ASBK 2025
Round Eight – The Bend – Friday
SW-Motech Superbike
Josh Waters was quick out of the blocks to dominate FP1 and FP2, but late laps from Anthony West and Cru Halliday in FP3 knocked the championship leader from the top of the overall leaderboard when all was said and done at The Bend on Friday afternoon.
Four riders dipped into the 1m50s bracket in FP3 with Westy’s 1m50.518 the fastest of all ahead of Halliday, Waters and Mike Jones. The YRT man had a slip-off in FP2 after hitting some debris on track left by another rider, but bounced back to a 1m50.954 in FP3.
Broc Pearson was fifth on Friday ahead of rookie Jonathan Nahlous on the Complete AV / Omega Honda and Cam Dunker on the MotoGo Yamaha.
Troy Herfoss generally has great form around the 4.95 km layout, but couldn’t find his regular pace today as he gets further to grips with the Yamaha. Herf is the current qualifying lap record holder here on the back of a 1m49.889 that earned him pole position on a Honda in 2023. He was 2.5-seconds off that benchmark today on the YRT bike.
Max Stauffer is back in the ASBK ranks this weekend after some recent sojourns overseas, with his dad Jamie dusting off the Yamaha they campaigned last year for this final round of the season.
Ty Lynch rounded out the top ten ahead of Glenn Allerton, John Lytras and Ryan Yanko.
Josh Waters needs only a single point to claim a history-making fifth Superbike title at The Bend this weekend. The McMartin Racing Ducati rider holds a 50-point (338 to 288) lead over Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team), where a maximum of 51 points is up for grabs, one point for qualifying, then 25 points from each of the two 11-lap races on Sunday. So if Josh can score pole position on Saturday, that will be job done, and the 2025 championship will be in the bag.
Superbike competitors are back on track at 0925 on Saturday morning for a 30-minute FP4 session before Qualifying gets underway at 1335 and is scheduled to wrap up by 1420 after Q2. The penultimate race of the season is slated for 1050 on Sunday morning before the final 11-lap bout at 1415.
SW-Motech Superbike Friday Practice Combined Times
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
Time
|
|
1
|
A. West
|
Yam
|
1m50.518
|
|
2
|
C. Halliday
|
Duc
|
1m50.682
|
|
3
|
J. Waters
|
Duc
|
1m50.778
|
|
4
|
M. Jones
|
Yam
|
1m50.954
|
|
5
|
B. Pearson
|
Duc
|
1m51.164
|
|
6
|
J. Nahlous
|
Hon
|
1m51.311
|
|
7
|
C. Dunker
|
Yam
|
1m51.881
|
|
8
|
T. Herfoss
|
Yam
|
1m52.386
|
|
9
|
M. Stauffer
|
Yam
|
1m52.632
|
|
10
|
T. Lynch
|
Yam
|
1m53.394
|
|
11
|
G. Allerton
|
Duc
|
1m53.618
|
|
12
|
J. Lytras
|
Yam
|
1m54.315
|
|
13
|
R. Yanko
|
Yam
|
1m55.579
|
|
14
|
J. Davis
|
Yam
|
1m55.715
|
|
15
|
C. Holding
|
Yam
|
1m57.596
|
|
16
|
L. Jones
|
Yam
|
1m58.164
|
|
17
|
L. Durning
|
Duc
|
1m58.278
|
|
18
|
J. Mathers
|
Yam
|
1m59.366
|
|
19
|
M. Kemp
|
Yam
|
1m59.577
|
|
20
|
O. O’Donovan
|
Kaw
|
2m00.122
|
SW-Motech Superbike Championship Points
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
Points |
|
1
|
J. Waters
|
Duc
|
338
|
|
2
|
M. Jones
|
Yam
|
288
|
|
3
|
A. West
|
Yam
|
269
|
|
4
|
C. Dunker
|
Yam
|
215
|
|
5
|
G. Allerton
|
