Image: Foremost Media.

After competing in the Junior Superstock category of the British Superbike Championship (BSB), Jacob Hatch returns to the Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) for the final two rounds of the 2023 season, detailing the transition to a litre-bike ‘a big change’.

Hatch scored a race win and podiums within his class through the year in BSB, and with that season now over he steps up from a ZX-6R he was racing overseas, to a Yamaha R1 with support from the Addicted to Track team for both round six this weekend, and The Bend.

“Just to get some bike time I guess, we didn’t have a 600 at home but one of our friends had a 1000, so just thought we’d jump on and have a crack,” Hatch added. “Ideally I would like to be riding a 600, because I know I’d be able to get a decent result on one of them here. We will just ride whatever we have, no choice, we’ll just jump on the 1000 and see how we go.

The Superbike category so far has completed two practice sessions today at Phillip Island, with Hatch continuing to learn the bigger platform and make steps, despite working his way through some teething issues.

“Coming from the 600 there’s more horsepower, so initially there’s just a lot more speed and torque, and everything else that comes with a thousand,” Hatch explained to CycleOnline.

“I’m not gelling with it as much as I would like to, it’s a big change going from the smaller bike to this bike, especially around this track with so much speed. Just easing into it, and hopefully, we can get faster and faster.”

The second Superbike practice session was led by Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday, notching a 1m32.801s, with Hatch concluding FP2 in P18 with a 1m38.460s