Ongoing progress and development for Elliott at Sydney Motorsport Park

Brayden Elliott has continued to achieve his own personal goals of development and progression in his first season in the Superbike category following the third round of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Sydney Motorsport Park on the weekend, achieving a top six race finish while also riding in wet weather conditions for the first time in the premier two-wheeled class, another critical piece of learning in Brayden’s debut season.

With one official practice session on Saturday morning, Brayden set out to begin his weekend in the right direction, recording the tenth fastest time with a 1:32.458 ahead of two qualifying sessions. Elliott did enough to improve his overall lap times from practice in the first session, securing a 1:31.992. Combining that time with a 1:32.018 in qualifying two would place him in eleventh on merged classification for race one.

Jumping from his starting position of eleventh up to ninth by the end of lap one, Brayden set his quickest lap of a 1:31.540 on lap three of twelve, a time faster than that in qualifying with the Tumut rider then moving to tenth place on lap eight which is where he would remain through to the chequered flag.

With the circuit declared wet for the final race of the weekend, it brought about a new challenge for Elliott being the first time in wet conditions on the Superbike. Contact with another rider on the opening lap forced him wide off the track, subsequently slipping back to 18th position. A hard charging Elliott was determined to return the Knobby Underwear Suzuki GSX-R Superbike back towards the front, picking his way through the quality field, finally gaining two places on the last lap to move into sixth for the end of the race. The results ensured Brayden would finish the round in seventh overall and he now sits in eighth in the official series standings after three of the six rounds.

Brayden Elliott:

“It was a very important weekend for us as a whole team, we have continued to achieve the goals that we set out for ourselves.I’m continually working closely with both Shawn (Giles) and Phil (Tainton) to improve our setups at each and every event. The team are doing an amazing job to make me feel more comfortable on the Knobby Underwear Suzuki GSX-R 1000, focusing high attention on improving my own skills as I continuing to gain experience leading to ongoing good results.”

“The weekend also marked the first time I had ridden in wet weather conditions on the Superbike, so that certainly provided a fantastic learning experience for myself. Also being able to get used to the Pirelli tyre on a wet track which worked very well and certainly gave me plenty of confidence to give it my all. It was unfortunate to be forced off the track in race two but to come back from 18th to finish sixth is a big achievement and was a true test of my determination and hard work.”

“I cant thank my sponsors and supporters enough, in particular those that were able to make it out to the track on the weekend.

We have yet another big task ahead of us for the next round at Barbagallo, making the big trek across the Nullarbor to Western Australia but I’m looking forward returning to my personal favourite track that gave me great success in 2015.”

Official Results:

Practice – 10th Qualifying 1 – 9th Qualifying 2 – 11th Race 1 –10th Race 2 – 6th Round Result – 7th / Series – 8th

Round four of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship takes place at Barbagallo Raceway, Western Australia from June 3-5.