It was pure dominance from Josh Waters at Phillip Island to open the 2025 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), kicking off his title defence with maxium points, while Archie McDonald wrapped up the Supersport overall with two wins across the three races. CycleOnline caught up with both riders after the races for this Debrief feature.

Superbike

Image: Foremost Media.

Josh Waters, a perfect way to start ASBK 2025 here at Phillip Island. Made that look pretty easy. Take me through the weekend.

Yeah, coming into the weekend, I knew it was gonna be not easy because I had unfortunately had a crash. I had done bugger all riding this year. I’ve ridden bugger all motorcycles since November when I was fortunate enough to win the championship. So anyway, I really enjoy this circuit. My bike works well. Anthony [West] was quite fast on Friday. I was able to get pole and went on to win three races. So really happy.

Is it a case of you take a bit of comfort when you come back to this island and like you said, you haven’t had much time on the bike, but coming into this event, you go, okay, I can rely on years past and knowledge with the bikes set up around here?

Exactly. So I really enjoy riding around the circuit. It clicks for me. Yeah, I was just fortunate. You need all the stars to align and they obviously did for me this weekend.

So take us through the crash last year and then where that’s been, the recovery and then how much time you really haven’t off the bike. And you know, when you started riding again.

Yeah, so unfortunately, it was earlier on this year. I’d done bugger all laps. I bit of a crash. I landed the wrong way. It wasn’t a huge crash or anything. Just landed the wrong way. Snapped my collarbone. Had to go and get that fixed. Then I actually did a track day just after it, but it was still bandaged up. Maybe it was a little bit early to ride, but it was more for my head. I didn’t set the world on fire when I rode. But it was, yeah, I still got to have a ride. So yeah, that’s all I’ve been doing. And then all the physio says is don’t do anything with it. Let it recover. Don’t, don’t, because it did some other, a little bit of other damage. So yeah, I just have.

Are you earlier in the recovery now? Like should it be a case of you just made it back on the bike? You shouldn’t be riding?

No, like, no, I was able to ride. It was just, I’m not at my strongest, but then also it was hard because two days after it, I was back at work, so I was not meant to do anything but normal. Yeah.

Typical motorcycle rider, right? It’s back to work on the Monday. Hey, coming up, Sydney Motorsport Park. Another good round for you?

Yep. So I look forward to riding there. We didn’t do any of the night meetings or anything like that because I was injured, but yeah, I enjoy riding there. We’ll see how it goes.

Hey, congratulations on a perfect weekend here at Philip Island. We’ll see you for the night race.

Thanks heaps, and see you all up there.

Supersport

Image: Foremost Media.

Archie McDonald, opening round to take two of the three wins and the overall, it must be a satisfying start to the season for you.

Yeah, like you said, it was an opening race for us and everyone else, and to start strong is a good sign for the year ahead, I guess you could call it. But I think more than enough people know now that I’ll be missing a round round three, due to racing overseas.But for me to finish all three races is just a goal accomplished in itself. Let alone race three, having four of us battling up the front and two out of the four crashing out, so to bring it home upright and with points is more than a positive. It’s, yeah, very lucky to finish at the end of the day and I’m over the moon to be overall in the championship. So far, and it’s just a matter of following through with it and, yeah, see how we can go. It’s not just this weekend, it’s the whole year we’ve got to look after ourselves.

Second in that final one did get you the overall. Was there any strategy in that or you were going for the win?

There was definitely strategy to it. Like I said, I got hit about three times from opponents and, yeah, I was very lucky to come back up right and not crash like the other two riders did, but the strategy was to stay up right and bring home points to win the round overall, which we accomplished. And goals have been Kicked, boxes have been ticked, and we’re more than happy.

You’ve emerged obviously as a potential race winner, a potential title candidate, even if you’re going to miss a round this year. How much different do you feel coming into this season in comparison to last year?

At the start of last year, I was very, I guess you could say, not ready, not fit, not rider fit. This year, I definitely focused a lot more on racing instead of other things in my life. And dad’s put his every day into it, and so have I. It’s a commitment. I made a name for myself last year, but anyone can fluke anything, and I just need to keep following through with it, which I’ve so far shown, but it’s just a matter of time for how much more we can do. That’s the goal to keep following through with it and show people who I am and what I do.

So do you feel like then, even if you do have to miss a round, the target still is to win this championship?

Of course, of course. Anything is possible and I’ll prove that to many haters that don’t believe in me. JJ [Nahlous] DNF twice last year, so why can’t I still win the championship? Anything is possible and I’m going to show my capability to everyone that believes me and everyone that doesn’t believe me.

Final one from me. When you think back over the course of the three races this weekend, is there any one particular standout moment or race for you?

Race two was good because it was very hot and very slippery, so for us to bring it home with a second lead to Jack [Mahaffy] and then Jack to have another second lead to third, it shows what the Michelin’s are capable of, not just in a hot race, but in any race. I think every race was positive, but race two I liked more with the conditions. It goes to show that I’m not just a rider in good conditions, but in bad ones as well.