Image: Marc Jones (Foremost Media).

Admitting he was a step behind for the duration of the weekend’s third stop of the Yamaha Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in South Australia, former Supersport championship leader Tom Toparis was forced to relinquish his points lead.

The youthful Cube Racing talent struggled to come to terms with the all-new The Bend Motorsport Park circuit, although despite the difficulties he faced, he was still able to record an impressive 2-2-2 scorecard for second overall.

While not completely content with the result, Toparis is extracting the positives from the weekend as he sits 12 points behind newly-appointed leader Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) heading into Hidden Valley’s fourth round, a favoured venue of the number seven.

“Second is a good result, but not 100 percent where we want to be,” said Toparis. “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.”

The next stop on the Australian Superbike Championship calendar is set to be hosted on 28 June – 1 July at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.