Duc
|
213
|
|
6
|
B. Pearson
|
Duc
|
212
|
|
7
|
J. Nahlous
|
Yam
|
199
|
|
8
|
J. Favelle
|
Yam
|
165
|
|
9
|
J. Lytras
|
Yam
|
162
|
|
10
|
M. Stauffer
|
Yam
|
159
|
|
11
|
C. Halliday
|
Duc
|
156
|
|
12
|
R. Yanko
|
Yam
|
110
|
|
13
|
T. Lynch
|
Yam
|
84
|
|
14
|
A. Sissis
|
Yam
|
67
|
|
15
|
J. Soderland
|
Yam
|
59
|
|
16
|
T. Edwards
|
Yam
|
48
|
|
17
|
T. Toparis
|
Yam
|
38
|
|
18
|
T. Herfoss
|
Yam
|
35
|
|
19
|
P. Linkenbagh
|
Yam
|
30
|
|
20
|
M. Walters
|
Apr
|
26
|
|
21
|
M. Edwards
|
Yam
|
25
|
|
22
|
O. O’Donovan
|
Kaw
|
24
|
|
23
|
M. Aizuddin
|
Bmw
|
20
|
|
24
|
E. Leeson
|
Yam
|
19
|
|
25
|
C. Holding
|
Yam
|
18
|
|
26
|
M. Hamod
|
Hon
|
17
|
|
27
|
B. Wilson
|
Yam
|
17
|
|
28
|
D. Carberry
|
Bmw
|
16
|
|
29
|
B. Beaton
|
Yam
|
12
|
|
30
|
M. Kemp
|
Yam
|
11
|
|
31
|
N. Mahon
|
Yam
|
7
|
|
32
|
A. Senior
|
Yam
|
7
|
|
33
|
L. Jones
|
Yam
|
6
|
|
34
|
S. Condon
|
Yam
|
6
|
|
35
|
K. Higuchi
|
Suz
|
5
|
Kawasaki Supersport
British Superbike Champion Kyle Ryde has joined us here at The Bend for the final round of the 2025 Australian Superbike Championship as a wildcard entrant in the Supersport category on a Stop & Seal Yamaha YZF-R6.
While most would have expected the BSB Champ to only turn up here if he had a hot rod to ride, the bike he is on has no data logging facility, and thus, he and his crew chief, Shannon Etheridge, are somewhat flying blind. Kyle had also never ridden on the Michelin rubber that the Stop & Seal riders compete on, and he only turned his first laps of The Bend on Friday morning. He also hadn’t thrown a leg over a Supersport bike for some time.
Despite all that, Kyle was fourth quickest in FP1, only 1.4 seconds off the early benchmark set by local star Olly Simpson around the 4.95-kilometre circuit. Times didn’t drop all that much during the remaining two sessions for most riders as the wind picked up, but Kyle Ryde improved from his 1m56.912 to 1m55.910 in FP2 before topping FP3 with a 1m55.361. However, Archie McDonald’s 1m55.344 from FP2 was the quickest time of the day overall. We believe Kyle switched to a Pirelli front halfway through the day and will likely run a Pirelli front and Michelin rear for the remainder of the weekend.
The opening 25-minute qualifying session takes place every early Saturday morning, 0825 to be exact, before Q2 at 1115. Then that’s job done for Supersport competitors on Saturday. On Sunday, two short nine-lap races are scheduled, the first at 0940, followed by the second and final bout at 1335. ASBK race lengths are considerably shorter than everywhere else in the world, so Kyle certainly won’t get much time to ease himself into it when the lights go out on Sunday. Still, he’s already proven himself to be a quick learner and is on the pace.
Jack Mahaffy heads into Sunday’s races with a 24-point buffer over Stop & Seal team-mate Archie McDonald. Kawasaki’s Olly Simpson is on home turf and is only a further seven-points behind and ready to pounce should the Stop & Seal boys trip each other up…
McDonald’s Friday benchmark of 1m55.344 is some way off the 1m54.609 qualifying lap record set here by Olly Simpson last year, so clearly there is more pace to find tomorrow.
