Image: Russell Colvin.

DesmoSport Ducati’s Troy Bayliss won this afternoon’s opening national Superbike race at the 2018 Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, edging pole-setter Glenn Allerton to victory.

Next Gen Motorsport’s triple Australian champion Allerton started out of P1 on the grid, however it was three-time world champion Bayliss won took home Friday’s lone encounter.

Delays in the grand prix categories resulted in just one Superbike race today, with Bayliss winning by 0.268s after leading all eight laps across the line. A lonely third was current champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing), recovering from an early off-track excursion.

Fourth was rookie Markus Chiodo on-board his own Suzuki, leading two more GSX-Rs in Alex Phillis (Phillis Racing Suzuki) and premier class debutant Max Croker (Mladin Racing Suzuki).

Image: Russell Colvin.

In Supersport 300 it was Hunter Ford (Yamaha) who took pole position late this afternoon, lodging a 1m49.630s to lead Locky Taylor (Yamaha) and Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki) on the front row of the grid for this weekend’s races.

Behind the leading trio was Mitch Kuhne (Yamaha) and Luke Power (Yamaha), setting the tone for an action-packed round of races in the domestic development category.

Detailed results