Image: Foremost Media.

MotoGo has protested against the Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) race direction’s decision to disqualify Bryan Staring from race two at Queensland Raceway yesterday evening, maintaining that his YZF-R1M is legal.

Staring had made headlines on Friday by setting the fastest lap-time in practice, however, a crash on Saturday morning effectively ended his hopes of a breakout result in 2024.

The experienced 36-year-old didn’t match his pace-setting 1m07.508s set in practice three for the rest of the weekend, unable to break beneath the 1m08s bracket across the pair of races on Sunday. Round winner Mike Jones set a new lap record of 1m07.434s in the opening encounter.

After qualifying in P9, Staring’s struggles on his way to 10th in race one prompted the 2010 ASBK champion to switch to his spare bike for race two, which was marginally better for eighth position and ninth overall prior to his disqualification.

The dealership-operated team had intended to investigate issues that the Western Australian had reported with the primary bike after his crash, but is now fully focused on proving that the bike Staring raced on Sunday afternoon is legal. A hearing is scheduled for later this week.

The statement released by Motorcycling Australia (MA) late this afternoon reads in full as follows:

Superbike #67 has been disqualified from Race 2 for a modified part found during a Post-Race Inspection.

The Team of SBK Rider #67 has submitted a Protest in accordance with ASBK Sporting Regulations against the decision of the ASBK Race Director with respect to Disqualification.

The MA Protest Hearing will be held this week.

An update will be provided after the MA Steward Hearing.

While neither MA or MotoGo have confirmed what the part is that is in question, it is understood that it’s the clutch of Staring’s Yamaha that has been deemed illegally modified by ASBK race direction.