Toparis and Simpson Winners at International MotoFest

Tom Toparis (Landbridge Transport Yamaha YZF-R6) has put on a clinic in Race 1 of Supersport duing Round 3 of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship, held as part of International MotoFest at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend (April 25-28).

In YMI Supersport 300, Olly Simpson (Simpson Crash, Yamaha R3 321) continued his good form from qualifying to take Race 1 in a similarly commanding fashion, ahead of an extraordinary fight for second place with the next nine riders covered by less than a second between them.

Supersport
Off the start it was Toparis who settled into an early lead, with Nic Liminton (Yamaha Motor Aus, Yamaha YZF-R6) behind ahead of Luke Mitchell and Reid Battye. Three laps in and Toparis had already built up a two second gap from Liminton, with Broc Pearson (City2Surf Locksmiths, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:56.867) settling into third seven seconds off the lead.

By halfway Toparis had extended his lead by another second, with Liminton and Pearson holding station. There were interesting battles through the midfield, with a group of five riders battling for seventh position, headed by Oli Bayliss and Zac Johnson, coming together on the second-last lap but both managing to stay upright.

Toparis ended the race five seconds up on Liminton, with Pearson, Battye, Dallas Skeer and Luke Mitchell making up the top six.

“Great race,” said Toparis on the podium. “The first two or three laps I was quite fast and then just rode to the conditions. I really love being in South Australia, this track is probably one of my favourites, such a good track to ride.”

For the full results from Race 1 of Supersport, click here.

YMI Supersport 300
Olly Simpson claimed the early advantage on Lap 1, with a very hungry-looking Seth Crump (RockOil, KTM RC 390) immediately behind. It didn’t take long for Simpson to build up a gap though, and it was looking like the battle would heat up behind between Crump and the pursuing Hunter Ford (Yamaha Aus, Yamaha R3 321) until there was contact between the two, causing Ford to high-side off the bike and out of the race.

By half distance Simpson had checked out, six seconds up on the chasing pack and in cruise mode out the front The battle behind included almost half the field, with Locky Taylor (Yamaha Aus, Yamaha R3 321), Zac Levy (Puma RVs, Yamaha R3 321), Brandon Demmery (Rustic Flooring, Yamaha R3 321), Max Stauffer  (YRD, Yamaha R3 321) and a whole host of others putting on a brilliant show for the fans. Harry Khouri (Excite M-sports, Yamaha R3 321) claimed overtaking manoeuvre of the day with a brilliant move up the inside of four-if-not-five riders into turn one on lap five to claim second place, before Ben Baker (Jekyl & Hyde, Yamaha R3 321) put him back to third.

The battle for second raged right to the final laps, with an incredibly close finish seeing Harry Khouri the best of the rest behind Simpson, with Baker, Demmery, Taylor and Senna Agius (Schuberth, Kawasaki EX 400) fighting right to the line for second spot.

To view the full results from Race 1 of YMI Supersport 300, click here.

The action from The Bend continues tomorrow with Round 3 of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship taking place this weekend (April 25-28) in conjunction with the Asia Road Racing Championship at International MotoFest 2019. Tickets are still available, head to thebend.com.au for information, or to purchase.

Keep up with all the action from the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship by following us on Facebook and Instagram. For news, video content, rider profiles and much, much more, visit ASBK.com.au.

For more information on the Asia Road Racing Championship, visit asiaroadracing.com

Images courtesy of Andrew Gosling – tbg sport