Image: Russell Colvin.

Defending champion Wayne Maxwell was fastest on combined times in today’s rain-affected Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) practice sessions at Morgan Park.

Riders only had limited dry laps in the opening session and then the weather resulted in a largely unproductive day in Queensland.

Boost Mobile Racing with K-Tech Ducati-mounted Maxwell’s benchmark was a 1m14.426s set on lap four, which was 0.140s clear of Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing), but well-shy of the current qualifying record of 1m12.609s set by Mike Jones in 2019.

Third on the charts was Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati), who was the final rider within the 14s, followed by Arthur Sissis (Unitech Racing Yamaha) and Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) – both also within a second of Maxwell on day one.

The top 10 was completed by Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) in his first official outing aboard the V4 R, Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Jed Metcher (727Moto Yamaha), Lachlan Epis (BMW Alliance Racing) and Yamaha Racing Team’s current points-leader Jones.

With Josh Waters and Daniel Falzon both already reported absent this weekend, Victorian privateers Mark Chiodo and Chandler Cooper are also not riding, while 727Moto signing Broc Parkes’ debut has been delayed until Phillip Island.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Leading the way in Supersport was Queenslander John Lytras (Yamaha) at 1m16.182s ahead of Ty Lynch (Yamaha), Tom Bramich (Yamaha), Scott Nicholson (Yamaha) and Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha), with all of those times set in the first session.

That trend continued across as rain fell throughout the day following the initial dry portion, as Jonathan Nahlous (Kawasaki) topped Supersport 300, Glenn Nelson the R3 Cup and Hudson Thompson the Oceania Junior Cup.

Detailed results