Cube Racing press release:

Talented teenagers Tom Toparis and Oli Bayliss displayed an impressive amount of speed at Phillip Island this weekend as round one of the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) was contested.

Making his ASBK Supersport class debut, Goulburn-based 16-year-old Toparis qualified 15th in the 35-rider field and worked his way to finish a fine fifth in Saturday’s opening race.

Come Sunday Toparis scored ninth in the red-flagged second race, which was stopped after just three laps, and then he was unfortunately taken out of contention in race three. Still, he could be proud in claiming eighth overall.

“It was a frustrating end to the weekend, not being my fault, and it’s just annoying for that to happen,” Toparis commented. “I can’t do anything about it now, so we have to move on, and aside from that I had a decent weekend. I really want to keep getting good results, so I’m going to set my sights on Wakefield now and see what we can do there! Thanks to everybody at Cube Racing for their help and all the support.”

As for 13-year-old Bayliss, the son of triple Superbike world champion Troy Bayliss, he was right on-pace in the Supersport 300 division, despite having to quickly learn the ropes in a tight 42-rider grid.

Bayliss was just 0.825s from pole in qualifying and lined up in eighth on the grid, going on to capture an 18-8-12 combined (Up to and Over 300cc) scorecard across three intense races. That put him sixth overall in the Up To 300s.

“It was really close racing and I was able to learn a lot this weekend,” Bayliss said. “To finish all three races was good and I feel like I went pretty well, so we just have to keep riding and racing to get more experience.”

Cube Racing team owner Ben Henry, who has worked with some of the country’s best emerging racers of the past few seasons, was pleased with the efforts of both Toparis and Bayliss throughout round one.

“Tommy continues to impress me and he’s really good,” Henry recalled. “The last race didn’t work out for him when he got taken out, but it is what it is. He really took it to heart and I can tell it really upset him – it means so much to him to go well, which isn’t a bad thing at all. He is a talent and I’m really happy with how he went all weekend.

“As for young Oli, he’s 13 years old and sometimes it’s easy to forget that. He also did really well and has a lot of talent – as you’d expect being Troy’s kid! It’s a lot to take in for him and I think he’s taking it all in his stride. Again, the potential is there and, as time goes on, we will see him at the front when the series settles in a bit.”

The 2017 Australian Superbike Championship season will continue with round two at Wakefield Park in New South Wales – Toparis’ home round – on 17-19 March.