Simpson, Nassif and Watson on top at Phillip Island ASBK round

It wasn’t just the AMA Warehouse Superbike brigade which delivered the thrills and spills in round five of the 2024 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at Phillip Island on September 7-8.

The Michelin Supersport, Race and Road Supersport 300 and Nolan Superbike Masters classes also loomed large in a fantastic weekend of racing – with some first-time race winners also adding to the occasion.

Olly Simpson (Supersport), Will Nassif (Supersport 300) and Keo Watson (Superbike Masters) collected the overall spoils at Phillip Island, so let’s see how they got there.

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Michelin Supersport
It was a dramatic day in the Michelin Supersport class, particularly in race two after championship leader Jonathan Nahlous (Yamaha) crashed at turn two on lap one, with chief rival Archie McDonald (Yamaha) also caught out as collateral damage.

With Nahlous and McDonald watching from the sidelines, polesitter Simpson (Yamaha) dug in against some fierce opposition from Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha) to win his first race of the season and reduce Nahlous’ lead in the standings to just 20pts (201 to 181) with two rounds remaining.

Next up are Farnsworth (169), McDonald (168) and Tom Bramich (Yamaha, 166).

Race one saw a perfectly executed performance by Nahlous, finishing ahead of McDonald and Simpson as he collected his fifth win for the season and fourth at the Victorian circuit. In tricky conditions – the cross wind at turn three was particularly problematic – Nahlous’ best lap of 1:34.881 was also mightily impressive.

Simpson was the early leader before Nahlous and eventually McDonald got his measure, while Farnsworth and Jack Favelle (Yamaha) were glued together the whole way and finished in fourth and fifth ahead of Bramich.

Race two took two bites of the cherry to get going after a red-flag in the first attempt – but when it did the headlines were locked in early after Nahlous attempted to go up the inside of McDonald but asked too much of his front tyre. He went down, with the unlucky McDonald also knocked off his machine.

That left Simpson and Farnsworth to fight over the major spoils – the former just getting the job done by 0.016secs – while it was also a doozy between Bramich and Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha) in the battle for third.

Bramich prevailed by just inches, with Jack Favelle (Yamaha) and Hayden Nelson (Kawasaki) the next riders home in the shortened eight-lapper.

Race and Road Supersport 300
It’s always a case of ‘where do you look’ in the Race and Road Supersport 300 class, as positional changes are aplenty and, at Phillip Island, the drafting down Gardner Straight alters the pecking order in the blink of an eye.

Those same dynamics again came to the fore over the weekend, as Yamaha riders Nassif and Scott Nicholson won their first races in Supersport 300 as they finished first and second overall ahead of championship leader Josh Newman (Kawasaki).

Nassif’s consistency was his main calling card as the polesitter finished with 3-3-1 results – the final race held on a wet track – while Nicholson (6-1-4) and Newman (1-4-9) were also prominent players.

Calvin Moylan (Kawasaki), Jordy Simpson (Yamaha) and Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha) also finished on the podium across the three races.

Meanwhile, Newman extended his championship lead back out from one to 19pts (278 to 259) over Knezovic at Phillip Island, while Harrison Watts (Kawasaki) is in third on 254.

Six races remain in the championship – plus two bonus points for pole position – at One Raceway (October 4-6) and The Bend (November 8-10), so it’s still very much wide open.

Nolan Superbike Masters
After Jack Passfield (Yamaha FZR1040) had his measure in the season opener at Sydney Motorsport Park, defending Nolan Superbike Masters champion Keo Watson (Yamaha FZR1000) turned the tables at Phillip Island to win both races – the final bout cancelled due to inclement weather.

Race one between Watson and Passfield was a cracker as they were locked in heavy combat for the five laps, but in race two Watson cleared off with the fastest lap of the weekend (1:39.012) the icing on the cake.

Dean Oughtred (FZR1000) and Murray Clark (Suzuki GSX-R1127) shared the third places.

Watson leads the overall and Period 6 Formula 1300 standings over Passfield, while Scott Webster (Suzuki, Period 5 F1), Ross Dobson (Suzuki, Period 5 Unlimited) and Phillip Burke (Honda, Period 6 Formula 750) hold sway in the other classes.

The Nolan Superbike Masters riders will return for the ASBK grand finale at The Bend.