Image: Keith Muir.

Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis claimed an emphatic home victory at Wakefield Park’s second round of the 2017 Motul Australian Supersport Championship.

Toparis, 16, remained composed for the first Supersport race win of his short career at home in the opening encounter, fending off a determined Giuseppe Scarcella (Kawasaki) on the final lap of 16.

With the likes of title-leader Mason Coote (Yamaha), Mark Chiodo (Triumph) and Chris Quinn (Yamaha) all going down on lap one in damp conditions, plus Sam Muldoon (Kawasaki) crashing out on lap two, Toparis controlled the race from the front.

An attack from Scarcella on the final lap saw him move to the front into turn two, but Toparis got him back through turn four and that’s how they stayed. Third across the line was another rookie in Sam Condon (Yamaha), as Nic Liminton (Yamaha) and Jordan Carlsson (Yamaha) filled the top five. Meanwhile, Coote remounted to salvage P13.

It was another action-packed Supersport race later in the afternoon, starting in dry conditions before rain caused a red flag stoppage and all kinds of drama because of the increasingly wet circuit.

Once it got back underway with six laps remaining, it was Next Gen Motorsports’ Ted Collins (Suzuki) who fared best in what were essentially dry conditions for a brilliant victory in the two-part race, 1.409s ahead of Liminton and Coote.

Phillip Island round winner Coote claimed important points towards his title-chase after switching to AARK Racing for Wakefield Park, while Toparis – from the rear of the restarted grid – and Lincoln Gilding (Yamaha) completed the top five.

Toparis was excluded from the results afterwards due to an issue with his tyres, however officials have now confirmed he was later reinstated late this evening to claim the overall at home in what was just his second ASBK Supersport event.

Overall for the round Toparis took the win, from Collins and Liminton, while in the championship Victorian flyer Collins leads by one point over Coote and Condon. Toparis has now climbed to fifth, 21 points outside of the lead.

In Supersport 300, the Over 300 win belonged to Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha) with a 1-6-2 scorecard, as races two and three winner Zac Levy (Yamaha) was second and Tommy Edwards (Yamaha) third. KTM young gun Billy Van Eerde was second in races one and two, but crashed when the red flag flew in race three and had to settle for eighth overall.

The Up To 300 victory went to the ever-impressive Reid Battye (Kawasaki) as he crossed the line first in all three races, from newcomer Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki) with 4-2-2 results and Scott Nicholson (Kawasaki). It was a mixed day for Drew Sells (Kawasaki) in trying conditions, going second, DNF and fourth.

The YMF R3 Cup saw Jack Passfield (Yamaha) go 1-1-4 for the overall, topping final race winner Edwards (Yamaha) and Corey Briffa (Yamaha). Mahaffy was on-pace in this class as well, but his best showing came in the final outing when he put it together for third, resulting in 10th overall.

Incredibly, Edwards (Yamaha) rode three classes and managed to capture victory in the opening round of the GP Juniors Cup after winning races one and three. Second race winner Joel Kelso (Yamaha) was P2 and John Lytras (Yamaha) third. Making his return to racing, Max Stauffer (Yamaha) claimed fourth overall.