From Hospital Beds to ASBK Podiums: Kiwis Conquer Carnage at The Bend
Hyslop wins, King extends his championship lead and Durning keeps learning. The Final Sector’s Sunday wrap from South Australia is lights out...
By Kent Gray in Adelaide
A race win snared by a gnat’s whisker in a crazy seven bike photo finish that captured one rider sliding across the line on his back. A Kiwi kid quietly giving it to the Aussies with consistent speed across a weekend that had started inauspiciously. A teen sidelined on medical advice, traipsing around the paddock plotting his revenge. The New Zealand contingent’s alpha male learning his craft, and patience, at nigh on 300kmh in the premier class.
Sunday delivered in high-octane spades for the Kiwis at The Bend for round 3 of the Penrite Oil Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
Orewa 15-year-old Lucas Hyslop ignited the day with a sensational second Oceania Junior Championship win – his first of this season – by popping out on the right side of an insane finish where you probably didn’t need all of a proverbial blanket to cover the seven riders.
Hunter Charlett was meant to end it with the second race of the bLU cRU Yamaha R3 Asia Pacific Championship but the Doctors had other ideas after the Christchurch 15-year-old had spent the previous night in hospital under observation for concussion. As it turns out, missing both races stung more than his big, high-sided off in the sighting lap before Saturday’s opener but Doctor’s don’t let you play Russian roulette with the noggin.
In between times, Silverdale’s Tyler King racked up a pair of second place finishes to extend his lead in the Supersport 300 championship to 25 points while Whanganui’s Luca Durning managed to leave Tailem Bend where he started the weekend, 13th in Superbike class despite a challenging three days marked by an avoidable crash in qualifying.
Enjoy The Final Sector’s bite-sized class-by-class wrap of the flying Kiwis’ Sunday at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park:
SW-Motech Australian Superbike
Championship Standings: 1. Harrison Voight (QLD/Ducati) 147pts; 2. Josh Waters (VIC/Ducati) 136pts; Jacob Roulstone (NSW/Honda) 124 points. Also NZL: 13. Luca Durning (Whanganui/Ducati) 49pts.
After his unnecessary visit to the kitty litter in Saturday’s wet qualifying session, when he was mistakenly sent out with a electronics package set for dry conditions, Luca Durning qualified 15th. That meant starting on the 5th row (of 7) on the grid for Saturday’s 6th and 7th races of the championship and the Whanganui rookie improved to 14th by chequered flag fall in both races to finish the weekend exactly where he’d started it, 13th in the championship.
But the close-knit Kiwi team on the left side of the DesmoSport Ducati box will take a lot of learning out of a weekend marred by technical and mechanical issues.
“This morning was a very good race for me, we made very good progress with the bike and with the team as well,” Durning said, referencing Saturday night’s bike rebuild.
”However in the second race, after the 4th lap we came to an issue where it was low oil pressure on the down shift so I had to slow down my pace in order to maintain the engine.
“Not ideal to end the weekend but I’m happy we walked away unscathed.”
Fit to fight another day and determined to eke more speed out of his Panigale V4R as the ASBK Championship rolls on to Morgan Park Raceway in three weeks time (May 29-31) before the finale at Queensland Raceway on June 26-28.
“It’s certainly not easy when lots of things go wrong but you’ve got to take it on the bright side that we’ve learnt from our mistakes in what happened with qualifying and the racing today so hopefully we won’t come across that again.
“Just getting as many points as possible and finishing all the races,” Durning continued when asked what he wants out of the two remaining rounds in Queensland.
“After today we’ve certainly discovered what we’ve been struggling with all season with the bike so hopefully more time on the bike means we’ll get consistently faster as well.”
Queenslander Harrison Voight remains top of the championship but the gap to his McMartin Racing team-mate Josh Waters has been cut after the five-time ASBK champion’s emphatic race 7 victory. That after the Victorian had gambled on a new Pirelli compound in the earlier race and paid a heavy price, hanging on for 7th behind first-time Superbike class winner Cameron Dunker on his Yamaha YZF-R1.
Road and Race Australian Supersport 300
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; *20. Harriet Grace (Christchurch/Kawasaki) 19pts; 24. Alvin Wu (Whangarei/Yamaha) 14pts
Tyler King was back where he belongs on Sunday, fighting for the top step of the podium after a tricky Saturday saw him crash on lap one of the opening Supersport 300 race before coolly rejoining and fighting to 7th.
Sunday produced a pair of 2nd placings behind Riley Nauta and sees King extend his championship lead to 27 points over the Queenslander. Read that again. A Kiwi kid leading the development class across the ditch with just two rounds to go.
