Paddock Notebook: Six Kiwis, Eight Crashes, One Mind Bend(ing) ASBK Saturday
Crash after crash, one hospital admission and a Kiwi extending his championship lead despite a bent handlebar. Strap in for The Final Sector's report from a wild Saturday at The Bend.
By Kent Gray in Adelaide
Six Kiwis. Eight crashes. One crazy day at The Bend.
Saturday’s qualifying and opening races at round 3 of the Penrite Oil Australian Superbike Championship was a tough watch for those who bleed black.
Hunter Charlett did it toughest at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, admitted to hospital for an overnight concussion watch though the young Canterbury racer hopes to pass a fitness test in the morning to race on in the Asia-Pacific R3 Championship.
Mercifully, the weather forecast for Sunday looks better albeit cloudy again. Before we get to that, first a wrap of a wet and wild Saturday where crash after Kiwi crash had The Final Sector in a tailspin.
SW-Motech Australian Superbike
Luca Durning’s steep learning curve in the premier ASBK class came to an abrupt halt in the kitty litter in Q1 – just when it looked like the Whanganui rider might crack Q2 for the first time.
A bike setup blunder left the Kiwi rookie piloting a Ducati V4R set up for the dry, despite it sporting wet tires as the rain turned Superbike qualifying into a game of braking chicken on the greasy, turn-ladened 4.95km circuit.
The inevitable happened when Durning lost the rear on the final corner of a flying lap four.
“We found out that I went out… the electronics were actually for a full dry bike, so the track control and engine brake were not correct,” Durning told The Final Sector.
“And it’s also [that] the slick tires are a different size to the wets, so the bike had no idea what it was actually working, and just came into the last corner and the engine brake was too much and just spun out.
“Yeah, it certainly caught me off guard. Just tipped it in and then the back came round and it was going a lot faster than I thought, and I was rolling through the gravel in no time.”
Durning managed to run his Ducati back to pit lane but with a broken brake side handle bar among other damage, it was too much to fix before the session ended. The 2:25:077 he set on lap three ended up 16th best, meaning Durning will start Sunday’s races from the sixth and final row of an injury-hit grid.
Frustrating? For sure.
“Yeah, I felt it. Certainly felt it,” Durning said of his bike on the flying lap that ultimately wasn’t.
“Like at home it rains quite a bit, so a lot of wet practice for us, I just felt comfortable, especially on a bike that’s set up for full dry. You know, imagine if we were on the wet setup… it could have been even better.”
Five-time ASBK champion Josh Waters snared pole for Sunday in 2:11.05 – .192 of a second ahead of McMartin Racing team-mate and championship leader Harrison Voight (2:11.217). Cameron Dunker secured the final spot on the front row of the grid with a 2:11.605 on his Yamaha R1.
How treacherous were the conditions? Consider that the ASBK qualifying record around The Bend was Troy Herfoss’ 1:49.889, set in 2023 on the Queenslander’s Honda CBR RR.
Durning’s DesmoSport Ducati team-mate Anthony West was 12th in Q1 but a wrist/hand injury looks like it might end the Queenslanders weekend, doubling the despair in the DesmoSport Ducati garage.
Not that Durning is down in the dumps. He can’t wait for Sunday’s two races – races six and seven of the championship - come what may.
“If it’s rain or shine tomorrow, you know, I’m confident we can go faster than we were today and yesterday, but whatever the outcome is, I’m ready for it,” Durning said.
“It’s fine [his confidence]. Wasn’t anything to do with me, so can’t blame myself, so the confidence is still there.”
Road and Race Australian Supersport 300
The three Kiwis involved in some of the worst of Saturday’s big wet produced enough drama to fill a full page of The Final Sector’s increasingly soggy notebook. There was a late, Aussie plot twist to squeeze in too.
Championship leader Tyler King (Kawasaki Ninja 400) crashed on the opening lap of what was the 7th race of the Supersport 300 season, as did Al Wu (Yamaha R3). Both Kiwis quickly dusted themselves off and raced on though sadly for Wu, his day lasted less than another lap as he binned it again, this time for good. It was the happy-go-lucky Whangarei rider’s 4th crash of the day after two earlier spills in turns 1 and 2 in Q1 and Q2 respectively. Struggling to keep up? Us too. But hang tight, things get crazier.
