Recapping all the Supersport 300 action from SMP

ASBK 2025

Round Two – SMP – Road & Race Supersport 300

Young Jake Paige took pole position on Friday night ahead of Valentino Knezovic and Scott Nicholson.

Road & Race Supersport 300 Qualifying

Road & Race Supersport 300 Race One

It was gone 2210 on Friday night when Supersport 300 competitors lined up on a very wet grid for their opening eight-lap bout of the SMP race weekend.

Valentino Knezovic was fresh back from taking out the opening round of the bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship and brought that form back with him to hit the lead early on ahead of the Simpson brothers and Hudson Thompson.

Thompson managed to get the better of the Simpson brothers late on the opening lap and then set about trying to chase down Knezovic as the rain continued to fall.

Knezovic and Thompson pulled away from the Simpson brothers as the race progressed. Thompson’s confidence was building as he got on terms with Knezovic with five laps to run. Jordy Simpson was trying to stay with them, but Mitch Simpson looked to be out of that podium fight.

Jordy Simpson took the lead as they broached half-race distance with a brave and decisive move in what were fairly treacherous conditions. Simpson held on to the lead as they passed two-thirds race distance but still had Thompson and Knezovic in close company. Mitch Simpson was trying to close the leading trio back down to throw his hat in the podium ring with two laps to run.

Hudson Thompson took his turn up front as they started the penultimate lap and now only half-a-second covered the top four. There was 25-seconds between that quarter and fifth placed Nixon Frost.

Thompson got swamped at turn one on the final lap, Jordy Simpson moving into the lead and Knezovic demoting him further back to third. Mitch Simpson also right with them now.

When it really mattered, Valentino Knezovic had his nose in front, taking the chequered flag a couple of bike lengths ahead of Hudson Thompson. Jordy Simpson crossed the line in third ahead of his brother, Mitch Simpson.

Tyler King took fifth place 30-seconds behind the leading quartet by a nose over Nixon Frost.

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Road & Race Supersport 300 Race One

Road & Race Supersport 300 Race Two

The track was mainly dry when competitors took to the track at 1640 on Saturday afternoon at SMP. There were still plenty of wet patches but the Supersport race held prior to this 300 bout had just proved that slicks were now the tyres to be on. However, Valentino Knezovic was one of the outliers choosing to stick with wets while the riders either side of him on the front row started on slicks.

Jake Paige capitalised on his pole position to streak away to an early lead. By the end of the opening lap the diminutive youngster led by almost two-seconds! Hudson Thompson moved up to second place ahead of Scott Nicholson, Mitch Simpson and Valentino Knezovic.

As the race progressed, Thompson pulled away from Nicholson and the Simpson brothers while matching the pace of race leader Paige.

Race one winner Valentino Knezovic was ruing his decision to start on wets as he continued to drift back through the field.

As they entered the second half of the race, Hudson Thompson stepped his pace up further and started to reel in Jake Paige. Ten-seconds further back Scott Nicholson was engaged in a heady battle with the Simpson brothers over third.

Hudson Thompson took the lead on lap six after putting in another new fastest lap of the race. Paige responded early on the following lap to declare this battle was far from over. Thompson then back into the lead again as the battle for the win really started to hot up.

Thompson led Paige by two-tenths at the last lap board and increased his buffer over the final lap to take the victory for his Champion Ride Days backed team.

Despite the disappointment, Paige was magnanimous in defeat and congratulated ‘Huddy’ on the victory.

The intense contest for third place between the Simpson brothers and Scott Nicholson went the way of Nicholson. That trio crossed the line 17-seconds behind Thompson and Paige.

Oliver Short won a tight contest for sixth place over Tara Morrison, Isaac Ayad, Matthew Ritter, Tom Nicolson and Tyler King while Riley Nuata was the final combatant in that battle.

Road & Race Supersport 300 Race Two Results

Road & Race Supersport 300 Race Three

Jake Paige capitalised on his pole position to lead the field around the opening turns, chased by Valentino Knezovic, Jordy Simpson, Mitch Simpson, Scott Nicholson and Riley Nauta. Hudson Thompson was missing from the grid for this one after a crash in the preceding R3 Cup race.

Scott Nicholson then worked his way to the fore around the back of the circuit and managed to hold on to it down the chute to start lap two and then held off some serious thrusts from Mitch Simpson at turns two and three.

Unfortunately, a rider then went down on lap two after hitting the back of Tara Morrison, and his bike impacted the air-fence quite heavily, which caused organisers to put out the red flag while they repaired and reinflated the damaged cells. The riders came back around to the grid for what was expected to be a full re-start over a reduced five-lap distance.

A much better start this time around for Valentino Knezovic, but again, Scott Nicholson made short work of a few riders on his charge towards the front over the opening turns.  Jake Paige came back at Nicholson, and the two swapped the lead a few times across the opening two laps.

Valentino Knezovic then went down on a water run, which also brought down Jordy Simpson.

Paige and Nicholson went across the stripe side by side to start lap three and Mitch Simpson then joined that party from behind to throw his hat in the ring for the win. That trio had now pulled away from the rest of the field.

At the last lap board nothing separated Mitch Simpson and Scott Nicholson as Jake Paige strove to stay in touch.

Scott Nicholson led around the back of the circuit on that final lap, held Simpson at bay through Corporate, led onto the main straight but had Simpson and Paige right on his pipe for the run down the chute… Scott Nicholson held them at bay to the chequered flag to take the win while Jake Paige pipped Mitch Simpson for second at the flag.

Tom Nicholson topped a four-way battle over fourth, crossing the stripe five-seconds behind the leaders, but just ahead of Isaac Ayad, Tara Morrison and Nixon Frost. However, after the race, Ayad was disqualified from the results for being under the hard minimum rider-machine weight limit.  Caiden Bunworth was excluded for a non-compliant exhaust system.

Road & Race Supersport 300 Race Three Results

Road & Race Supersport 300 Cup Round Points

Road & Race Supersport 300 Cup Points

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