2015

Blair takes ASBK Supersport win

News

New South Wales rider Michael Blair (Blair Build) has taken out race two and emphatically claimed overall hounours in the Supersport class at the opening 2015 ASBK Championship round held at Phillip Island.

Blair added to his opening race win on Saturday with an equally impressive win in race two on Sunday, to finish the round with 50 points – 10-points clear of second placed Callum Spriggs (Allsite Concrete Cutting).

In the second race for the round, Spriggs retained pole position on the grid, but Blair stormed past off the line to take the lead.

Spiggs had to be content with second as Paul Young (BC Performance) settled into third from Kane Burns (Moto National) and Mitchell Levy (Warm & Safe Australia).

Burns made a wonderful move at the end of the opening lap to get past Young, and the pair touched a few seconds later forcing Young onto the brakes.

Young wasn’t having any of it, and a few corners later edged past Burns, and coming through Lukey Heights he pulled another top move to get past Spriggs and into second position.

Only 0.569 of a second separated the top four riders, and while Blair seemed to have control of the race up front, pole-winner Spriggs was clearly struggling as he dropped back to fourth.

Lap three saw Young and Burns swap positions multiple times, while behind the top-four, Levy, Aiden Coote (Yamaha YRD) and Ryan Taylor (RTR by Moto Obsession) were locked in a battle of their own.

Young moved up to Blair and looked set to tackle the front-runner on lap four, before he inexplicably lost control of his bike and slid out of the race at turn two.

That left Blair in a strong position, and by the end of the lap he had a clear gap to Spriggs, who had moved into second, and Burns in third.

With Levy in fourth it looked as though he would be set to capitalise on Young’s misfortune, and move towards a podium finish for the round. But on lap six, he went wide at turn one and re-entered the race in 26^th position.

It was then Taylor’s turn to move into fourth spot and with a fifth place in the opening race, looked set to claim third overall for the round.

Ahead of him, Spriggs turned up the heat on Blair, and by the end of the eighth lap he had moved right on top of Blair’s rear tyre.

But it was to no avail – Blair keeping a measured head and controlling the tempo from start to finish, taking the race win and making it a round sweep for the class.

Spriggs’ pair of second placings for the weekend handed him second overall, while Taylor’s fourth place was enough to give him third overall for the weekend.

Burns rounded out the top-three for race number two, while Thyron Van Vuuren finished the race in fifth.

ASBK Supersport Round 1 Results

1          Michael BLAIR (NSW)           (25, 25)          50
2          Callum SPRIGGS (QLD)         (20, 20)          40
3          Ryan TAYLOR (VIC)             (16, 17)          33
4          Thyron VAN VUUREN (WA) (14, 16)          30
5          Ben BLYTH (VIC)                  (15, 14)          29
6          Kane BURNS (NSW)             (9, 18)                        27
7          Aaiden COOTE (VIC)                        (11, 15)          26
8          Luke MITCHELL (NSW)        (12, 12)          24
9          Mason COOTE (VIC)             (13, 11)          24
10       Hudson PITT (SA)                 (10, 10)          20