2003 SAASC - Round 4 - Queensland Raceway - Supersport

Dramas unfolded for Kevin Curtain before this race as his mechanics struggled with some machine problems which meant he missed the formation lap and had to start the warm up lap from pit-lane. But he managed to make his place on the starting grid and got a brilliant run off the line to lead them through turn 1 from Russell Holland and Brendan Clarke. But down the back straight Bancell's Suzuki blasted through on Holland and Clarke to take second place.

Holland got Bancell under brakes for second place on the run to turn 4 while Clarke pushed Bancell further back to 4th place as they started lap 3, and then also dispensed of Holland to move up to 2nd place. Clarke had the R6 completely sideways out of turn 4 on lap 3 in his efforts to chase down Curtain who had stretched a healthy 2-second lead over his young team-mate.

Curtain maintained that gap to Clarke with Holland holding on to third place while Reece Bancell's 4th spot was coming under attack from Josh Brookes.

Brookes got that 4th spot on lap 6 while Clarke narrowed the gap to Curtain down to 1.1 seconds after putting in a 1-minute 12.9-second scorcher.

Clarke then closed the gap even further after putting in a great run of fast laps and then Curtain dropped it in turn 2 and went out of the race. This of course left his young team-mate to take a clean sweep from the weekend and with that closed the points gap down to only 17 points from championship leader Curtain, setting the scene for a great championship decider at Eastern Creek late this month.

Bancell crashed out at the final turn with a few laps to run while Brookes got the better of Holland for 2nd place. As the last lap board came out Clarke had a clear 5-second lead over Brookes, while the Honda rider was trying to hold off Holland who was threatening him at every corner entry. Brookes had a 'moment' at one of the turns which meant Holland had to roll off the throttle a little to avoid him, this lost Holland drive out of the turn and with it any chance of second place.

Clarke took the win and the clean-sweep to set the scene for an exciting decider at the Eastern Creek finale.

Brookes and Holland put in some great rides today but they are not yet a match for the Yamaha mounted duo of Clarke and Curtain.

The round win of course went to Brendan Clarke while Russell Holland narrowly got second overall for the day from Joshua Brookes to make it a 3 brand podium for the round.