Yamaha’s Kevin Curtain had an up and down weekend in Ipswich, losing the FX-SBK lead to Broc Parkes but extending his Formula Oz points buffer.

Round four of the Australian FX Superbike Championship at Queensland Raceway saw the Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) juggernaut take a clean sweep of the headline FX-Superbike (FX-SBK), FX-600 and Formula Oz categories once again, though this time it was Broc Parkes who made headlines as he seized the FX-SBK points lead.

The FX-SBK ranks featured a close class battle between polesitter Parkes on his Yamaha Racing Team with Ipone R1 and Matt Walters on his Kawasaki Connection ZX-10R.

Parkes won the opening 9-lap stanza by 1.454 seconds over YRT with Yamalube stablemate Kevin Curtain, with Walters a second adrift in third.

Race two saw Walters fight back, edging out Parkes by just 0.319 seconds to even the score. Third place went to former ASBK frontrunner Daniel Stauffer, entered for the round aboard an Aluma-Lite Racing BMW S 1000 RR.

Neither Curtain nor teammate Rick Olson were able to finish the second race due to crashes, setting them back in terms of an overall round result.

Race three went down to the wire again between Parkes and Walters. The R1 prevailed in a similar margin to Walters’ winning margin in race two (0.314 seconds), with Stauffer consistent in third once more.

The end result was a round win to Parkes, with five points separating himself and Walters. Stauffer was a solid third, with Corey Snowsill consistent in claiming fourth and Curtain staging a fightback in race three to take a top five finish.

Parkes’ performance sees him assume the class lead by 21 points over Curtain, while Walters closed to within three points of the third-placed Rick Olson.

The FX-600 class competition was dominated once more by the Yamaha R6, illustrated by the opening race results which saw blue bikes take the top 11 placings.

Rick Olson secured the race one win from wildcard entrant and current World Superstock 600 competitor Mike Jones, with pole sitter Cru Halliday right in the mix in third.

Race two belonged to Olson once more, though this time there was some breathing space back to second and third – Callum Spriggs and Aiden Wagner.

The final race saw Jones get up for the race win by a 0.040-second margin over Olson, with Wagner and Spriggs less than half-a-second adrift in third and fourth respectively.

Olson’s consistent run, in stark contrast to his FX-SBK form, saw him wrap up the round win by seven points over Jones, with Spriggs taking third a further seven points in arrears.

The result sees Olson stretch his advantage over Halliday to 35 points, while the battle for third remains hotly-debated with just a point separating Wagner and Spriggs.

He may have had mixed fortunes on his FX-SBK machine but Curtain didn’t put a foot wrong in Formula Oz trim, taking all three race wins and 75 points to extend his command of the class.

Curtain won the opening 7-lap stoush by over five seconds from KTM’s Angus Reekie and Kawasaki’s Phil Lovett.

In the second race Curtain had doubled his advantage to take the win over Lovett by more than 10 seconds, with Michael McMillan claiming third.

A 7.5-second win saw Curtain easily wrap up the round victory, with Lovett second and McMillan third for both race and round.

Curtain’s perfect haul moves him 86 points clear of McMillan in second, with Brett Kitchin a further 14 points behind.

Other winners for the round included Callum Barker (FX-125GP), Sarah Fairbrother (250cc Mono), Danny Ripperton (eFXC), Kenny Redding (FX-450GP), Craig Trinder (Pro Twins), Adrian Pierpoint (Nakedbikes), Grant Hay (Supersport), Gregory Farrell (FX-Ultralites) and Michael McMillan (Thunderbikes).

