Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha-mounted Troy Guenther stole the show in the opening race of the 2016 Australian Supersport Championship, winning comfortably in his first appearance on the YZF-R6.

Guenther was 5.477s ahead of fellow Queenslander Callum Spriggs (Kawasaki) at the end of the 10-lap affair, with Western Australian Sam Clarke (Kawasaki) completing the podium in his return to ASBK.

“It was great to grab the first race of the ASBK Supersport season,” Guenther said. “It was quite a difficult race, but I did have a bit of a gap thanks to bit of drama behind me but it was probably the longest 10 laps of my life.”

The top five was rounded out by Luke Mitchell (Yamaha) and Chris Quinn (Yamaha), while front-runners Mark Chiodo (Triumph), Kyle Buckley (Kawasaki) and Robbie Menzies (Kawasaki) were notable non-finishers.

Race two of the Moto3/125GP ranks was won by veteran Brian Houghton over Matt Barton and talented 14-year-old Locky Taylor – setting the fastest lap in the process and remaining on the podium despite being pinged with a jump-start.

Craig Ditchburn won the second Period 5/6 Historics race of the weekend by 5.453s, well ahead of former national Superbike champion Martin Craggill and Dean Oughtred to cap off this afternoon’s on-track proceedings.