A selection of riders detail their day at Sydney Motorsport Park’s first round of the 2016 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

Superbike

Image: Keith Muir.

Michael Blair (IPONE Blairbuild Yamaha) – 2nd overall:
I gained a lot of confidence from my first race at Phillip Island in round one of the ASBK where I placed fifth overall. Coming into this round the team and GASD had the bike set up well and the Yamaha R1 felt strong in practice and qualifying. In race two I finished 0.193s behind Matt Walters, who was racing really well over the weekend. I feel I’ve got the pace and am looking to improve at my next race meeting. Stepping up to the Superbike class has been a new challenge for the team and we are looking forward to round two of the Australasian Superbike Championship in Mallala in May.

Matt Walters(Kawasaki Connection Repsol) – 1st overall:
Our Ninja ZX-10R is getting better and better. Conditions weren’t the best today, the track was really hot but we made some adjustments to accommodate for that and it certainly worked. The development of the bike has come along leaps and bounds and it’s only getting stronger and stronger every time we ride it.

Robbie Bugden (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 4th overall:
I made it hard for myself with the start in each race but I showed that I have the pace once we get into the laps. We just need to get through those first few laps a little bit quicker and we are working towards achieving that.

Ben Burke (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 3rd overall:
I’m getting on with this bike a lot better than I did with the 2015 Ninja ZX-10R. It felt like the last one was a bit big for me and I couldn’t muscle it around but with the 2016 Ninja ZX-10R, I’m able to put it onto the track where I want to and I can actually push it to my limit.

Supersport

Image: Keith Muir.

Kyle Buckley (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 1st overall:
I think we have the Ninja ZX-6R sorted. We are starting to iron out a few things now that we are running slicks with the series this year. We have a lot more traction in the rear now which effects everything else so we are coming to grips with all of that now and we are playing catch-up with the bikes settings in the races which is fun.

Ryan Masri (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 6th overall:
Had a blast at eastern creek over the weekend. I was off to a rough start with the changing conditions on Friday, but with the help of the team I stayed on the bike and qualified seventh for Saturday’s racing. On Saturday had an amazing day every time I went out I went faster and felt more comfortable the more I pushed the bike. Ending up sixth overall is a real positive start to the season being my first race at eastern creek on the Kawasaki ZX-6R. Would like to say big thanks to the team for setting up the bike so well and helping me improve each time I went out on track.