Kawasaki Supersport Friday Practice Combined Times
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
Time
|
|
1
|
A. Mcdonald
|
Yam
|
1m55.344
|
|
2
|
K. Ryde
|
Yam
|
1m55.361
|
|
3
|
O. Simpson
|
Kaw
|
1m55.436
|
|
4
|
T. Toparis
|
Duc
|
1m55.519
|
|
5
|
H. Nelson
|
Kaw
|
1m56.119
|
|
6
|
J. Farnsworth
|
Yam
|
1m56.231
|
|
7
|
J. Mahaffy
|
Yam
|
1m56.666
|
|
8
|
T. Bramich
|
Yam
|
1m56.794
|
|
9
|
W. Nassif
|
Yam
|
1m56.894
|
|
10
|
T. Edwards
|
Yam
|
1m57.043
|
|
11
|
S. Pezzetta
|
Yam
|
1m57.093
|
|
12
|
B. Beaton
|
Duc
|
1m57.642
|
|
13
|
M. Hamod
|
Hon
|
1m57.977
|
|
14
|
L. Russo
|
Yam
|
1m58.557
|
|
15
|
J. Newman
|
Yam
|
1m58.569
|
|
16
|
R. Gilbert
|
Yam
|
1m59.092
|
|
17
|
G. Plowman
|
Yam
|
2m01.762
|
|
18
|
T. Zhao
|
Yam
|
2m03.487
|
|
19
|
L. Waters
|
Yam
|
2m04.598
|
|
20
|
L. Patteson
|
Yam
|
2m05.106
|
|
21
|
B. Quinlan
|
Yam
|
2m06.664
|
Kawasaki Supersport Championship Points
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
Points |
|
1
|
J. Mahaffy
|
Yam
|
265
|
|
2
|
A. McDonald
|
Yam
|
241
|
|
3
|
O. Simpson
|
Kaw
|
234
|
|
4
|
T. Bramich
|
Yam
|
184
|
|
5
|
H. Nelson
|
Kaw
|
172
|
|
6
|
J. Farnsworth
|
Yam
|
162
|
|
7
|
M. Hamod
|
Hon
|
158
|
|
8
|
L. Russo
|
Yam
|
115
|
|
9
|
W. Nassif
|
Yam
|
111
|
|
10
|
J. Newman
|
Yam
|
109
|
|
11
|
S. Pezzetta
|
Yam
|
101
|
|
12
|
R. Gilbert
|
Yam
|
93
|
|
13
|
C. Swain
|
Yam
|
85
|
|
14
|
T. Edwards
|
Yam
|
84
|
|
15
|
J. Torres Cabrera
|
Yam
|
65
|
|
16
|
B. Quinlan
|
Yam
|
62
|
|
17
|
G. Nelson
|
Yam
|
58
|
|
18
|
L. Waters
|
Yam
|
54
|
|
19
|
M. Simpson
|
Yam
|
51
|
|
20
|
C. Turner
|
Yam
|
45
|
|
21
|
D. Van Rosmalen
|
Yam
|
43
|
|
22
|
T. Zhao
|
Yam
|
31
|
|
23
|
C. Middleton
|
Yam
|
29
|
|
24
|
H. Ford
|
Yam
|
26
|
|
25
|
C. Morrison
|
Yam
|
20
|
|
26
|
D. Adams
|
Yam
|
19
|
|
27
|
M. Tustin
|
Yam
|
15
|
|
28
|
S. Mikami
|
Yam
|
15
|
|
29
|
H. Fordyce
|
Yam
|
8
|
|
30
|
S. Boldrini
|
Yam
|
5
|
2025 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
 |
||
| Round | Location | Date |
| 8 | The Bend, SA | Nov 7-9 |