Superbike morning round up from a damp but then clearing SMP

ASBK 2025

Round Two – SMP – Superbike FP1

Track conditions early this afternoon at Sydney Motorsports Park were far from perfect after intermittent morning rain.

The rain did clear ahead of FP1, and the bitumen was largely dry when competitors hit the track around 1240, but if forecasts are correct, this might be about as good as it gets all weekend.  The forecast for this evening and for tomorrow is for some significantly inclement weather. Saturday, the main race day, rainfalls of 20-40 mm are expected.

Cru Halliday and his fellow Michelin-shod Stop & Seal Superbike pilots Arthur Sissis and Tom Toparis were way off the pace at the Phillip Island season opener. A distinct lack of edge grip had the whole outfit decidedly down in the dumps. Halliday looked pretty confident this morning, though, leading a fair bit of the session before slipping to fourth later in the proceedings.

Mike Jones won the pool competition between himself and YRT teammate Max Stauffer at the hotel last night, and it was the veteran who was quickest on track this morning. Jones bested all-comers with a 1m30.759 in the somewhat sketchy conditions. The Queenslander put in the most laps of all at 14.

Josh Waters only ventured out late in the session but went straight to P2.

Glenn Allerton and the Advocates Racing Team have migrated from MoTeC to Magneti Marelli ahead of this round. They recently got some laps in at Wakefield Park to start getting their heads around it and have made a good start this morning in conditions where confidence was key.

Addicted To Track’s Jack Favelle was fifth quickest in FP1 ahead of privateer John Lytras.

Max Stauffer was seventh ahead of Broc Pearson and Cam Dunker, while Arthur Sissis rounded out the top ten.

Superbike competitors are expected on track again just before 1500. FP3 is slated for 1700, while qualifying is expected to get underway under lights just before 2100.

SW-Motech Superbike FP1

Kawasaki Supersport

Many Supersport competitors did not take to the track this morning as conditions were a fair bit worse than they were in the later Superbike FP1 session.

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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