“Riley just had incredible pace in those later laps, I had nothing left, I mean, so smooth, and every corner he was just pulling away the time a bit more and I was relying on the slipstream but once he broke away it was game over,” King said in his press conference after race 2 before pulling out the killer quote.
“Yeah I’m real happy with the results. I mean the first race of the weekend we fell off but I’m still pretty happy about it because I got to rejoin and finish 7th. But yeah, these podiums are what we need to extend our championship lead so playing the big game here and just aiming for the No.1 trophy at the end of the season.”
Nixon Frost, son of two-time NZSBK Superbike champion Sloan, was one of just two Kiwis to stay upright in Saturday’s big wet but sod’s law saw him fall in Sunday’s first outing, race 8. The Wellingtonian recovered from that wind-assisted off to finish 11th in race 9 and took just as many lessons out of the weekend as points, all good intel for the final two rounds in Queensland.
Alvin Wu, meanwhile, managed to keep that trademark smile of his flashing after a weekend of crashes, the Whangarei 16-year-old’s sole points coming in the Sunday opener when he placed 18th. After going eight months without an off, Wu sure made up for it is South Australia but it’s these weekends that build deep layers of determination to show what he’s made of in the future.
*Editor’s Note: Grace’s 19 points all came in the opening round of the championship at Phillip Island. She did not ride at Sydney Motorsport Park or The Bend.
Yamaha bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup
Championship Standings: Thomas Cameron (NSW/Yamaha) 124pts; 2. Callum Campbell (NSW/Yamaha) 112pts; Austin Attard (QLD/Yamaha) 106pts. Also NZL: 5. Lucas Hyslop (Orewa/Yamaha) 88pts.
Lucas Hyslop will go into the final two rounds of the season with the confidence of adding a second OJC victory to his résumé, Sunday’s race 5 triumph even more of a nailbiter than his wildcard win at Phillip Island last September.
That result, after Saturday’s 5th in race 4, clawed the Orewa 15-year-old back into championship reckoning after a crash at Sydney Motorsport Park although he wasn’t happy with a 9th to close out the weekend at The Bend.
“That last race was just a combination of things, just got stuck behind a few people, just bit of a mess, got stood up in a few corners but it is what it is,” Hyslop said.
The search for consistency will go on in Queensland but at least he’s in with a shout at OJC glory. No one can take away his victory in Sunday morning’s elbow’s out fight for the line that saw Queenslander Austin Attard skid across the line in his leathers – for 4th place no less.
“It was great, It’s something that you plan out in your head during the race or beforehand and it’s always great when it actually happens. Yeah, just tried to play it strategic and use the race craft. It was a real close one, it was a massive group once again just like the last race and I managed to get up to the front of it and just got them on the line.
“Hopefully the next few rounds I can get some more podiums, get some more points closer to winning the championship. I’m a little bit far behind because of that DNF in Sydney but I’m feeling good. Yeah, I’m in with a shout.”
Yamaha bLU cRU Asia-Pacific R3 Championship
Championship Standings: 1. Farres Fadhill (Malaysia/Yamaha) 70pts; 2. Hunter Corney (Australia/Yamaha) 68pts; 3. Teeranai Tabtim (Thailand/Yamaha) 57pts. Also NZL: 14. Hunter Charlett (Christchurch/Yamaha) 16pts.
A sad face emoji used to sign off his final Facebook post from Adelaide said it all for frustrated Hunter Charlett.
The Christchurch 15-year-old started the weekend 7th in APAC R3 championship and looked to be getting on top of the set-up challenges that made the opening round at the Sydney Motorsport Park tricky.
But just when his flying lap in qualifying on Saturday was flashing green sectors, the trouble began. He went down at the final corner and later high-sided it in the sighting lap so didn’t even make it to the start line for race 1.
Charlett felt fine after a routine night in hospital but wasn’t given medical clearance to race on Sunday, the pointless weekend seeing him tumble down to 14th as the championship heads to Indonesia in July.
Watch for the dual NZSBK Supersport 150 and 300 champion’s riposte at the Pertamina Mandalika Street Circuit in Lombok.
“Well my weekend is over. I’m not allowed to race. I was really looking forward to this weekend but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” Charlett wrote on Hunter Charlett Racing.
“So I’m pretty gutted I can’t race but there is still four rounds to go, it’s not going to be easy [but don’t count him out]. Thanks for all the support and messages. I’ll go home and enjoy my weekend soccer games now.”
