‘Podium Hunter’ Ford Tastes Victory in Australian Supersport 300
Hunter Ford (YRD, Yamaha YZF-R3) has pulled off another sensational win in the Australian Supersport 300 class at Morgan Park Raceway. The result went down to the wire with a drag race to the finish with Locky Taylor (Shark Leathers, Yamaha YZF-R3). The captivating racing once again proving that this is one of the most exciting classes in the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK).
The battle at the front was mesmerising, with 1.5 seconds covering the top six as they crossed the finish line. Taylor appeared to have the advantage heading into the final lap, but Ford would come out on top at the finish line, by a mere .027s.
Ford sharing after the race; “Locky had a gap on me and I thought, am I going to be able to pull this off? Luckily, I managed to drag race him to the finish line! To be honest, I didn’t have much of a strategy, it was all about adapting to the situation.”
Taylor looked disappointed to miss out, but victories could come his way tomorrow; “It was unfortunate to miss out to Hunter with the drag to the line, but credit to all the boys fighting at the front. I had a strategy to try to stay in front and try to break Hunter’s slipstream to the line but we couldn’t pull it off.”
Zac Ley continued his successful season in 2018 with a third-place finish, a further 1.143s off the victory. He commented how much he enjoyed the battle with the leaders up front and how physically tiring the race was.
Recent standouts, Seth Crump (Rock Oil, KTM RC390) and Tom Bramich (JLT, Yamaha YZF-R3) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Australian Supersport 300 Race One Results
1. Hunter FORD (YRD, Yamaha YZF-R3)
2. Locky TAYLOR (Shark Leathers, Yamaha YZF-R3)
3. Zac LEVY (Puma RV’s, Yamaha YZF-R3)
4. Seth CRUMP (Rock Oil, KTM RC390)
5. Tom BRAMICH (JLT, Yamaha YZF-R3)
6. Oli BAYLISS (Cube Racing, Kawasaki Ninja)
7. Harry KHOURI (Excite Motorsports, Yamaha YZF-R3)
8. Max STAUFFER (Rock Oil, Yamaha YZF-R3)
9. Tayla RELPH (Earmold Australia, Yamaha YZF-R3)
10. Zane FORD (YRD, Yamaha YZF-R3)
Want to see the action trackside? Click here to grab your tickets for Round 5 of ASBK. If you can’t make it, don’t forget you can catch the action live on SBS, Fox Sports (1pm-3pm AEST) and the livestream available all day at asbk.com.au.
ASBK is pleased to announce the arrival of the digitalised Official ASBK Round 5 Program.
The program can be found on the website ASBK.COM.AU.
Public access to the digital ASBK Program will feature many interesting and informative sections including; rider entry lists, race schedules, previous round wrap ups, championship points standings, track information, biographies, getting started in racing information, partnership information, race pictures and so much more.
2018 ASBK Calendar
Round 5- Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick QLD August 17 – 19
Round 6- Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, VIC September 7 – 9
Round 7- Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC October 12 – 14
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Photos courtesy of Andrew Gosling tbg sport
