Dunlop Tyres Australia press release:
It was a rewarding start to the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) for Dunlop Tyres at Phillip Island in Victoria between 22-25 February, as Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) won round one of the season.
Staring has made the move to the Ninja ZX-10R for this year, equipped with Dunlop and proved the combination will be a potent one. Despite qualifying 13th on the grid in a wet qualifying session, there was no denying him of victory.
Race one saw Staring work his way through the pack in mixed conditions – still dry enough for slick tyres despite a mid-race stoppage – for fourth on Saturday afternoon, before going 3-1 in Sunday’s pair of dry encounters to win the weekend and position himself atop the championship standings following round one of seven.
“We are extremely happy with the success of Bryan and Kawasaki BCperformance at round one,” stated Dunlop national motorcycle manager Sabastian Mincone. “Phillip Island is notoriously tough on tyres and this result showcases just how competitive our current homologated ASBK tyres are. Congratulations to everybody on the fantastic result.”
The 2018 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) will continue at Wakefield Park in New South Wales on 16-18 March, marking round two of seven for this year’s series.
“Kawasaki BCperformance provided me with the lightning-fast Ninja ZX-10R and, combined with Dunlop Tyres, we were on the package to beat this weekend,” Staring explained. “Starting from 13th on the grid made things more difficult, but we worked through the pack and I’m just really, really happy to get the overall. Thank you to everybody for their efforts!”
Dunlop Tyres Australia would like to take this opportunity to thank Mincone, who is now due to return home to Italy, for his services during the past four years. Sabastian has played an instrumental role in Dunlop’s racing programme in Australia in this time.
Over the past months he has worked closely with Dunlop’s overseas race departments, designers and the BC team to develop this year’s new selection of homologated ASBK tyres. Garry Spence, who has many year’s experience in the motorsport and tyre industry, has now been welcomed to lead the motorcycle division.
Visit www.dunloptyres.com.au or find Dunlop Tyres Australia & New Zealand on Facebook and @ridedunlopau on Instagram for further information on the brand.