News 20 Feb 2015

Supersport pole belongs to Spriggs at Phillip Island

Support category wrap from Friday's ASBK season opener.

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Callum Spriggs (Allsite Concrete Cutting) looked to get his 2015 Supersport campaign off to a flying start, and did just that as he claimed pole for the opening race at Phillip Island on Saturday afternoon.

Spriggs posted a fastest lap time of 1m36.810s around the Island, to finish 0.225s of a second ahead of Michael Blair (Blair Build), with Paul Young (SA Kawasaki) nearly a second behind in third.

Interestingly, the top-three riders all posted their fastest times in the morning qualifying session for the class.

Speaking after he claimed top spot on the grid, Spriggs said he has high hopes of performing well over the weekend.

“I’m feeling pretty confident for the racing after getting pole position and I am really hoping for a great weekend of racing,” Spriggs said.

“I’d love to be able to get two race wins and it is going to be a really good battle between me and Blair by the looks of it, so I am looking forward to it. The bike felt good, and hopefully I can get on the gas early and get a win on the board.”

Some high-profile names are taking part this weekend in the Moto3/125GP class and Ollie Simpson (Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit) did not disappoint when it was his turn to take to the track.

Simpson finished the single qualifying session with the fastest time 1m42.483s – a time that he scorched on the final lap of his 12-lap session.

That time was nearly 2.5 seconds faster that Matt Barton (ETS Race Fuels) who clocked the second fastest time for the session, while Callum Barker (K1 Racing) will round out the front row of the grid.

Victorian Tom Branmich (Ron Angel Classic Racing) and Queenslander Tayla Relph rounded out the top five.

Fourteen of Australia’s most talented juniors took to the grid in the junior class of competition on Friday, and it was Jack Mahaffy who set the tone early qualifying fastest with a time of 1m59.108s.

Dallas Skeer (Ron Angel Classic Racing) and Scott Nicholson rounded out the top-three riders, with Skeer more than 7.5 seconds behind Mahaffy.

The final event on the Friday schedule was the opening race of the Junior class and the results in qualifying proved to be a good measure for what was to come.

Mahaffy was convincing through the six-lap race to take the win, while Skeer and Nicholson had to settle for the minor podium placings.

Adam Haines (West Caost Building Inspectors) and Jack Cousens (TM Performance) rounded out the top five.

Click here for detailed results

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