PODIUM FORM FOR CUBE RACING TEAM AT HIDDEN VALLEY

Cube Racing teammates Tom Toparis and Oli Bayliss factored at the front of the field in the fourth round of the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship in Darwin, contending for podium results in the Supersport and Supersport 300 categories.

As the series resumed at Hidden Valley in the Northern Territory, Toparis slotted into second on the Supersport grid with a 1m08.059s, just 0.108s from pole position. He went on to capture 2-3 finishes in the pair of 14-lap races on Sunday.

“We had good pace in practice and qualifying, but it was a bit frustrating in the end,” the 18-year-old admitted. “The bike felt really good in cool temperatures and the lap-time was really good. It was just tricky in the races, couldn’t really get that consistency going. 

“My start wasn’t great in race one, so that made things harder for myself and by the time I got to second that was all I could manage. We were a lot closer in race two, but in the end I ended up third and that was disappointing. Anyway, it’s all good and it’s good to be on the podium, so thank you to Cube Racing and everybody.”

That result sees Goulburn resident Toparis remain second in the Australian Supersport standings, 25 points outside of the lead following four of seven rounds.

In the action-packed Australian Supersport 300 ranks, Cube Racing’s Bayliss scored a popular pole position on Saturday with a new circuit best lap of 1m17.702s. He claimed second in race one that afternoon, only 0.013s short of victory following 10 nail-biting laps.

Sunday was another convincing effort from the 14-year-old Bayliss, running second in race two prior to crashing out of contention, however he managed to bounce back for fourth in race three – just half a second from first position. That salvaged him P7 overall, now fourth in the points.

“The weekend started off great, pushing the top two in practice through Thursday and Friday, then we got pole on Saturday and that felt great!” Bayliss reflected. “I was really confident going into the races, so I was happy to get second in race one because the bike is definitely better on tracks with less of a straight.

“It’s hard to explain what happened in the second race, I squared it off and lost the rear, so couldn’t finish the race. In the third one I was leading for most of it, but didn’t want to lead onto the straight and that was my problem – I probably should have. But anyway, we were competitive and that was good.”

Cube Racing team owner Ben Henry said it was another promising performance for both Toparis and Bayliss, even if he is certain the best is yet to come from each of them in the coming rounds as their experience continues to build.

“Tommy is riding really good, but Cru [Halliday] is doing a pretty decent job on a good motorbike,” said Henry. “We’re working hard with what we have and the one-lap pace was good, although come the races we just didn’t quite have the speed at this race. The bike just wasn’t quite as quick.

“Oli was really impressive again, he is riding the best he has ever ridden and is going so well. He’s getting all that he can out of that Ninja 300, which has a lower capacity to the competition, so it’s hard for him to race on that type of track. I feel he is the best rider in the class, so I’m sure his time will come.”

Next for the Cube Racing team in the Australian championship will be Morgan Park Raceway’s fifth round of the season in Queensland on 17-19 August.

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