Image: Foremost Media.

Round six of the Mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Phillip Island marked ‘a turning point’ for DesmoSport Ducati’s Broc Pearson, who finished a closely-contested third overall after leading laps during each encounter.

Pearson qualified fourth despite feeling like he left time out on the picturesque Southern Victorian venue, which was enough to give the 25-year-old confidence that the sixth stop of the eight-round calendar would be promising for both he and the team.

Although getting pipped at the line in each race by reigning champion Josh Waters (McMartin Racing), Pearson reflected on the weekend with a largely positive perspective after leading a handful of laps in each race.

“From the start of the weekend, I felt like we had really good speed, and I feel like we kind of showed that all weekend,” Pearson told CycleOnline. “I didn’t execute my qualifying lap well, and it was still good enough for fourth, so that’s why I sort of knew we were in the race this weekend.

“First race was really hard, just to suck it up after leading every single lap. And then at the end, obviously, to get pipped on the line by Josh was hard. In the last few laps, the traction [control] was interfering too much, and I was too nervous to change it, because it was so bad out there with the conditions.

“In the end I got out of the last corner, got stuck up against the traction control, and he just motored by, which was hard to take. But I was happy with my riding, [and] I think third place was like 30 seconds behind.”

Riders faced the full spectrum of weather conditions at Phillip Island, with both dry and wet surfaces providing unique challenges throughout the weekend. For Pearson and his Panigale V4 R, the duo achieved comfort and would lead more laps in race two.

“In the second race, I felt like again, I led probably more laps than anyone – I was really happy with my riding,” he added. “Josh pipped me on the line again to take second away from me, so I felt like we should have had a 1-2 today if we had a little bit more top speed and just got off the last corner better.

“I was good enough for a win [today], and I didn’t win, but this weekend has felt like probably one of our best weekends this year. I led more laps today than anyone else, and that’s definitely a turning point.”

Pearson sits fifth in this year’s ASBK overall standings, just five markers from P4 as the series heads to One Raceway – which was an event he won last year – for the penultimate round of the 2025 season on October 3-5.