Elliott unstoppable in WA
Brayden Elliott (Brayden Elliott Racing) has continued his brilliant form on the bike, sweeping the Yamaha Supersport class at the third round of the 2015 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli.
Elliott put on a clinical display of riding in front of a huge Western Australian crowd to take hold of the series heading into round four in Tasmania.
Victorian Alex Phillis (Phillis Racing) claimed second overall for the round after finishing third and second from the two races, while the Northern Territory’s Sam Lambert (Sam Lambert Racing) rounded out the podium in third (second and fourth).
Race 1
Elliott was always going to be the rider to beat in the class as he started the opening race from pole-position.
An unfortunate injury on Saturday to Livio Zampieri forced him out of Sunday’s action meaning the second spot on the grid was left empty.
That allowed Elliott to take a comfortable lead off the line with Lambert, moving into second position ahead of Aaiden Coote (Yamaha YRD) and Phillis, with Thyron Van Vuuren (SP Racing) rounding out top five.
Van Vuuren moved up into fourth when he passed Phillis at turn six, but up the front it was Elliott who set about increasing his lead.
At the end of the second lap Elliott had put a 1.5 second lead on Lambert in second, while one-second separated the next six riders.
Van Vuuren and Coote overshot the left hander heading up the hill on lap three and both were forced off the track, and re-entered at the rear of the field.
That pushed Phillis up into third spot, while Ryan Taylor (RTR by Moto Obsession) and Kane Burns (Moto National) each took spots inside the top five.
With Elliott streaking clear of the field, all eyes were on the intense battle for second, with nothing separating Lambert and Phillis.
The pair was already well clear of fourth spot, and while Lambert kept second spot through to the halfway mark of the race, Phillis was working hard to look for a pass.
But the interest shifted to Lambert, who with three laps remaining had cut Elliott’s lead at the front from 2.5 seconds back to 1.89 seconds while at the same time putting some space between himself and Phillis.
Elliott then broke away to take a convincing race win, while Phillis tried hard in vain to catch Lambert who held onto second spot by 0.014 of a second.
Taylor and Burns rounded out the top five, while Van Vuuren worked his way back up to ninth and Coote was forced to settle for 11th.
Race 2
Elliott again came off the line and into a commanding lead, while Coote turned at the opening corner in second spot, trailed by Burns, Phillis and Lambert.
Phillis was on a mission early claiming the fastest lap of the race with a 57.820 to move into third, while Van Vuuren had moved into fifth.
At the opening corner of the third lap Coote slipped past the inside of Elliott to take the lead – but it was short-lived as the series leader regained the lead heading into the home straight.
The battle everyone was watching was between third, fourth, fifth and sixth with just one second separating Burns, Coote, Van Vuuren and Lambert.
Worn tyres meant that Coote drifted back to sixth position and had him in a spot of bother, while Burns had put more than a second lead on Van Vuuren in third.
Up front Phillis was slowly chipping away at Elliot’s lead and with six laps left to complete, that lead had been whittled down to .558 of a second.
But the cool head and experience of Elliott meant the result was a formality – winning the race and making it a clean sweep of all three races on the weekend.
Phillis finished the race in third ahead of Burns, and Lambert and Van Vuuren rounded out the top five.
The result means that Elliott now holds a 19-point lead from Burns in the overall championship standings, with Coote a further 17 points behind in third.
Round 3 Results:
1 Brayden ELLIOTT (NSW) (25, 25) 51
2 Alex PHILLIS (VIC) (18, 20) 38
3 Sam LAMBERT (NT) (20, 17) 37
4 Kane BURNS (NSW) (16, 18) 34
5 Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) (17, 15) 32
6 Thyron VAN VUUREN (WA) (12, 16) 28
7 Leigh BOUJOS (WA) (15, 12) 27
8 Nicholas LIMINTON (SA) (11, 14) 25
9 Jack TWISSE (WA) (13, 11) 24
10 Aaiden COOTE (VIC/WA) (10, 13) 23
Overall Championship Standings:
1 Brayden ELLIOTT (NSW) 115
2 Kane BURNS (NSW) 96
3 Aaiden COOTE (VIC/WA) 79
4 Sam LAMBERT (NT) 65
5 Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) 65
6 Alex PHILLIS (VIC) 62
7 Chris QUINN (NSW) 62
8 Thyron VAN VUUREN (WA) 58
9 Nicholas LIMINTON (SA) 56
10 Michael BLAIR (NSW) 50
For a full list of results from Barbagallo and to see the championship standings head to: http://www.computime.com.au/meetings/index.aspx?MeetID=2015/asbk3/.
For the latest photos, news and information from the round head to www.asbk.com.au.
IMAGE: tbgsport
