Image: Keith Muir.

Next Gen Motorsports’ Ted Collins has been crowned the 2017 Supersport champion today at Sydney Motorsport Park’s sixth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike (ASBK) Championship presented by Motul Pirelli, while Mark Chiodo (Triumph) claimed the round win.

The first Supersport race of the weekend marked a spectacular return to national competition for Yamaha-mounted Aaron Morris, trailing Chiodo for the first six laps before taking charge and sprinting off to a 4.335s victory at the conclusion of 12 laps.

Crossing the line second on track and directly behind Morris was actually Tom Toparis (Kawasaki), however a 10-second jump start penalty dropped him down the order to fifth. That bumped early leader Chiodo up to second, with Mason Coote (Yamaha) and Sam Condon (Yamaha) also capitalising in positions four and five.

Championship leader Collins rode a composed and lonely race for P6, taking one step closer to clinching the 2017 title. The top 10 was filled by Chris Quinn (Yamaha), Jordan Carlsson (Yamaha), Jake Pruiti (Kawasaki) and Nic Liminton (Yamaha). Local Sam Muldoon (Kawasaki) was well in contention until he crashed out of fourth at turn eight in dramatic fashion just prior to the midway point.

In race two, Repsol GAS Racing Triumph’s Chiodo surged to the second race victory in Supersport this afternoon in commanding fashion, victorious by 4.813s ahead of Muldoon and Coote. That pair took full advantage of a clash between Toparis and Morris on lap nine of the 12 at turn two, while Quinn and Collins crept into the top five by race’s end.

More importantly, fifth for Collins was enough for Next Gen Motorsports standout Collins to clinch his first Australian Supersport Championship crown aboard the GSX-R600 with a round to spare. Meanwhile, the top 10 placings included Condon, Carlsson, Liminton, Thomas Bryden (Yamaha) and Simon Rees (Kawasaki).

Overall for the round Chiodo took the win, joined on the rostrum by Coote and Condon, as in the championship standings it’s now Collins a full 63 points ahead of Coote, with Toparis a further 28 points behind in third.

In Supersport 300, KTM’s Billy Van Eerde topped the Over 300 division ahead of Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha) and Zac Levy (Yamaha), while it was Reid Battye (Kawasaki) who claimed victory in the Up To 300 class to clinch the title, followed by Yanni Shaw (Kawasaki) and Drew Sells (Kawasaki).

Tommy Edwards (Yamaha) was credited the overall win in the Yamaha R3 Cup, as Mahaffy and Hunter Ford (Yamaha) were second and third respectively. The Moto3/125GP category was take out by Dylan Whiteside (Honda), followed by Joel Kelso (Honda) and Dallas Skeer (Honda).

Phillip Island will play host to the seventh and final round of the series next month in Victoria, scheduled for 6-8 October.