Cube Racing press release:

It was an exciting and successful day of racing for the Cube Racing squad today in Darwin’s fourth round of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Hidden Valley Raceway.

After qualifying in second position yesterday with a time of 1m08.928s, Supersport rookie Tom Toparis rode to a dominant victory in race one before wrapping up the day with a strong second place result in race two.

Not completely satisfied with his runner-up podium spot on the day after tying on points for the overall, the 17-year-old looks to carry positive momentum into round five at Morgan Park on 25-27 August. He’s second in the standings with three rounds remaining.

“We got second overall and I didn’t gain any points on Ted [Collins], which is a bit disappointing, but we didn’t lose any either,” said Toparis. “It’s not bad result and I’m back on the podium so I can’t be too disappointed with that.

“Winning races as we did in the first race is always the goal and I learnt a lot this weekend. Next up we’ve got Morgan Park, so we we’ll get there and test and try to be strong for the races there as well!”

Qualifying on pole position with a time of 1m18.762s, Supersport 300 racer Oli Bayliss went on to sweep all three races in the Up To 300 category to claim the overall victory today in the Top End.

“I’m really happy to get three out of three wins in the Up To 300 class,” Bayliss commented. “I would have loved to get an overall, but all that matters are the points for the championship, as I’m a bit down from Winton.

“The team has done really well, everyone’s been doing great, so I just want to say a massive thanks to all of the guys and it should be good for when we head to Morgan Park next month, that’s for sure.”

Cube Racing team manager Ben Henry praised his riders’ performances today in Darwin and highlighted the maturity levels of both of the team’s young pilots on-track.

“It was a really good weekend for the boys and I’m really proud of them, they both rode awesome,” Henry said. “Tommy rode awesome, he nearly rode himself to the win in the last race.

He was pretty impressive and obviously he smoked them this morning. It’s easy to forget that it’s his first year on the 600 and that he’s 17 years old, so well done to him.

“Oli also rode really good, he won his class in every race and qualified on pole, which is really impressive. We were hoping to get him across the line for an overall victory somewhere along the line, but it didn’t happen and the other guys were a bit too good for us this weekend.

“As I said, he rode awesome and I’m really proud of him, he’s 13 years old and it’s very easy to forget that. It’s crazy, he’s so fast, so young and I’m really happy and really proud of them both.”

Supersport class regular Aidan Hayes, who received support from Cube Racing for the first time in 2017 ahead of the Darwin race weekend, finished a positive 13th overall for the round.

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