jonathan ‘JJ’ Nahlous (12th and 13th) come in fresh from racing the opening round of the Moto2 European Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend.
Dismiss Cameron Dunker at your peril too after his maiden Superbike win in a dramatic opener at The Bend. The NSW’s hard charger is 4th in the standings on 113 points and as big a threat as any of the other internationally honed kids.
Make no mistake, this titlefight is going to the bell.
Supersport 300: King’s title fight the real deal and Morgan Park could suit him perfectly
Championship Standings: 1. Tyler King (NZL/Kawasaki) 149pts; 2. Riley Nauta (QLD/Kawasaki) 122pts; 3. Orlando Peovitis (WA/Kawasaki) 121pts. Also NZL: 17. Nixon Frost (Wellington/Yamaha) 38pts; 24. Alvin Wu (Whangarei/Yamaha) 14pts.
There are not many 19-year-olds who can absorb a race one crash, get back on the bike and fight to 7th, bank two second places the following day and still extend a championship lead. But Silverdale’s Tyler King is not your average 19-year-old.
The #128 arrives at Morgan Park with a 27-point advantage over Riley Nauta in the Supersport 300 standings, a lead that is genuine, hard-earned and, with two rounds to go, very much defendable.
His ASBK campaign has been running in parallel with a stint in the TVS Asia One Make Championship, part of the Idemitsu FIM Asia Road Racing Championship, where King has been fighting for his footing on an unfamiliar Indian-manufactured machine against riders who arrive with a full season on the TVS Apache RR 310 already banked. The Asian campaign has come to an end for now, but his father Shawn King sees a silver lining that lands perfectly for this weekend.
“It was a great experience for Tyler and he found a heap of corner speed in the last round [in Thailand],” Shawn King told The Final Sector.
Given that Morgan Park is exactly the kind of tight, twisty circuit where corner speed is the currency, the timing could not be better. A Kiwi leading the development class in Australia with two rounds to go is a massive story, and King knows what’s at stake.
Wellington’s Nixon Frost continues his development season in 17th, while Whangarei’s Alvin Wu (24th, 14pts) is sadly MIA at Morgan Park as he looks towards the New Zealand summer.
Oceania Junior Cup: Hyslop eyeing the podium
Championship Standings: 1. Thomas Cameron (NSW/Yamaha) 124pts; 2. Callum Campbell (NSW/Yamaha) 112pts; 3. Austin Attard (QLD/Yamaha) 106pts. Also NZL: 5. Lucas Hyslop (Orewa/Yamaha) 88pts.
Lucas Hyslop arrives at Morgan Park with momentum after his sensational win at The Bend — a result that announced the Orewa 15-year-old as a genuine podium contender in the Oceania Junior Cup.
The Orewa 15-year-old sits 5th in the championship, 36 points from the lead, and with two rounds remaining the task is clear: win races, climb the standings, and show that The Bend result was no flash in the pan. The Australian boys at the top of the table have been warned.
Friday is practice day at Morgan Park. The Final Sector will have full coverage across the weekend.
Before you go: A Kiwi leading an Australian national championship class. A rookie Superbike campaigner chasing Q2 glory. A 15-year-old OJC winner with his eyes on the podium. If you’re not subscribed to The Final Sector yet, now’s the time. It’s free, it takes 10 seconds, and it means we can keep following these stories all the way to Phillip Island and beyond.