2002 Australian Road Racing Championship - Round 6 - Eastern Creek - SuperSport

Shannon led the field away, Scott Charlton, Rodney Taplin and Aaron Gobert right on his tail. Charlton got the lead around the back of the circuit but then ran in too deep at turn 9, which gave Johnson the opportunity to take the lead once again.

It became apparent that the race win would be battled out between the two championship contenders, Johnson and Charlton fighting tooth and nail. But then Charlton tried to put a move on Johnson for the lead in to turn 1 but Johnson gave no ground and held his line, as a consequence Charlton clipped the rear of Johnson's machine and went down hard in a hail of sparks and debris. Hopefully the young Victorian is not too badly beaten up.

Rodney Taplin then started to come on strong and broke away from Aaron Gobert and Chad Turnbull.

Taplin went on to claim a clear second place from Johnson. Turnbull had got the better of Gobert for the last few laps before losing the front in turn 1 only a couple of laps before the end.

Rodney Taplin took a strong second place and Aaron Gobert came home third after struggling with grip in the hot conditions.

Shannon Johnson is now to the 2002 Australian SuperSport Champion. "I looked at this race just like any other and it looked as though it was going to be a race long battle between myself and Scotty (Charlton) but then he went down a turn one which left me to take the race win from there.

"This year it all fell in to place, I had the best tyres (Michelin) and the best package (CBR 600 F4i).

"Now I can look forward to defending that plate with Honda in 2003."

Johnson
Taplin
Gobert
Clarke
Bancell
Coote
George
Aitchison
D Johnson
Rock
Cooper
Hinspeter
Shaw
Vece
Shoshan
Heyes
Hoare
Ellis
Smith
Gray

DNF - Turnbull, Brenton, Charlton