Features 15 Mar 2022

Fast Thoughts: Tom Bramich

Second-year Supersport 600 rider on 2022 and uplift in form.

Tom Bramich stormed onto the Supersport scene during the Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) opener at Phillip Island, starting his season off strongly with second overall and the leader of the regular domestic contenders. The 25-year-old is no stranger to success, a former national Moto3 and Supersport 300 champion before heading overseas for a stint in the Supersport 300 World Championship. Upon arrival back home, Bramich experienced a tough debut campaign on 600cc machinery, however, if his performance at round one is an indicator then things are on the up in season 2022. CycleOnline caught up with the Victorian to get his Fast Thoughts on a range of topics.

Image: Foremost Media.

Your current position in the Australian Supersport Championship…

I really don’t see myself as the points-leader at all to be honest, both Senna [Agius] and Tom [Edwards] were very strong at the first round, I’ve had a few glimpses of speed, but not the consistency over full race distance. Until I can be fighting for wins each weekend, that’s when I can start thinking about the points, but right now it’s way too early and it’s not really a true indication of what’s going on.

Mindset entering round two at Queensland Raceway… 

Our thought process going into round two is just to keep building on round one. The way I see it is, last year was an absolute disaster for us, almost a non-event in many aspects. The bike was so far away from being anywhere near the ballpark. This year we are almost starting from scratch. For us it is just about building, getting the bike better again. It’s going to be quite a new track for me, I rode it once in 2013, so it has been a long time between drinks, it’s just going to be another weekend of building on what we have got, and hopefully fighting at the pointy end come Sunday.

Uplift in form to start season 2022… 

This year we have got some support from Craig McMartin Racing, in particular Adrian Monti and Wayne Maxwell. Having that expertise and knowledge around me, just to help to get the bike to where it should be and give me a machine I can actually ride and get the best out of myself, has been definitely the step we have made this year. Without their input, we would still be in the same position as last year. The team structure, the personnel that are helping me this year is what it has all been about. That’s been the main reason for our step-up and the more we work with each other and the further into the season we go, the stronger we will be and the better the package will get.

Image: Foremost Media.

The year ahead…

Towards the end of this year I want to be fighting for race wins, I want to be fighting for the championship. It’s going to super hard, there are guys that are going to be super strong and there is a lot of riders stepping up, and they are all talented. I really want to be fighting for race wins and, ultimately, the championship. But for now, we are still very much in the building phase, we’ve got to be realistic and keep working hard pretty much.

Circuits on this year’s ASBK calendar… 

I think all of the tracks all have parts of characteristics that suit people and are also challenging in over aspects. I definitely enjoy the faster tracks like Phillip Island and Tailem Bend, but also I’ve had good success at other tracks in the smaller categories. There’s not really one that stands out to me that’s a really good track or a really bad track, it’s just about being consistent and keeping the ball rolling, not having a terrible round and a really good round, it’s about getting the points and keep going like that.

Bringing your international experience back home… 

I learnt a lot in Europe, about the mentality of racing in general rather than bike-specific kind of thing. Just about how aggressive they are, they can go out of pit lane and do their fastest lap as their first flyer. Just things like that have really benefitted me and I’m working really hard to try and implement them into my own riding. There are a lot of things that I have gathered, and have learnt in Europe that will help me in the future, but I would say the 600 is such a different kettle of fish compared to the 300. While I implement some things that I learned, I’m also learning probably the most I have ever learned in my career to be honest, because the bikes are so versatile and there are so many things to change compared to a 300. Constantly learning and really enjoying the process and working with such talented people.

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