Cube Racing press release:

The Cube Racing team will hit Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway with confidence this weekend for the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

Making the extended trip to the Northern Territory following a lengthy mid-season break, Tom Toparis and Oli Bayliss will be greeted with warm conditions and a fast, flowing circuit.

Following a recent showing at the Hidden Valley Raceway circuit contesting the TERRA NT endurance event to familiarise themselves with the facility, the Cube Racing team are set for a strong round performance on 7-9 July.

Supersport contender Tom Toparis, currently fourth overall in points, will enter this weekend’s event with his sights set on claiming his second round win of the 2017 season.

“Coming up a few weeks ago and being able to do some laps was very handy and it will hopefully be an advantage coming into this weekend,” Toparis said. “I think this weekend should be pretty good, I felt good on the bike last time I was up here and it’s such a cool track, it’s cool to come somewhere new for a bit of a change.

“I need to be on the podium at least, but I think I need to get a win and I think it’s not impossible for me to do that,” he added. “I felt good on the bike here last time and I know I need to win, so I’m going to try my hardest to win.”

Now confident on the Hidden Valley Raceway circuit, Supersport 300 racer Bayliss, who currently sits sixth overall in points, will focus on adapting to the substantial temperature change he will experience throughout the weekend.

“I’m pretty confident coming into this weekend as I did pretty well at the two-hour,” Bayliss said. “The heat won’t really be a big deal as we only do about eight laps in the 300 race. I’ve been training a bit coming up to this round and going from minus 10 weather in Goulburn to 34 degrees is going to be a bit of a big difference, but I should be right.”

Team manager Ben Henry believes Cube Racing regulars Bayliss and Toparis will offer up strong competition in Darwin following their recent successful testing trip.

“The guys are going really well, we tested at Hidden Valley Raceway and Oli was really fast, as was Tom, he was pretty impressive,” Henry said. “It’s hard to say for Oli because there’s no legitimate lap record for those guys, he was so far underneath it that it’s hard to say what the other fast guys are going to do.

“Tom was around half-a-second off the lap record himself, so I think he’ll be fine, I think he’ll be one of the front-runners. Those two boys are looking pretty good and it should be some good racing.”

Supersport class regular Aidan Hayes will also receive support from Cube Racing for the first time in 2017 at one of his favourite venues on the Australian schedule.
The Hidden Valley Raceway round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship will run over three days from 7-9 July.

Like Cube Racing on Facebook and visit www.asbk.com.au for further information. Cube Performance Centre also has an exclusive Cube Racing section on its website, available to view at www.cubeperformancecentre.com.au/cuberacing now.