Aaron Morris celebrates the first race win for Pirelli in Australian Supersport 2013.

In the first Supersport 600 race of the Australian Superbike Championship 2013 at Phillip Island, Pirelli rider Aaron Morris took the win on Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SC.

This year sees the Australian Superbike Championship in Australia (ASBK) return to an open tyre rule for the first time in many years.

Pirelli has chosen the premier national road racing series to showcase the performance of a range of Pirelli tyres, including Diablo Superbike slick tyres for Superbike, Pro Stock and Lites competitors, as well as Diablo Supercorsa SC DOT tyres for Supersport 600.

The start of the 2013 ASBK season also coincided with the return of the FIM World Superbike Championship for 2013, with Pirelli celebrating its 10th year as official tyre supplier to the FIM Superbike World Championship.

One big change for this year was the recent resurfacing of Phillip Island circuit, with increased friction coefficient and corresponding grip levels over the previous surface, combined with high temperatures throughout practice and racing over the weekend presenting challenges to all of the teams.

Pireli provided several solutions in both Supersport, Pro Stock and Superbike classes to make the best of these consitions in the domestic series.

Morris (Maxima Yamaha) qualified fastest in Supersport on Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SC2 front and rear tyres with a time of 1:37.18.

Morris used the current Australian range of Diablo Supercorsa tyres, available to competitors Australia wide, in 120/70ZR-17 front and 180/60ZR – 17 rear to qualify fastest.

Another fast Pirelli rider in qualifying was Ryan Taylor (Motul Pirelli Yamaha) in third position.

Race one saw Morris start steadily, and then move his way past early leaders Daniel Falzon and Taylor, fending off a late challenge from Chris Quinn to record the Supersport 600 race win for Pirelli, in its first Supersport 600 race back at Australian Superbike level competition.

Race two saw Morris pushing hard early, with an unfortunate get off in the early laps leaving while up front ruling him out of contention for further weekend points.

However a consistent Ryan Taylor continued to show the pace of Diablo Supercorsa SC2 tyres, the young rider finishing race two in the points to earn third place overall for the Supersport 600 class, and Pirelli’s first podium place for Supersport 600 this year.

Also of note was the durability of the Pirelli tyres, with the combination of performance and durability impressive on the new Phillip Island surface.

With the Pirelli Privateer Program in full swing as part of this year’s ASBK, Pirelli riders filled around half the field of Supersport 600 riders.

Pirelli technicians provided technical support to many riders, where riders achieved significantly improved best lap times on Pirelli tyres over this weekend.

With Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports BMW) focusing his efforts as a wildcard in the Superbike World Championship, teammate Linden Magee (Next Gen Motorsports BMW) stepped up from the Prostock ranks of last year to record the second fastest qualifying time for the Superbike class of 1:33.76, just a tenth of a second of pole sitter Wayne Maxwell and a personal best by Magee.

Third place also saw the newly Pirelli supported Racers Edge Suzuki rider of Beau Beaton on the pace on Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres.

Riders on Pirelli in the Superbike and Prostock class could choose from Diablo Superbike SC2 and SCX front for Phillip Island and a choice of SC1, SC2 or SCX rear.

SCX is an option for the new surface of Phillip Island round one only, for increased durability and performance on the very aggressive, green surface.

SC0 will be added to the mix for round two as the final part of the Pirelli Diablo Superbike range, available to all Pirelli riders in the ASBK.

Magee put Pirelli on the box in the 1st race, with consistently fast lap times securing third overall for Pirelli ahead of fellow Pirelli rider Ben Henry (Cube Racing Suzuki) in fourth.

Race two saw Linden again finish in 3rd place on his Pirelli shod BMW as the best Pirelli finisher at this round in Superbike class as third overall for the weekends results.

Ben Nicolson also made the podium for Pirelli on his first race weekend of the ASBK Prostock season on Diablo Superbike SC1 and SC2, ahead of large number of Pirelli riders in the Prostock field.

Finishing third for the weekend, the Next Gen Motorsport rider showed impressive pace, improving his best lap time at the circuit by around three seconds this weekend, and will be a rider to watch in the coming rounds of the Prostock championship.

Australian rider Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsport BMW) and Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing) added some Aussie flavour to the Eni FIM World Superbike Champioship grid, racing as wildcards at this year’s Phillip Island round.

Allerton finished highest local rider (R1 14th, R2 12th) ahead of Stauffer (R1 15th, R2-13th).

In the World Supersport Champioship class, Josh Hook (Team Honda Racing) and also Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Racing) added to the wildcard mix, along with the rest of the World Supersport regulars including Aussies Mitchell Carr and Matt Davies.

Mitchell Carr (Triumph) was the first Australian in 16th, ahead of Honda rider Hook (Honda) and Matt Davies (20th). Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) had a DNF for this race, retiring early on in the race with a mechanical issue.

The Australian Superbike Championship now heads to Tasmania for round two of the championship in April. Tyres for the April round of the ASBK can now be pre-ordered for delivery at the track from Link International.