Phillip Island race victory bumps Queenslander up to P2 overall.
A breakout first-career Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) race win saw Broc Pearson reward DesmoSport Ducati for the opportunity at Phillip Island, admitting he ‘just went for it’ went the rain came on Sunday afternoon.
After qualifying eighth and then taking the chequered flag P9 in race one despite an issue off the start, the 23-year-old managed to deliver on his promise in the wet and rise to second overall.
Pearson – a Gold Coast real estate agent in his day job – has been gradually improving in the premier class onboard the factory-supported Panigale V4 R, climbing to third in the 2024 standings as a result of his podium on Sunday. He overcome points leader Josh Waters in a final lap fight for the victory.
“We’ve had a pretty good weekend overall really, fast out of the box on Saturday morning, although we probably didn’t execute qualifying as well as we could have, I had a lot of confidence going into the two races that I would be able to move forward through the field,” Pearson recalled.
“The technical issue as I launched in race one threw a spanner in the works there and I had to fight my way back from dead last. For the second race, rain fell as we were about to head out, but we were prepared for it, so I just went for it. Twice in a row, I got off the line really well and led the way for essentially the whole race.
“It got a bit tricky to gauge just how fast I could push in the miserable conditions, but when a few riders started to come up on me, I put my head down to win by around a second. I’m so glad to get my first ASBK win with DesmoSport, the team work so hard day in and day out to give me the best opportunity and I’m happy I can reward everyone with a win today.”
Phillip Island 2 marked Pearson’s third podium in five rounds this season, including Sydney Motorsport Park, Morgan Park last time out, and now round five of the championship – the second visit to Phillip Island this year – on the weekend.