ASBK Championship heading to the bright lights of Sydney

The 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) switches into nocturnal mode on March 28-29 for the much-anticipated Night Race at Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP).

After just two years, the ASBK Sydney Night Race has quickly cemented itself as one of the flagship rounds on the ASBK calendar.

Round two of the Australian Superbike Championship is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

The buzz is not only a function of the unique night flavour, but it also marks the first time that all classes under the ASBK umbrella – Superbike, Supersport, Supersport 300, R3 Cup, Oceania Junior Cup and Superbike Masters – come together in season 2025.

On-track activity will span across both days, with practice and qualifying during daylight hours followed by the light towers illuminating for the ASBK Sydney Night Race after the sun sets.

Josh Waters, Archie McDonald and Jordy Simpson all take championship leads into the SW-Motech Superbike, Kawasaki Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300 classes at SMSP, but the trio knows the round two heat will be coming from all directions.

The ASBK Sydney Night Race enjoys a real buzz, with a highlight the popular pit walk on Saturday which provides the perfect opportunity to grab autographs from riders and ASBK legends.

The ASBK Trade Alley will also be in full swing, as well as a host of other family-friendly activities that will delight fans young and old.

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ASBK Sydney Night Race event program

SW-Motech Superbike
Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati, Vic) made light work of his opposition with a brilliant clean sweep of round one at Phillip Island, romping to overall victory ahead of fellow veterans Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team, Qld) and Anthony West (Addicted to Track Yamaha, Qld).

If that wasn’t enough of a reality check for his rivals, the four-time reigning Superbike champion has now fully recovered from a broken left collarbone that was still providing some residual discomfort at Phillip Island.

And with teen star Harrison Voight – who thumped a quality field of Superbike pilots at an SMSP night event in February – a late scratching for round two due to Moto2 testing commitments in Europe, Waters (the SMSP lap record holder) is the clear favourite.

However, motorcycle racing is nothing if unpredictable, and the likes of Jones, West, Glenn Allerton (Superbike Advocates Racing Ducati, NSW), Cameron Dunker (MotoGo Yamaha, NSW), Jonathan Nahlous (Yamaha, NSW), Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati, Qld), Max Stauffer (Yamaha Racing Team, NSW) and Stop and Seal Yamaha duo Arthur Sissis (SA) and Cru Halliday (NSW) will be out to cash in if Waters misfires.

Halliday was the race one winner at SMSP in 2024, while Stauffer and Pearson – currently fourth and seventh respectively in the Superbike standings – also finished on the podium. Allerton and Jones also have prior winning form at SMSP.

Last year’s dominant SMSP Supersport rider Tom Toparis (Stop and Seal Yamaha, NSW), Tom Edwards (MotoSchool Yamaha, NSW), John Lytras (Yamaha, Qld) – fresh from an excellent fifth place finish in the MX Open class at the recent Australian Senior Dirt Track Championship in Brisbane – and Ty Lynch (Yamaha, SA) will also be hunting down top 10 finishes.

A bolter in the 23-rider field could be Sean Condon (NSW). Although not a championship regular, he’s always frighteningly fast around SMSP – as shown multiple times over the last decade across a variety of classes. Last year it was a second place in Supersport race one, and in 2025 the crafty 35-year-old is throwing his lot into the Superbike cauldron on a Yamaha.

The two 13-lap SW-Motech Superbike races will be held at 4:55pm and 9pm on Saturday.

Kawasaki Supersport
Archie McDonald (two wins, NSW) and Stop and Seal Yamaha teammate Jack Mahaffy (one win, Vic) were the dominant figures at the Kawasaki Supersport season opener, while Olly Simpson (BCperformance Kawasaki, SA), Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha, NSW), Declan van Rosmalen (Yamaha, Vic), rookie Will Nassif (Yamaha, NSW) and Tom Bramich (Yamaha, Vic) were also prominent.

Meanwhile, Hayden Nelson (BCperformance Kawasaki, NSW) scored a podium after Bramich crashed on the final lap of race three.

Save for van Rosmalen, who’s returned to European competition, the same riders will be at it in Sydney, with reigning Supersport 300 champion Josh Newman (Addicted to Track Yamaha, NSW) and Marcus Hamod (Honda, NSW) also pushing hard.

McDonald leads the championship on 71pts from Mahaffy (65), Simpson (51) and Farnsworth (46).

The two Kawasaki Supersport races will be held over 11 laps each at 3:55pm and 7:50pm respectively.

Race and Road Supersport 300 and ShopYamaha R3 Cup
Round one of the Race and Road Supersport 300 Championship saw three different winners: Tara Morrison (Kawasaki, SA), Jordy Simpson (Yamaha, SA) and 14-year-old wunderkind Sam Drane (Yamaha, NSW).

The races were again extraordinarily tight with the final drafting battles coming down to precious millimetres. Simpson (2-1-4) was the overall round winner from Scott Nicholson (3-3-2, Kawasaki, Vic) and Morrison (1-6-5). Fifteen-year-old Hudson Thompson (5-2-3, Yamaha, NSW) and Drane (8-8-1) saw out the top five.

The three Sydney battles promise just as much brawling, where riders like Jake Paige (Kawasaki, Qld), Riley Nauta (Kawasaki, Qld), Mitch Simpson (Yamaha, SA), OIiver Short (Kawasaki, Vic), Nikolas Lazos (Yamaha, Vic), John Pelgrave (Yamaha, Qld), Nixon Frost (Yamaha, Vic), Tyler King (Kawasaki, Vic) and Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha, NSW) will also be right in the hunt.

Knezovic is bursting with confidence after a sensational 1-2 start to the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia-Pacific Championship in Thailand on March 22-23, while also being the only rider in the 35-strong pack with winning Supersport 300 form to his name at SMSP.

The ShopYamaha R3 Cup also commences in Sydney, with 24 confirmed starters kickstarting a four-round series with almost $20,000 in prizemoney and bonuses for pole position. Knezovic is the defending champion.

bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup
The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup (OJC) will continue to unearth circuit racing stars in 2025, with 20 riders to compete in the FIM-backed and Dorna Sports-endorsed Road to MotoGP pathways program that has official Australian Junior Road Race Championship status. Sydney will be the first of six rounds in 2025.

The expanded OJC roster – hailing from all parts of Australia as well as New Zealand – includes 12 rookies, while the balance is returning to the academy which provides young riders with everything they need: identical Yamaha YZF-R15s, Shark helmets, Ricondi riding gear and high-level coaching support led by former 500 GP race winner Garry McCoy.

Among those continuing incumbency include last year’s No. 3 Hunter Charlett (Vic), Rossi McAdam (WA), Jed Louis (NSW), Phoenix O’Brien (Vic) and Jai Strugnell (SA). Charlett won race three at SMSP in 2024.

McCoy will be joined by Ty Lynch and Archie McDonald in an expanded 2025 coaching team, while the latter will also take on a broader ambassadorial role.

Superbike Masters
For the third year in succession, Superbike Masters will begin its season under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park before heading to Morgan Park Raceway (June 13-15) and The Bend (November 7-9).

The Bend produced an extraordinary final round in 2024 where Victorian Ryan Taylor came from the clouds on his Suzuki GSX-R1100 to win the title after previous front-runners Keo Watson and Jack Passfield (both Yamaha FZR1000) were sidelined by injury and mechanical woes respectively.

Taylor heads the Superbike Masters line-up in Sydney, with Beau Beaton (Ducati, NSW), Michael Berti Mendez (Ducati, NSW) and Phillip Burke (Honda, NSW) among the other riders.

Images: RbMotoLens