Cube Racing wins races to cap off ASBK season

Cube Racing’s Callum Spriggs won the final race of the 2016 Australian Supersport Championship and teammate Tom Toparis captured another Up To 300 Production overall win at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria on Sunday.

Spriggs scored pole position on Saturday and then led the opening 14-lap affair for 11 laps before fading to third in the final stages. He was able to maintain his pace for the second race’s duration for victory, placing him second overall and fourth in the final standings.

“It was an awesome final round,” Spriggs recalled. “I managed to get pole position and then in the first race I led, but struggled toward the end with some tyre wear, so I finished third. In race two we tried a few things with suspension and it worked a lot better, so I was able to control the race. I’m really happy to finally get this race win.”

Supersport class teammate Robbie Menzies qualified a fine fifth and then raced to 9-11 finishes for 10th overall. He crossed the line eighth in race two, but received a 10-second jump-start penalty that dropped him down the order. The rookie standout was eighth in the championship classification.

“The weekend was really good for me,” Menzies commented. “I was able to run at the front for a while, but we just need to work more on being able to last there for the race distance. It was really good to finish off my first year on the 600 on two wheels and moving forward, so thank you to everybody who has helped us this season.”

Teenage talent Toparis was once again a class act in his first season of Production racing, qualifying second and taking that same position in race one on Saturday. He improved to win both races on Sunday for the overall, clinching second in the series points.

“It was a really good year and we ended up finishing second in the championship,” rookie revelation Toparis said. “We had no idea I’d be as high as I was and I was only 12 points off the championship in the end, so that crash at Wakefield Park really hurt my points.

“But at the end of the day we’re really happy with where I’m at, we got a round win to end the season and another lap record as well, which is really good. It was a great weekend here and I won two out of three races. I’ve learnt a lot this year and plan to come back next year and battle for the championship again.”

The weekend also saw Oli Bayliss make his anticipated ASBK debut in the Up To 300 Production ranks, qualifying fifth in class, but he wasn’t able to start race one with a technical glitch. He bounced back on Sunday for a pair of fourth-place class results in what was an encouraging debut for the newcomer.

“It was really fun here for me this weekend,” Bayliss said. “In practice I had a couple of crashes, but in the races I felt pretty good and I was able to get two fourths. I learnt a lot and it was so fun battling with people – I’m pretty happy and definitely want to come back for more.”