Image: Foremost Media.

Teenage talent Cameron Dunker made it back-to-back Supersport overall wins at the third round of the 2023 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), as Marcus Hamod broke through to claim the Supersport 300 victory at Queensland Raceway.

Dunker (Yamaha) converted his pole position to take a thrilling victory in Supersport race one. At the start, Olly Simpson (Yamaha) launched from the second row to take the early lead, quickly stretching out an advantage out the front.

Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha) worked his way up to second, but he high-sided on the exit of turn five which forced Ty Lynch and pole-setter Cameron Dunker to sit up and lose time to avoid him. With nine laps to go Simpson’s advantage was 2.5 seconds, but a mistake three laps later saw him run wide and relinquish the lead to Dunker.

The South Australian retook the lead into turn six, with Lynch right behind the leading duo and in contention at that point. The fight certainly wasn’t over there as Dunker responded on the brakes into turn five to retake the lead with three laps to go.

He led until the last corner on the last lap when he ran wide and Simpson tried to capitalise on the inside. The pair made contact on the final straight but ultimately it was Dunker who was able to hold on and take a slim 0.011s victory ahead of the number 45.

Lynch completed the podium, 0.952s from the lead, as Scott Nicholson (Yamaha) charged to fourth. Sean Condon (Yamaha) completed the top five, as Dallas Skeer (Yamaha), Hayden Nelson (Yamaha), Jack Passfield (Yamaha), Reece Oughtred and Tom Bramich (Yamaha) featured inside the top 10. Reigning champion John Lytras suffered a crash on lap two at turn five and was unable to finish the race.

A commanding race-two victory from Simpson saw him deliver a strong performance to withstand the charge of Dunker to secure the win. Simpson again made his way swiftly to the front from the second row and slowly edged an advantage ahead of Bramich as the pair broke away from the field.

Simpson’s margin of victory was ultimately 0.232s ahead of Dunker, the race one winner shuffled back in the early stages but able to work his way back to P2 and a near victory, capitalising on a mistake from Bramich in the closing stages then chasing after Simpson. Bramich recovered to finish third, as Nicholson and Lynch completed the top five.

Hayden Nelson (Yamaha) charged to sixth, as Skeer, Condon Lytras and Passfield rounded out the top 10. Dunker secured the round win by a single point ahead of Simpson, with Nicholson third for the round.

Image: Foremost Media.

In the Supersport 300 class, Hamod won two from three races to take the overall, race three an immensely close encounter that saw the number 13 awarded victory after video review ahead of Henry Snell (Yamaha).

Snell finished 11th overall for the round after a DNF in race two, as championship leader Brandon Demmery and race two winner Brodie Gawith completed the round three podium. Demmery still leads the Supersport 300 championship, now on 187 points as Gawith is second on 162 and Hamod third with 154.

It was Cameron Swain (Yamaha) who took the R3 Cup honours, securing the round with a commanding race-three victory. Hamod and Demmery completed the top three for the category at Queensland Raceway.

In the Oceania Junior Cup (OJC), Bodie Paige secured the overall win with three wins, leading Valentino Knezovic and Hadyn Fordyce for the round.

Detailed results