Image: Marc Jones (Foremost Media).

The 2018 Kawasaki Australian Supersport Championship has a new leader after Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) captured victory from Tom Toparis (Cube Racing Kawasaki) in race one at The Bend Motorsport Park, South Australia.

It was Max Croker Suzuki who jumped out of the start at the front of the pack, only for Halliday to quickly take charge. Soon after, at the beginning of lap two, Toparis passed for the lead, only for Halliday to counter on that same lap.

A mistake by Halliday – running wide at turn six – enabled Toparis back by on lap three, however it was once again the R6 of Halliday that made his way back by for the lead. That’s how they would stand for the race’s remainder, with Halliday victorious by 2.830s and setting a new lap record of 1m57.063s in the process.

Behind Halliday and Toparis came top rookie Broc Pearson (Yamaha), Mladin Racing’s Croker and Damon Rees (Honda) filling the top five in the order, with South Australia’s John Hunt (Suzuki) a notable casualty as he pitted in the opening laps.

Sixth was Zac Johnson (Yamaha) after getting the better of a race-long battle with Scott Nicholson (Suzuki), as Dallas Skeer (Suzuki), a resurgent Luke Mitchell (Yamaha) and Rhys Belling (Yamaha) – penalised with a jump-start – were the top 10.

Detailed results