Image: Foremost Media.

Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) leader Mike Jones has put himself in the best position to clinch a third premier class title, the Yamaha Racing Team rider securing pole position at The Bend as Harrison Voight will start at the front of the Supersport field.

In what was an intense qualifying two at round seven, Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) edged Jack Miller (Thriller Motorsport) by 0.161s, posting a 1m50.644s to start P1 for tomorrow’s races.

Alongside Jones and Miller on the front row will be Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday, as Next Gen Motorsports BMW’s Glenn Allerton also notched a lap in the 1m50s bracket for P4.

Fifth was Unitech Racing’s Arthur Sissis, the South Australian under four tenths from pole, as Phillip Island winner Josh Waters (Boost Mobile Ducati with K-Tech) completes the second row.

Lining up P7 is impressive teenager Senna Agius, with Troy Herfoss next to his Penrite Honda Racing teammate on the third row in eighth. Completing the top 10 are Billy McConnell (727 Moto Yamaha) and Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar Yamaha).

It was a challenging afternoon for Jones’ title rivals, with Wayne Maxwell starting P12, seemingly struggling with an issue that left him unable to post a lap at his usual standard.

Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati) was unable to transfer through qualifying two, knocked out of the top three in qualifying one by Jed Metcher (727 Moto Yamaha) in the dying moments of the session.

Josh Hook (Thriller Motorsport) – who crashed heavily in FP2 – did not take part in qualifying, suspected to have a broken scaphoid sustained in yesterday’s fall. He attempted to ride this morning in timed practice.

Image: Foremost Media.

A dominant Supersport performance by Voight saw the Thriller Motorsport rider qualify over one second clear of his nearest rival, however, rain prevented all riders from improving in the second session.

South Australian Dallas Skeer (Yamaha) notched his best ASBK Supersport qualifying result in second, 1.225s from Voight’s 1m56.058s benchmark.

Lining up in P3 will be Friday’s fastest man Tom Bramich (Yamaha), just 0.005s behind Skeer as Ty Lynch (727 Moto Yamaha) and Scott Nicholson (Yamaha) completed the top five.

With only four riders posting a laptime in the second qualifying session, positions six to 10 on the combined classification are Archie McDonald (Yamaha), Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha), championship-leader John Lytras (Yamaha), Tom Drane (Yamaha) and Rhys Belling (Yamaha).

In Supersport 300, Cameron Dunker (Yamaha) finished third and with that was crowned 2022 Australian Supersport 300 champion. Taking the race one victory in the class was Samuel Pezzetta (Yamaha), with Hayden Nelson (Yamaha) finishing P2.

Dunker’s success continued in the first R3 Cup race, taking the chequered flag first with a 1.7s advantage ahead of Pezzetta, with Taiyo Aksu (Yamaha) securing the final place on the podium.

The opening Oceania Junior Cup (OJC) encounter saw Ryan Larkin (Yamaha) break away to a commanding 5.3s victory, with Teerin  Fleming (Yamaha) and Bodie Paige (Yamaha) completing the top three.

Detailed results