2013 Australian FX-Superbike Championship
Round four – Queensland Raceway

FX-Superbike overall results:
1. Broc PARKES 72
2. Matthew WALTERS 67
3. Daniel STAUFFER 58
4. Corey SNOWSILL 48
5. Kevin CURTAIN 40
6. Russell HOLLAND 40
7. Sean CONDON 39
8. Lachie THOMAS 37
9. Paul BYRNE 35
10. Ben BURKE 30
11. Albie WHEELER 26
12. Steve MAHER 20
13. Matthew MEDCALF 20
14. Rick OLSON 19
15. Rob MORTON 16
16. Dustin GOLDSMITH 16
17. Chris TROUNSON 12
18. Chris SEATON 11

FX-Superbike championship standings (after round four of six):
1. Broc PARKES 263
2. Kevin CURTAIN 242
3. Rick OLSON 208
4. Matthew WALTERS 205
5. Corey SNOWSILL 159
6. Chris TROUNSON 158
7. Lachie THOMAS 149
8. Paul BYRNE 149
9. Dustin GOLDSMITH 116
10. Albie WHEELER 95
11. Joel HUGHES 94
12. Angus REEKIE 74
13. Rob MORTON 73
14. Steve MAHER 70
15. Craig McMARTIN 69
16. Daniel STAUFFER 58
17. Russell HOLLAND 40
18. Sean CONDON 39
19. Brad WOOTTON 32
20. Ben BURKE 30

FX-600 overall results:
1. Rick OLSON 72
2. Mike JONES 65
3. Callum SPRIGGS 58
4. Cru HALLIDAY 52
5. Aiden WAGNER 50
6. Michael BLAIR 46
7. Mohd RAMDAN 43
8. Tony JONES 39
9. Justin DI GIANDOMENICO 38
10. Nicky DILES 32
11. William DAVIDSON 27
12. Mitch PAYNTER 27
13. Jordan CARLSSON 26
14. Brad SWALLOW 19
15. Migel BAKER 17
16. Josh LEONARD 15
17. Luke MITCHELL 15
18. Keith FEELY 10

FX-600 championship standings (after round four of six):
1. Rick OLSON 269
2. Cru HALLIDAY 234
3. Aiden WAGNER 189
4. Callum SPRIGGS 188
5. Michael BLAIR 178
6. Justin DI GIANDOMENICO 178
7. Mitch PAYNTER 139
8. Mohd RAMDAN 138
9. Nicky DILES 134
10. Jordan CARLSSON 132
11. William DAVIDSON 98
12. Brad SWALLOW 88
13. Mike JONES 65
14. Lachlan ELLIS 51
15. Jonathan RUSSO 44
16. Tony JONES 39
17. Cambridge OLIVIER 37
18. Chris KNOX 37
19. Mark ARNOLD 34
20. Migel BAKER 17

Formula Oz overall results:
1. Kevin CURTAIN 75
2. Phil LOVETT 64
3. Michael McMILLAN 58
4. Darren WILBOW 49
5. Grant HAY 44
6. Brett KITCHIN 41
7. Jason EACOTT 36
8. Dale HOVEY 34
9. Michael JEFFERY 32
10. Braith PEJKOVIC 29
11. Heath GRIFFIN 26
12. Andrew KINGS 24
13. Angus REEKIE 22
14. Romain ANFOSSO 21
15. Neil HARDWICK 20
16. Adam SAPULA 19
17. Chris TROUNSON 18
18. Di JONES 18
19. Adam SCHIPPER 11
20. Paul BOSHOFF 7

Formula Oz championship standings (after round four of six):
1. Kevin CURTAIN 262
2. Michael McMILLAN 176
3. Brett KITCHIN 162
4. Grant HAY 141
5. Broc PARKES 128
6. Russell HOLLAND 107
7. Michael JEFFERY 99
8. Phil LOVETT 95
9. Darren WILBOW 92
10. Dale HOVEY 91
11. Richard ZAJA 83
12. Braith PEJKOVIC 81
13. Chris TROUNSON 80
14. Glenn ALLERTON 75
15. Damian SUTTON 66
16. Matt THORNTON 66
17. Neil HARDWICK 63
18. Jason EACOTT 60
19. Glenn SCOTT 53
20. Gavin MUDIE 49