Image: Keith Muir.

Next Gen Motorsport Suzuki’s Ted Collins has captured the Motul Supersport overall victory at today’s fourth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli in Darwin.

Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis rocketed to the early lead in race one, going onto take a convincing 1.610s victory over series leader Collins.

The pair maintained their positions for the duration of the race as Mark Chiodo (Triumph) held third, until an issue on the final lap saw him drop down the order.

Damon Rees (Honda) was credited third ahead of Mason Coote (Yamaha) and Cambridge Olivier (Yamaha), while Sam Lambert (Yamaha) initially crossed the line in third before being penalised, relegating him to sixth. Chris Quinn (Yamaha), Mick Hefferan (Kawasaki), Nic Liminton (Yamaha) and Jordan Carlsson (Yamaha) concluded the top 10.

Fastest qualifier Chiodo started strong in race two, although a crash in the opening stages ultimately saw him retire from the race. Collins took the reigns and went onto win by 1.728s despite heavy pressure from Toparis for much of the race’s closing stages.

Coote had a firm grip on third until the final turn where he endeavoured to pass Toparis, making contact with the race one winner before suffering a nasty high-side and costly DNF result. Hefferan capitalised to take third, followed by Sam Muldoon (Kawasaki) and Lambert. Sixth through to 10th was Liminton, Quinn, Olivier, Carlsson and Jake Pruiti (Kawasaki).

Toparis tied on points with Collins for the overall, although he was handed second on count-back. Local talent Hefferan was awarded a highly-impressive third, while the top five was completed by Lambert and Olivier.

In Supersport 300, Tom Edwards (Yamaha) won the Over 300 division with a 1-2-1 scorecard, beating home Tom Brammich (Yamaha) and Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha), while Cube Racing’s Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki) swept the Under 300 class with three race wins, followed by Reid Battye (Kawasaki) and Yanni Shaw (Kawasaki).

In Moto3, which runs in conjunction with the 125GP class, local talent Joel Kelso (Honda) ride his way to three race victories, while Dylan Whiteside (Honda) and Dallas Skeer (Honda) completed the weekend fourth and fifth respectively.

The 125GP category saw Scott Topping (Honda) dominate with perfect 1-1-1 results, Mark Laing-Hughes (Yamaha) was second followed by Daniel Sherwood (Honda) in third.

Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland will play host to round five of the 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli on 25-27 August.