Luke Power on Pole in YMI Supersport 300

The Yamaha Motor Insurance (YMI) Supersport 300 contenders had their chance to shine this afternoon during qualifying for Round 1 of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) here at Phillip Island, as part of the FIM World Superbike Championship (WSBK) this weekend (February 22-24).

Luke Power (RTR Yamaha R3 321) will start tomorrow’s Supersport 300 race from pole position after a superb recovery from 12th in this morning’s Free Practice 2 (1:51.506) to top qualifying with a time of 1:49.007.

Power topped the session ahead of Callum O’Brien (Kawasaki BCperformance Kawasaki EX400), who made his own recovery from 8th in Free Practice 2 to come in second with a 1:49.698.

In third was Locky Taylor (Yamaha R3 321) with a time of 1:49.728.

John Lytras (Caboolture Yamaha, Yamaha R3 321) will start tomorrow’s first race in fourth, after clocking a time of 1:49.869.

Max Stauffer (Yamaha, Yamaha R3 321) was the big surprise, after topping the timesheets in Free Practice 2 with an absolutely blistering 1:47.829 he couldn’t capitalise in qualifying, only managing a 1:49.897to finish down in fifth. 

Fastest Overall Top 10 Results:
1 Luke POWER (RTR Yamaha R3 321) 1:49.007
2 Callum O’BRIEN(Kawasaki BCperformance Kawasaki EX400) 1:49.698
3 Locky TAYLOR (YRD, Yamaha R3 321) 1:49.728
4 John LYTRAS (Caboolture Yamaha YamahaR3 321) 1: 49.869
5 Max STAUFFER (Yamaha, Yamaha R3 321) 1:49.897
6 Seth CRUMP (Rockoil, KTM RC 390) 1:49.903
7 Hunter FORD (Yamaha, Yamaha R3 321) 1:50.073
8 Senna AGIUS (Kawasaki EX 400) 1:50.395
9 Yannis SHAW (WRP Bridgestone Kawasaki EX 400) 1:50.562
10 Harry KHOURI (Excite M-sports, Yamaha R3 321) 1:50.763

The first round of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship continues until Sunday (February 24) at Phillip Island, as part of the FIM World Superbike Championship weekend. For information and tickets, head to www.asbk.com.au.

To keep up with all the action from the weekend, follow the ASBK on Facebook and Instagram.