Words: Russell Colvin

The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia is hosting the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) for the first time this week, with an official two-day test taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. CycleOnline.com.au spoke to a number of lead riders after the opening sessions to get their take on the world-class venue and 4.95-kilometre International Circuit layout.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team):
The track is outstanding. You can tell with the attention to detail has been put into the track design and the layout of the circuit and it’s smooth as butter. At the moment, as we expected, there is not a whole lot of grip because the track is quite green and not a lot of rubber laid down. On top of that, it is quite dusty off line, considering it is still a construction site. However, you can see the potential this circuit has and the facility as a whole. I’m really excited that The Bend Motorsport Park is on my ‘door-step’, because never did I ever think that we were going to have a world-class circuit so close to home. I’m really looking forward to the round and I believe it’s going to produce some great racing.

Troy Bayliss (DesmoSport Ducati):
The Bend Motorsport Park is definitely a fantastic facility. It’s definitely on par with some of the best circuits around the world that I have raced on. The circuit is without a doubt an international standard, that’s for sure. There is a bit of work to be done, but everyone knew that. The track but is beautiful, but needs a few more people on the track. The circuit reminds me of Qatar at the moment when we went there for the first time, years ago, as it’s just destroying tyres, but we expected that anyway.

Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports):
The circuit is really good. It’s a big, fast, new track with a lot of positive camber in the corners, which makes the circuit fun to ride. I think when we come back here in a few weeks time the track will lend itself to some really good racing because there is a lot of passing opportunities, so I can’t wait to race here. If I had to consider The Bend Motorsport Park to another track that I have ridden on in the past, I would compare it to something like Sepang in Malaysia. Just with the width and the way it the track undulates, it’s definitely similar.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Matt Walters (Swann Insurance Kawasaki):
This place is an awesome facility and great to have on the calendar. In saying that, the circuit is a bit tricky to learn, as half of the circuit is blind and really fast, but overall I love the track and the layout. It’s fair to say, it’s completely different to what we have here in Australia, but it’s good as Australia needed another grand prix-type of circuit. The hardest part of the circuit to get used to has been the corners, which are on the gas and blind. It’s quite hard to judge where should be on the track and what speed you should be doing, which obviously should be flat out, but it’s a bit daunting for the first few laps. Once you figure out where you’re at, you’re pretty good. In terms of the surface, there hasn’t been a lot of grip this morning, but it’s slowly becoming better.

Tom Toparis (Cube Racing):
The track is pretty cool, to be honest. It’s obviously exciting to be riding a new circuit and a world-class circuit as well, which makes it even better. While the track and the layout is good, the surface at the moment is a bit of an issue, just with tyre wear. Once we sort out the tyre wear issue, we’ll be fine I believe. We are just going to ease into it without pushing too hard and try and not to crash. Hopefully tomorrow morning the track is still in good condition. If it is, we’ll hopefully move forward and be able to push for slightly faster lap times.