Image: Foremost Media.

DesmoSport Ducati’s Broc Pearson isn’t discounting the fact his maiden premier class podium came in wet conditions at Sydney’s second round of the 2024 Mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship, the Queenslander admitting he’s lost count of the times he’s narrowly missed out on a top three finish in the Superbike category.

The former Supersport champion has experienced mixed results since entering the Superbike class in 2022, although he’s come agonisingly close to landing on the podium on numerous occasions.

The most notable of them was on his debut with DesmoSport Ducati at Morgan Park in 2022, when he was denied a podium by then teammate Bryan Staring after the pair crossed the line of race two with just 0.046s between them. The duo completed the weekend equal on points, however Staring was credited third on count-back.

Pearson’s podium in Sydney, which came via 6-2 race results for third overall, has propelled him to fourth in the championship standings and comes as a timely confidence boost in what is a pivotal year for his career.

“Obviously it’s a wet race and I would’ve loved to have got my first podium in the dry, but I’ve had numerous dry fourth places that I’ve lost count of – I’ve been banging on the door of a podium,” Pearson stated to CycleOnline.com.au.

“I had a really good start in the first one before it got red-flagged and I was up in the podium spots with some really good pace. After the red flag, I got a bad start and then I don’t know why, but I just consumed so much of the tyre in the early stages of the race and faded. It was a bit disappointing, but I feel my dry speed has been good all weekend – enough for a podium.

“It rained in the last one and I just accepted we had to get into it – it was a bit tricky at the start when we started on slicks, but it was red-flagged and we got going on the wets. It was nice to lead the race – it was a shame to see Troy [Herfoss] go down when he did – it would’ve been really nice for both of us to be on the podium.

“I think I had race-winning pace in that one, but I had a couple of little moments at stages of the race, and a credit to Josh [Waters] for taking so many risks considering his championship position.”

It was a contrasting weekend for teammate and defending champion Troy Herfoss, who failed to register a result after a crash in the warm-up generated a technical issue that ultimately prevented him from starting race one, while he crashed out in the early stages of a wet race two.