ASBK 2025
Round Three – QLD Raceway
SW-Motech Superbike Race One
Mike Jones and Josh Waters dominated every practice and qualifying session, but it was always Jones with the upper hand, albeit by an incredibly slender margin.
However, Queensland Raceway is the place where the script said Waters would struggle. The simple looking circuit is actually quite complex and requires laser precision in order to find any sort of advantage over your competitors. Mike Jones has been the master of that around here, while this circuit, in recent seasons at least on the Ducati, has been somewhat of a frustrating Achilles heel for Waters and the McMartin Racing Ducati.
It is somewhat of a big deal that McMartin Racing have turned that form guide around here this weekend. Waters always looks somewhat pensive and nervous before a session, but he turns into a different animal when he gets on the beautiful piece of engineering that is so precisely prepared by Craig McMartin. It looks seriously fast even when standing still. Once fired up the anger is palpable and hangs in the air, as the crew direct strong fans on to various parts of the bike for it to keep its cool when stationary. It is almost like the fires of hell are burning inside those chiselled crankcases when its unique 0-90-290-380 firing order is ignited.
This weekend Waters has been laser focussed, instantly fast on his first flying lap each session, determined to get that QLD Raceway monkey off his back. The marriage of Waters and the McMartin Ducati was something to behold during the sessions this weekend. There are few places where that is so easily seen as Queensland Raceway as the circuit lends itself to easy viewing of the whole track and watching Waters and the V4 R in action was breathtaking. There was no over riding of the bike and the speed looked to come easy, but of course that’s easier said than accomplished. The pairing just looked, efficient, but in a force of nature type of way that had onlookers sit up and take notice, from scribes such as myself, to a MotoGP race winner like Chris Vermeulen, there was a bit of a sense of awe and phwoar watching the combination strut its stuff around ‘The Paperclip’.
Mike Jones is always a pleasure to watch at work. But while the Ducati looked like a missile being tamed, Jones’ flow with the Yamaha wrote a different sonnet. Waters and the Ducati had a touch of heavy metal to it, while Jones and the YRT machine made for a more rolling symphony. I wasn’t using those terms in a purely musical sense, but I do sometimes wish we had a one bike at a time Superpole session every now and then, to allow those trackside to really experience the aural accompaniment to the visual feast. I think Queensland Raceway would be the perfect venue for it due to the whole circuit being so close to the spectators. I don’t even want another bike on its out-lap to pollute the single bike soundtrack if we went back to a one lap, one bike Superpole schedule here at Queensland Raceway when we visit next year.
Anyway, I digress…
Back to Mike and the Yamaha, and the Mechanics… You get the sense that Mike doesn’t need to talk to Dyllan and Liam all that much. And I see little evidence of this happening in the pit-box. The crew fettle the bike, calmly and with no fuss, Mike pops into the box when it comes time to do his bit, and then gets straight down to business. And he has been seriously on it this weekend. Every time Waters made a splash, Mike returned fire immediately, lighting up the monitors in his favour.
I get the sense that if Waters is going to get on top of Jones here today he is going to have to get his elbows out to do it, in the knowledge that if he can ruin an exit for Mike, he then has the horsepower of the Ducati to make the difference down the next chute.
Or will Waters and Jones trip each other up and open the door for Broc Pearson to dust them both… The DesmoSport Ducati man looks confident and hasn’t been far off the two in front of him on the grid.
The braking duels at both turn three and and turn six will prove epic. Both spots generally claim quite a few scalps during any Superbike race here at Queensland Raceway, and I can’t remember there being so few visits to those gravel traps across the practice and qualifying sessions as there have been this weekend. I can’t imagine that trend will continue today when the pressure is really on.
If it comes to a game of elbows out I am pretty sure that with his lanky frame Broc might come off best. If it comes to punches though I’d take Josh as while he never shows it, rest assured he is built like a tank through the middle and a safe bet for the strongest core in the paddock. While Mike no longer quite deserves the ‘Skeletor’ moniker he wore through his younger years, he would still be in the flyweight division compared to Waters and Pearson. But maybe he would have enough rat cunning and endurance to outlast them both…
Who else is in the podium fight?
Well, I’m not sure anyone has the pace to match that trio here today, but the battle for fourth looks to be shaping up as quite a war. And if we were still on the subject of fighting, then fourth place qualifier Anthony West might be a shoo-in as he spent a huge amount of time training in the boxing gym throughout his younger days. Westy looks the happiest I have seen him in ages and has been competitive throughout every session so far this weekend.
