Words: Russell Colvin

Cube Racing regular Tom Toparis will contest the fifth round of the Supersport 300 World Championship (WorldSSP300) at Brno in the Czech Republic on 8-10 June, joining the Motoport Kawasaki team.

The 18-year-old Goulburn-based rider, who currently sits in second place in the Australian Supersport Championship, will fill in for the injured Robert Schotman, who broke his hip in three places at Imola.

The ride for Toparis was put in place thanks to Rob Vennegoor, who has been influential with getting Australian riders over to Europe in the past, such as Jed Metcher, Troy Herfoss, Bryan Staring and Glenn Scott to name a few.

“Rob contacted Ben [Henry] and he told me there was a chance where I could race at Brno,” Toparis told CycleOnline.com.au. “I thought this would be an awesome experience. In the beginning, it was just small talk and it could have happened, but now it’s really happening, so I’m pretty excited.”

While this might be the debut outing for Toparis in WorldSSP300, he has experience in the Supersport 300 category from when he raced in Australian championship in 2016, which saw him pick up a second-place and two round wins in the back half of the season.

“I’ve obviously got experience racing in the Australian Supersport 300 Championship,” he added. “The only difference now is I’ll be on a Kawasaki Ninja 400, but shouldn’t be too different to the 300 which I raced on in 2016 with the Cube Racing team.

“I believe Brno will be a good round to go into really. I will just try and get in there and get the best result as I can, which is all I can hope to do. Score points is the main goal, then we’ll see how the weekend is going and if everything is going well, a top 10 would be great to walk away with.”

Last weekend at Donington Park saw fellow Australian Lachlan Epis on the Motoport Kawasaki of Schotman, qualifying in 18th position prior to crashing out of the race. He began the season in World Supersport with Team GoEleven, however parted ways prior to the Imola round.