Waters wins opening bout at The Bend as Nahlous impresses in second

ASBK 2025

Round Eight – The Bend
SW-Motech Superbike Race One

Josh Waters had already cemented the Australian Superbike Championship crown on Saturday, thanks to having an unassailable lead over Mike Jones.

Waters went into this contest with a 50-point buffer and, thanks to having more wins than Jones, was already confirmed as champion. Josh cemented his place in 2024 as the most successful rider in Australian Superbike history when he took his fourth title, and he has now extended that further to five.

Cru Halliday had qualified quickest on Saturday, onboard the McMartin Racing-prepared Stop & Seal Ducati, and lined up on pole alongside Mike Jones and young rookie Jonathan Nahlous.

Broc Pearson headed the second row alongside Josh Waters and Cam Dunker, while Troy Herfoss, Anthony West and Max Stauffer completed row three ahead of Glenn Allerton.

It might have only been a short 11-lap distance, but tyre management was still going to be key.

Josh Waters fired into the lead from the second row ahead of Cru Halliday, Jonathan Nahlous and Broc Pearson. Mike Jones took that fourth place from Pearson a few turns in. Cam Dunker was sixth as they negotiated the back of the circuit for the first time ahead of Glenn Allerton, Troy Herfoss and Anthony West, while Max Stauffer rounded out the top ten.

Mike Jones then moved up to third late on the opening lap, pushing Nahlous back to fourth, as Waters continued to lead Halliday. Jones inched towards the back of Halliday through some sequences, only for Halliday to then have his measure through other turns.  Broc Pearson went down pretty hard at the final turn at the end of lap two, but walked away.

The top four continued to pull away as the race progressed. Nahlous capitalised on a small mistake by Jones to move back up to third. The top four riders were all running well under the previous race lap record. Further back, Anthony West was edging towards Cam Dunker to mount a challenge for fifth, but that battle was unfolding almost five seconds behind the leading quartet.

That quartet became a trio next time around when Cru Halliday lost the front at turn one and slid out of the race in what looked like quite a strange soft crash. The Sydneysider later confirmed that he had a technical problem with fluid leaking from the bike somewhere before he went down, but acknowledged the mistake that caused the crash as his own.

Up front, Josh Waters had now escaped from his pursuers. Jonathan Nahlous was holding Jones at bay, but his rear Pirelli was certainly protesting at the punishment that he was metering out on it. It looked as though Jones could perhaps bide his time, as there were still six laps to go.

Waters then made a mistake that allowed Nahlous and Jones to close right back up on him. The champ lost almost two seconds on lap six. Nahlous then managed to stretch away from Jones over the next two laps and was keeping Waters honest up front.

Further back, Westy had gotten the better of Dunker for fourth place and pulled away from the youngster.

As they started the penultimate lap, Jones was now back on the tail of Nahlous to challenge the rookie for second place as Waters looked to now have an unassailable lead. At the last lap board, Waters led Nahlous by half a second, and Nahlous had managed to pull away from Jones once again.

Waters was a little deep into turn one for the final time, which allowed Nahlous to close up on the champ, but Waters recovered well to stretch away from Nahlous again over the back of the circuit and went on to take the victory by just under half-a-second.

Jonathan Nahlous took a brilliant second place for his family-run Complete AV/Omega outfit, clearly showing that he is enjoying the recent move to Honda machinery.

Mike Jones was a further six-tenths behind in third but seven seconds clear of Anthony West. Westy had made life hard for himself early on from a poor start, but had to battle his way through the field to secure that fourth-place result and showed great speed on the way through.

That second place for Nahlous moved him to within ten points of Glenn Allerton, who he could challenge for fifth place in the championship if he could muster a repeat performance this afternoon.

Cam Dunker’s fourth-place result strengthened his hold on fourth place in the championship, but it remains a tight affair, as Allerton is only three points behind.

Troy Herfoss had battled Glenn Allerton for sixth place across the closing laps, but the Ducati man had his measure on the final run to the line to secure that sixth-place result. They crossed the line almost 20 seconds behind the race winner, so both have plenty of work to do before race two.

Max Stauffer was a further five seconds back in eighth but well clear of John Lytras in ninth. Ty Lynch rounded out the top ten.

SW-Motech Superbike Race One Results

SW-Motech Superbike Championship Points

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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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