Cube Racing press release:

Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis has raced to a brace of podium results to finish second overall at The Bend Motorsport Park, South Australia, in round three of the Australian Supersport Championship.

Toparis qualified second and went 2-2-2 across the trio of intriguing Supersport races, leading his share of laps along the way and claiming his third round podium in three attempts for 2018.

The Goulburn-based teenager was also on-track in the Asia SuperSports 600cc ranks, displaying front-running pace, but exiting the lone race completed on Sunday. Earlier in the weekend, Toparis featured at the front of a chaotic opening race held on Saturday afternoon, but it was abandoned by officials following two stoppages due to incidents.

“Second is a good result, but not 100 percent where we want to be,” Toparis explained. “We were one step behind for much of the weekend and it just wasn’t coming together in practice, but in the races I improved and was able to lead some laps, so that was good to gradually get better.

“We look forward to Darwin now, a really good track for me, so it will be a lot better and I think our bike will be well-suited to that track. We’re 12 points behind in the championship now, so it’s definitely not over and we are really focused on being there each weekend at the front, scoring the best points possible.”

It was a trying round for Supersport 300 contender Oli Bayliss, qualifying seventh, but unfortunately being ruled out of race one with a gearbox problem. He returned to finish 11th in race two, then improved further for sixth position on Sunday, just 0.852s from first. That placed him 13th overall and Bayliss is now fourth in the standings.

“Hopefully this is one of our worst weekends of the season,” 14-year-old Bayliss said. “It started in practice and qualifying wasn’t great in seventh – pretty much where I’ve started all year! – but in race one unfortunately it was a DNF. Race two was a learning experience for me, but the third race was pretty good and where I expected to be toward the front.”

Cube Racing team owner Ben Henry said it was another positive event for both Toparis and Bayliss, gaining valuable experience at the brand new, world-class 4.95-kilometre International Circuit. He was satisfied with their improvements made over the course of race-week.

“Early in the weekend with Tommy, we were sort of scratching our heads how we were going to get to the front,” Henry commented. “But, he rode a lot this weekend on different tyres between the two series, and he did really well – right there in the mix for at least half of the races and that was positive for second.

“Oli was unlucky in the first race with his broken bike and then in the second race, I’m not sure, he wasn’t quite over what happened in the first one and switched bikes as well. Race three was really good though, his best result and a PB lap, so good on him and we’re happy for him to finish like that. It was an impressive result.”

Next on the calendar for Cube Racing will be Hidden Valley Raceway in the Northern Territory on 28 June-1 July, for the fourth round of the 2018 season.

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