Warwick’s Morgan Park Raceway hosted the present and future of motorcycle racing with not only the Australian Superbike Championships but several support races at the weekend.
Round four of the 2024 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship, presented by Motul (ASBK), again produced a catalogue of exceptionally close racing in the Michelin Supersport, Race and Road Supersport 300 and ShopYamaha R3 Cup classes.
Nahlous was the overall winner in Supersport after sharing victories with fellow Yamaha rider Archie McDonald – his bonus point for pole position the only difference between the pair – while Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha) was in red-hot form the whole weekend with three victories and three second places across the Supersport 300 and R3 Cup categories with feisty New Zealander Jesse Stroud (Yamaha) the only rider who managed to lower his colours.
Nahlous (46pts), McDonald (45pts) and Simpson (33pts) were the top three overall at Morgan Park, while Nahlous has extended his championship buffer to 32pts (176 to 144) over new second place man, McDonald. Simpson (137pts) is third.
While in the Race and Road Supersport 300 Knezovic’s one-two-two scorecard in was emphatic, as the polesitter won the round from Casey Middleton (Race DNA Yamaha, two-four-three) and championship leader Josh Newman (Kawasaki, three-three-four).
After crashing out in race one, Stroud (Yamaha) won the final two races with winning margins of 0.026 and 0.159 seconds respectively – down to the wire heart-stoppers compared to Knezovic’s four-second runaway success in race one.
The championship battle has now tightened appreciably, with Newman just one point (224 to 223) in front of the charging Knezovic, followed by Harrison Watts (Champions Ride Days Kawasaki, 211).
It was a breathtaking way to start the new ShopYamaha R3 Cup season, with Knezovic’s insatiable Morgan Park appetite continuing with his one-one-two results, while Stroud two-two-one and Jordan Simpson (Yamaha, four-four-four) were second and third overall.
Knezovic’s race two victory was resounding (3.4 seconds), while the opening and closing bouts remained up for grabs until the death knell. Will Nassif was third in race one, while John Pelgrave claimed the final podium position in race three.
The ShopYamaha R3 Cup will return in round six of the ASBK Championship at One Raceway from 4-6 October, while Michelin Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300 will be back in action at Phillip Island’s round five on 7-8 September.
