Supports: Dunker Writes His Name Into History Books
Michelin Supersport
Cameron Dunker – at the ripe old age of 15 – continues to re-write the history books in his first year in the class. There’s no denying the kid’s talent. Since he has turned his talent to road racing after winning five Australian dirt track titles, he has won the double winning the Supersport 300 Championship as well as the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup.
At the previous round at Sydney Motorsport Park – in just his fifth race in the class – Cam won the second Michelin Supersport race in wet and challenging conditions, to become the youngest winner of a race in the class and backed it up today by becoming the youngest rider to claim a Michelin Supersport pole position. The diminutive teenager is a class act with an extremely promising future. It would be no surprise if he takes another win tomorrow but there are plenty willing to upset his applecart.
One of those riders is Tom Bramich who qualified second fastest on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Tom has been in the class for a couple of years after tasting international competition but with his best qualifying result in the class has shown that he is not too far from knocking on the door of a race win. Third fastest was championship leader, Ty Lynch who went about his task without any fanfare but continued to chip away in his usual way. While Ty is not one to make any excuses, he is still recovering from injuries he suffered last year. As is the case with all of the gladiators of ASBK, once he is on the bike and on track all the discomfort is erased from his mind as he goes about the job at hand.
Leading the way on the second row of the grid is Olly Simpson from South Australia. Simpson is one of Australia’s most underrated riders as he has entered his local round at the Bend in recent years but for 2023 he – and his two brothers, Mitch and Jordie – are contesting every round. The Simpson trio have regularly featured in the podium positions throughout the opening rounds, look for this trend to continue tomorrow.
Fifth fastest is Jack Passfield from NSW with Jake Farnsworth rounding out the second row of the grid for the two 14-lap races ahead of the field tomorrow.
Supersport 300 and Yamaha Finance R3 Cup
The support classes of the Supersport 300 Championship, the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup and the bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup each contested one race this afternoon with two races for each class tomorrow.
The Supersport 300 and R3 Cup provide another piece of history in Australian road racing when teenager, Marcus Hamod from Wollongong (NSW) doubled up and broke through for his first victories. The first win in the R3 Cup of eight laps was extremely emotional for the youngster as he held off the attention of his opposition in a typical drag to the line to deny Henry Snell with series leader Brandon Demmery coming home in third. It was a typical, frantic last lap for the class with six riders crossing the line within half a second!
The Supersport 300 class was the last race of the day and it was more of the same – Action aplenty. With the massive boost of confidence from the earlier race win, Hamod again managed to win the slipstream duel to the finish line. Demonstrating his level of cunning aboard a motorcycle, he rode a unique line through the final corner to carry the momentum and negate any threats from his rivals as he set a new lap record on the way to victory. Brandon Demmery and Brodie Gawith rounded out the podium as pole sitter Cameron Swain was an agonising 0.044 of a second away from some silverware.
Supersport 300: View Race 1 Results
Yamaha Finance R3 Cup: View Race 1 Results
bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup
A no-holds-barred race to open the account for our juniors. Leading one moment, being shuffled back to outside the top five the next – Welcome to OJC. Fans around Queensland Raceway were treated to an enthralling race, proving the class is a real winner for unearthing talent.
The short, sharp six-lap dash concluded with Bodie Paige taking the opening race of the weekend. Archie Schmidt climbed from the second row to finish second while it was a solid points-scoring day for Riley Nauta, as he looks to build on his current third place in the championship standings.
Race report by Mark Bracks, Photography by Jeffrey Smith & Russell Colvin.
WATCH ASBK THIS SUNDAY
LIVE TV
Sunday Broadcast 1.00pm – 4.00pm AEST
- SBS Sport
- Stan Sport
- Sky Sports NZ
LIVE STREAM
Sunday Broadcast 9.30am – 12.30pm AEST
INTERNATIONAL (Check your local guides)
- Eurosport
- MotorVision Europe
- FMI TV
For more information on the 2023 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship Presented by Motul season, stay tuned to the ASBK website and social pages:
Official Calendar for the 2023 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK)
