JD Racing Yamaha’s Daniel Falzon has referred to the broken handlebar that caused his race two crash as bizarre at Morgan Park’s fifth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.

Falzon, who also suffered a heavy crash during Saturday’s qualifying, was challenging at the front of the field when the handlebar broke under load from a suspected hairline crack, locking up the front brake and sending the South Australian over the bars.

“It’s bizarre,” Falzon told CycleOnline.com.au. “It’s honestly one of those incidents that you can never predict, I was baffled by it. Just heading into the the corner, I was just getting into my rhythm and I felt my right-side handlebar snap under braking, and consequently it pushed the front brake straight into the fairing and locked the brake, sending me over the bars.

“There’s not much I could really do about it, it all happened in the blink of an eye. I don’t really think it’s anyone’s fault in the team, no one can predict that and it’s upsetting that it had to happen in a race, but I think these things are race things.”

Despite dropping to fourth in the championship standings, Falzon believes his title campaign is well and truly alive as he sits just 22 points down from series leader Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team).

“You never write off the championship,” he continued. ” Obviously it’s getting harder and harder as the rounds go on, we’ve had a couple of DNFs lately, but 22 points is not unreachable. It only requires a fall or DNF from other competitors and a good results from us, and we’re right up there again.

“Like we saw with Troy’s [Herfoss] fall in race one and also my fall in Darwin – anything can happen, I’m not writing it off, I’m just going to Sydney with a clear mind and try to get the best result we can.”

Sydney Motorsport Park’s sixth round of ASBK is slated for 8-10 September at the Eastern Creek venue.