ASBK Hidden Valley: Steve Martin Track Guide

He might be stuck in Melbourne this weekend, but expert series commentator Steve Martin was still keen to give us his thoughts on this weekend’s mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship, presented by Motul (ASBK) round at Hidden Valley.

It’s great to have a Superbike round back at Hidden Valley for the first time since 2018, and be racing alongside the Supercars for the first time since 2013!

What we’ve seen in the opening couple of rounds of this year’s championship is that Wayne Maxwell and Troy Herfoss are continuing their rivalry, but there are plenty of other riders in the mix.

This weekend, I expect the hot conditions and relative lack of practice time to challenge the riders and teams, and maybe mix things up a bit.

In terms of bike setup, the focus is going to be on hard braking and good drive out of stop-start corners because they’re basically the opportunities for being able to pass. If you have a bike that can do a fast lap time but isn’t strong in the areas where you can overtake, you’re going to be in a world of pain for the weekend.

Overall, it’s a track that takes guts, determination, good speed and very good judgement if you want to get it right.

 

Turn 1

The first thing you notice about Hidden Valley is the speed down the main straight. It’s a crescendo of speed all the way up to more than 300km/h into a very tight left-hander.

It’s a good opportunity and there’s a lot of run-off, but you have to be careful because we’ve seen a lot of accidents there in the past.

It’s a long left-hander where you can dive up the inside or take the outside line, but it’s important to get right because on the exit.

 

Turns 2, 3, 4 and 5

Turns 2, 3 and 4 are an S-bend where you’re pretty much flat out, Turn 5 is a 90-degree right hander which is another good passing spot. There’s not a lot of room there and we’ve seen incidents at this part of the track as well.

 

Turn 6

It’s a quick blast out of Turn 5 for the run into Turn 6, the hairpin. It’s another chance for a braking move up the inside but it’s very risky. The key with this circuit is the risky overtaking manoeuvres that can or can’t be successfully executed.

 

Turns 7, 8, 9 and 10

It’s hard on the gas out of the hairpin, being careful not to high-side out of the fast right-hander at Turn 7, and through the flip-flop (Turns 8 and 9). Into Turn 10, you just breathe on the brakes on the way in. You’re right on the limit and you need good edge-grip.

 

Turns 11, 12, 13 and 14,

You ride the undulations and kinks down to the final turn, where there’s a final opportunity to other out-brake your rival, or get better drive out of the corner and pass them before the start-finish line.

Download the official ASBK Hidden Valley track map HERE.