Image: Foremost Media.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Mike Jones ended his 2022 championship-winning campaign in the best possible way, taking a thrilling victory in race two at The Bend to claim the final overall win of the year.

Eager for redemption from race one, Jack Miller (Thriller Motorsport) charged to the holeshot, closely followed by Senna Agius (Penrite Honda Racing) who made a great start from the third row.

Agius trailed the MotoGP contender closely for the first three laps, with champion Jones in hot pursuit. On lap four, Jones made his move by Agius into turn one, with Wayne Maxwell (Boost Mobile Ducati with K-Tech) making his way past the teenager later in the lap.

From that point, the leading three began to break away ever so slightly, as Agius kept Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports) and teammate Troy Herfoss at bay. On lap six, Jones made his move on Miller into the first corner, standing the number 43 up as Maxwell soon made his way into P2, Miller back to third.

Moments later the number 47 passed Jones for the lead, with Allerton taking Miller for P3 as Herfoss and Agius remained in contention. Herfoss was the next through on Miller, followed soon after by Agius, pushing Miller back to sixth.

With four laps to go Herfoss made a move on Allerton into the penultimate corner, with Jones back in the lead as the top five were separated by less than a second.

In the final laps, Jones dropped the hammer and entered the 1m50s bracket to stretch out a lead, as Herfoss edged Maxwell for second. At the conclusion of the bout, it was Jones victorious by two seconds, with disaster striking Herfoss and Allerton as they crashed out on the last lap, at turn five.

Amongst the drama on the final lap, impressive Agius crossed the line in second, ahead of Maxwell in his final full-time superbike appearance.

Miller finished fourth, less than a second from the number 81 in P2, as Arthur Sissis (Unitech Racing Yamaha) and Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) were fifth and sixth respectively, both within striking distance of the podium at the conclusion of the race.

In seventh was Anthony West (MotoGo Yamaha), as Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar Yamaha), Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) and Moto3 World Championship regular Joel Kelso (Livson Racing BMW) completed the top 10. In terms of the round seven overall, Jones was victorious on 41 points, ahead of Maxwell on 38 and Sissis with 32.

Completing the top three in the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) are Maxwell and Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati), the number 67 finishing the final race of the season in P12.

Detailed results