Waters poised to make history as ASBK shapes up for Bend finale

ASBK 2025

Round Eight – The Bend
SW-Motech Superbike

Josh Waters needs only a single point to claim a history-making fifth Superbike title at The Bend this weekend.

After yet another towering season from Waters, the McMartin Racing Ducati rider holds a 50-point (338 to 288) lead over Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) in the SW-Motech Superbike class heading into The Bend, where a maximum 51 points will be up for grabs, one point for qualifying, then 25 points from each of the two 11-lap races on Sunday.

With The Bend’s expansive layout more receptive to the Ducati’s brute horsepower compared to the last round at One Raceway, Waters can certainly wrap up the championship during qualifying on Saturday afternoon if he comes out of the blocks firing. However, Waters is yet to claim pole position at The Bend during his storied career, while primary rival Mike Jones has started at the pointy end three times, including last year.

If the silky-smooth Jones can pull out another one-lap blinder on Saturday on his YZF-R1 M, the focus will then shift to a high-stakes super Sunday.

And it’s not just SW-Motech Superbike, which is going down to the wire at The Bend, with 2025 champions to also be crowned in Kawasaki Supersport, which at this round sees the wildcard entry of two-time British Superbike champion Kyle Ryde, the ShopYamaha R3 Cup, BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup and Superbike Masters. Scott Nicholson wrapped up the Race and Road Supersport 300 class in the penultimate round at One Raceway.

SW-Motech Superbike

At One Raceway (NSW), Jones claimed two wins in a superb rearguard action to keep his title hopes hanging by a thread, but he was forced to dig deep as rising star Cameron Dunker (MotoGO Yamaha) made him work hard for the victories.

For Waters, One Raceway was his worst outing of the year with a pair of fifth places. In race two, he missed out on a fourth place by a minuscule 0.088 sec to Jones’ newly drafted teammate Troy Herfoss. Those nanoseconds were just enough to ensure that Jones kept his championship hopes alive.

Jones is just 19 points (288 to 269) in front of Anthony West (Addicted to Track Yamaha) in the Superbike standings, which is probably where the real pragmatist in Jones is channelling his major focus at The Bend: keeping his fellow Queenslander at bay, especially with the rich vein of form shown by West in the second half of the season.

With no other rider in contention for a top-three championship finish, Dunker, Glenn Allerton (Superbike Advocates Ducati) and Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) are separated by just 3pts in their battle for fourth, while Jonathan Nahlous (Omega Racing Team Yamaha) is not too much further behind in seventh and is on the cusp of claiming rookie of the year honours.

Cru Halliday (Stop and Seal Ducati) and Max Stauffer (Yamaha) are more than capable of figuring highly, while Herfoss is returning to a happy hunting ground where he has won a remarkable six races: twice from pole position and four times from outside the front row.

The 20-rider field will also include Luca Durning (DesmoSport Ducati), who is stepping up from his regular Next Gen Supersport mount for this round.

SW-Motech Superbike Championship Points

Kawasaki Supersport and Supersport Next Gen

Ryde is a spectacular addition to the Kawasaki Supersport grid, having been drafted into the Stop and Seal team alongside the two major title protagonists: Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald.

With a 24-point (265 to 241) buffer over McDonald, Mahaffy clearly has the stronger hand. Still, the mercurial McDonald – coming off an impressive outing in last weekend’s European Stock round in Barcelona – won’t make it easy, and has remained in contention despite missing a round earlier in the season due to European commitments.

Oli Simpson (BCperformance Kawasaki) is third in the standings on 234pts, and at his home track, he will be pushing hard to force an error from Mahaffy and/or McDonald.

Ryde could well be the fly in the ointment, with the Briton returning to the Supersport ranks for the first time in a decade.

As always, the likes of Tom Bramich (Yamaha), Hayden Nelson (BCperformance Kawasaki), Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha), Marcus Hamod (Motocity Honda), Tom Edwards (TeamBWR Yamaha), Levi Russo (Motoschool Racing Team Yamaha), Will Nassif (Omega Racing Team Yamaha) and Josh Newman (Addicted to Track Yamaha) will be in the hunt, while Tom Toparis and visiting international Eugene McManus will ride Stop and Seal Ducatis in the Supersport Next Gen class. McManus, from Ireland, competed in two World Supersport rounds this season on a Panigale V2.

Race and Road Supersport 300/ShopYamaha R3 Cup

The Race and Road Supersport 300 class may have already crowned Nicholson (Kawasaki) with a round to spare, but the action will be as manic as ever with a freight train of riders in the front pack.

Tara Morrison (Kawasaki) was in second spot all season until an inexplicably disastrous weekend at One Raceway saw her drop to fourth place behind round winner Jake Paige (Champions Ride Days Kawasaki) and Jordy Simpson (Yamaha). Tara now also has Tyler King (Kawasaki) and Mitch Simpson (Yamaha) nipping at her heels.

It all makes for a tantalising grand finale, with others to watch out for including Riley Nauta (Champions Ride Days Kawasaki), Hudson Thompson (Yamaha), Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha) and Nikolas Lazos (Yamaha).

Such is the intensity that any of 20 riders could snare a win in the three races.

In the ShopYamaha R3 Cup, Mitch Simpson, Lazos, Jordy Simpson, Thompson and John Pelgrave hold the top five positions, with the title still wide open.

BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup

After a see-sawing season at the sharp end of the standings between Connor Lewis and Chaz Williams, Australia’s newest junior road race champion will be crowned at The Bend.

Lewis leads by 3pts (270 to 267), while Rossi McAdam (232pts) could come from the clouds if it goes pear-shaped for the top two.

Still plenty to play out for the junior jets!

Superbike Masters

In Superbike Masters, Beau Beaton (Ducati) is looking to become the first rider to go through the series undefeated.

On paper, Beaton should get the job done with a minimum of fuss, leaving the likes of Michael Berti Mendez (Ducati), Phil Allen (Ducati), Phillip Burke (Honda), Ben Burke (Honda) and Scott Nicholson (Honda) – yes, the newly minted Supersport 300 champion! – battling for the minor places.

2025 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

Round	Location	Date
1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC	Feb 21-23
2	Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW	Mar 28-29
3	Queensland Raceway, QLD	May 2-4
4	Morgan Park Raceway, QLD	Jun 13-15
5	Queensland Raceway, QLD (Superbike Only)	Aug 8-10
6	Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC	Sept 6-7
7	One Raceway, NSW	Oct 3-5
8	The Bend, SA	Nov 7-9

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