Joining Westy in that likely battle for fourth are half a dozen riders. Young privateer John Lytras is looking fast on home soil, and fellow young guns Max Stauffer, Jonathan Nahlous, Cam Dunker and Jack Favelle have been steadily building speed over the course of the weekend. And then there is the hugely experience Arthur Sissis, a fast starter who will fire from eighth place on the grid.
Then there are two riders starting further back on the grid with a point to prove. Halliday missed setting a lap in Q2 and is yet to really show his potential, while electrical gremlins during qualifying have three-time champ Glenn Allerton starting from the back of the grid. You wouldn’t want to be ahead of either of them tipping into turn one when the 16-lap contest gets underway as it doesn’t take all that much to fire either of them up, and rest assured, they’re fired up…
A notable absentee from the Superbike field this weekend is class mainstay Matt Walters. The Cessnock Kawasaki rider has stepped away from racing, at least for now, after deciding to hang up the leathers ahead of the round. Also missing this round are Tom Toparis, who is sidelined by injury, and Tommy Edwards, who is not present this weekend due to machinery problems.
Away They Go!
Mike Jones and Josh Waters were side by side heading towards turn one but the Ducati man had his nose ahead as they negotiated the opening turns. John Lyras had a lighthning start which propelled him up to third place early on ahead of Anthony West, Max Stauffer and Broc Pearson. A poor start from the DesmoSport Ducati man leaving him with plenty of work to do, he looked up to the task though as he was the fastest rider on track over the course of lap two.
Jones ran a little wide at turn six as they started lap three but recovered well to stay in touch with Waters. Lytras was still running a brilliant third.
Jones hit the lead on the exit of turn three with a smooth move up the inside of Waters and took the race line away from Waters entering turn four. Westy was now crawling all over the back of Lytras and that pair had Broc Pearson in close company.
Both West and then Pearson then shuffled Lytras back to fifth. With 11 laps to run Max Stauffer was sixth, Cam Dunker seventh, and Glenn Allerton up to eighth after starting from the back of the grid.
Waters got the better of Jones next time around to move back into the race lead on the entry to turn six after Jones lost a little drive out of turn five. Waters then went on to set a new fastest lap of the race, a 67.369 a new race lap record here at Queensland Raceway.
Cam Dunker brushed up against John Lytras which upset the local rider’s rhythm, Allerton took advantage to push Lytras back another position.
Up front Waters now had his ears pinned back, lowering the race lap record once again with a 67.265 on lap eight to start the second half of the race with nine-tenths over Jones. Westy was a further three-seconds back in third place with Broc Pearson starting to breathe down his neck. Max Stauffer was also in that mix ahead of Allerton, Dunker and Lytras. Cru Halliday was up to ninth after taking some time to get up to speed, while Jonathan Nahlous rounded out the top ten well ahead of Arthur Sissis and Jack Favelle.
The gap between Waters and Jones continued to hover around a second, while Anthony West had broke away from Pearson to put one foot on to the podium. Max Stauffer had got the better of Pearson for fourth place with five laps to run, while Allerton was now hounding Pearson for fifth.
With two laps to run Josh Waters looked to have it won, his lead out to 1.5-seconds. Westy still looked pretty safe in third but Stauffer, Pearson and Allerton were starting to close in as they battled over fourth. Further back Halliday and Dunker were tussling over seventh, while Lytras had now been pushed further back to ninth.
Pearson took fourth place from Stauffer late on the penultimate lap, Allerton then pushed Stauffer further back to sixth before then running down Pearson on the final lap to take fourth place.
Josh Waters the winner, and at the track that he was least expect to. That win extending his championship lead over Jones out to 31 points.
Westy putting the Addicted To Track Yamaha on the podium a just reward for his team.
1. Josh Waters
2. Mike Jones +0.946
3. Anthony West +8.094
SW-Motech Superbike Race One Results
- Josh Waters
- Mike Jones +0.946
- Anthony West +8.094
- Glenn Allerton +10.286
- Broc Pearson +10.707
- Max Stauffer +10.995
- Cru Halliday +15.546
- Cam Dunker +15.552
- John Lytras +17.332
- Jonathan Nahlous +18.236
- Arthur Sissis +26.770
- Jack Favelle +28.031
- Ty Lynch +39.741
- Eddie Leeson +55.380
- Josh Soderland +66.434
- Paul Linkenbagh +68.407
- Michael Edwards +1 lap
SW-Motech Superbike Championship Points
- Josh Waters 151
- Mike Jones 120
- Anthony West 103
- Jonathan Nahlous 83
- Max Stauffer 80
- Broc Pearson 77
- Cam Dunker 75
- Cru Halliday 74
- Glenn Allerton 74
- Jack Favelle 70