King was the major benefactor of a race that wasn’t over till it was, recovering to finish a creditable 7th despite a bent hand bar from his off. The Silverdale 19-year-old finished a place ahead of Wellingtonian Nixon Frost (Yamaha R3) who joined OJC campaigner Lucas Hyslop as the only Kiwis to keep it upright throughout a challenging Saturday.
Things ended even brighter in the final washup for King after his closest rival in the championship, WA’s Orlando Peovitis, crashed on the final lap with a huge lead and the race seemingly in the bag.
“I’ve never been so happy about crashing and rejoining, so yeah, real good points. I’m real happy,” King said afterwards.
“Yeah, crashed on lap one. Turn six on the exit, like, just touched some paint and, yeah, down she went. It wasn’t too bad [the crash] but I was still in the dirt and the bike did a little bit of a tumble, but yeah, I picked it up straight away and got going again.
“And apparently I got the second fastest time of the race [2:30.055 on lap six compared to Peovitis’ 2:29.156] as well, so yeah, it was good. Felt good on the bike with the bent handle bar, so a bit gutting, but extended my points lead now to 22 points.”
Time to cash in tomorrow then?
“Yeah, and keep it on two wheels this time,” King said with a rueful smile.
Frost was rightfully chuffed to avoid all the carnage.
“That was pretty crazy, so many people were flying off left, right and centre, I didn’t know what to do, so I just took the rest of the race easy,” Frost said.
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy with it. Eighth place is all right. Not the best I can do in the wet, but given that I couldn’t see anything and it was super slippery, fought as best I could do.”
For the record, Victoria’s Matthew Ritter took advantage of Peovitis’ crash to win race 7 by .174 of a second from South Australia’s Tara Morrison.
King had qualified 5th with a 2:11.408 with Frost 10th and Wu 18th.
Yamaha bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup
Lucas Hyslop enjoyed a day that kept on getting better and finished right as the dark clouds overhead began crying and turned The Bend into a skating rink.
The Orewa 15-year-old started the weekend 9th in the championship, qualified 6th in 2:39.107 and then finished 5th in his race, edging a group of five/six riders who were embroiled in a ding-dong battle for much of Saturday’s five-lapper on the identical Yamaha YZR-R15s.
The race was won by South Australian Ryder McKenna but Hyslop was happy with his points haul which went some way to avenging a DNF in the opening round at Sydney Motorsport Park.
“It was a good race. Heaps of battles going on, and I’m just happy to come out on top of that [chasing] group. And, you know, it’s pretty lucky…it just started raining on the last lap, so thankfully it wasn’t too sketchy out there at the end,” Hyslop said.
And tomorrow?
“Hopefully we can get on the podium. That would be good. I just need to get a good start and hang with those guys at the front. If I can get two top five finishes tomorrow, that’d be real good, some good points.”
Yamaha bLU cRu Asia-Pacific R3 Championship
Hunter Charlett’s day to forget led to a night of fret in hospital, the Christchurch 15-year-old under observation for concussion.
Charlett’s flying lap in qualifying was flashing green sectors, seemingly putting him on course for a front row position, only for the Papanui High School student to lose his rear wheel at the final corner.
His best free practice time meant Charlett was allowed to start Saturday’s sole race in 15th position but he never made it to the start line, things going from bad to worse when he rode over a white line on the sighting lap and high-sided over the top of his Yamaha R3. The big off has put a serious dent in his championship ambitions, a situation no doubt contributing to a self-deprecating social media post before he was summoned to hospital.
“Dumb mistake in the wet on the sighting lap that shouldn’t have happened,” Charlett wrote on his Facebook page Hunter Charlett Racing.
“I’m off to hospital for observation and have medical check in the morning to see if I am fit enough to race tomorrow. I feel really stink as I’ve not only let myself down but also Mum and Dad and everyone. Here’s hoping I can make it to the grid tomorrow fit and fighting.”
