2027 Australian Superbike Championship
Round Two – The Bend
Supersport Next Generation Race One
Archie Schmidt went from ninth on the grid to the lead in just over three laps on his Supersport Next Generation debut at The Bend. The 17-year-old South Australian took the season opener on the Unitek Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, a second clear of Cam Dunker, with Tom Toparis completing a Yamaha sweep in a race cut short by a red flag.
The first Supersport Next Generation grid of the summer season had three different bikes on the front row at The Bend. Hayden Nelson took pole with a 1m55.101 on the BC Performance Kawasaki ZX-6R, just 0.071s clear of Tom Toparis on the SBG Racing Yamaha YZF-R9. Jake Farnsworth completed the front row on the Worth Race Developments Yamaha YZF-R6.
Saturday qualifying had been mostly dry after Friday’s soaking, with showers still possible on race day. Toparis had set the benchmark in Q1 and bettered it in Q2. Comparing their best laps, Nelson was only a hundredth up after three sectors and gained another six hundredths in the last.
Nelson’s team-mate Tom Edwards and fellow Kawasaki rider Riley Nauta qualified fourth and fifth, giving Kawasaki three of the top five spots. Cam Dunker qualified sixth on the Addicted to Track R6, part of his double duty across Supersport and Superbike at The Bend.
A late switch to wets
A brief but heavy shower swept across the circuit just before the opening Supersport race. It was enough for the preceding Supersport 300 race to be red-flagged as riders started to go down. The sighting lap revealed more water around the circuit than riders had expected. Crews with spare wheels and enough hands scrambled to fit wets on the grid. Most chose wets even with a drying track in prospect. Schmidt had already been third fastest in Friday’s wet practice.
Toparis leads as Schmidt comes through
Nelson got the jump from pole, but Toparis and Dunker had both found their way past him by the second split as they headed into the wetter part of the circuit. Toparis led Dunker by eight tenths at the end of lap one, with Nelson still third and Schmidt just 0.023s behind him. Tom Edwards, the reigning Next Gen champion, crashed at Turn 18 before completing the opening lap.
Schmidt was ahead of Nelson by the first split of lap two. Up front, Dunker found a way up the inside of Toparis midway through the lap, only for Toparis to come straight back at him. The SBG Racing R9 triple and the Addicted to Track R6 four were still in that order at the line, with Schmidt right on Dunker after setting the fastest lap to that point.
Schmidt took second early on lap three. The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup rider had started the lap 1.1s off the lead and was within half a second at the first split. By the line it was less than three tenths, and he was ahead of Toparis by the first split of lap four. Marcus Hamod went down at Turn 17 and Jordy Simpson crashed at Turn 18 late on his third lap.
Dunker takes second before the red flag
The main straight looked dry by then, while riders were still throwing up spray around the back. Less than a second covered Schmidt, Toparis and Dunker at the end of lap four. Dunker dived past Toparis early on lap five to reclaim second. Farnsworth, the reigning Supersport champion, had been the fastest rider on lap four and was just over two seconds off the lead in fourth. He crashed at Turn 9 next time around, and his stricken Yamaha brought out the red flag.
Schmidt had just set the fastest lap of the race, a 2m09.615, and was 1.020s clear of Dunker, with Toparis another half a second back. Those three had completed five of the scheduled nine laps when the red flag came out. Officials declared the race at half points, with the remaining finishers classified at the end of lap four. The provisional result listed Farnsworth as disqualified.
Nelson and fellow Kawasaki rider Riley Nauta were fourth and fifth. Matthew Ritter came through from 16th on the grid to sixth, with Eddie Leeson seventh on the lone Ducati Panigale V2. Schmidt banked 12.5 points to Dunker’s 10, while Nelson’s point for pole put him third in the standings on 9.5, half a point clear of Toparis.
ASBK Supersport Next Generation Race One
The Bend – Provisional Results
 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | A. Schmidt | Yam | 11m01.080 |
| 2 | C. Dunker | Yam | +1.020 |
| 3 | T. Toparis | Yam | +1.526 |
| 4 | H. Nelson | Kaw | +4.231 |
| 5 | R. Nauta | Kaw | +12.956 |
| 6 | M. Ritter | Yam | +13.628 |
| 7 | E. Leeson | Duc | +16.207 |
| 8 | T. King | Yam | +19.666 |
| 9 | T. Collins | Yam | +20.839 |
| 10 | J. Newman | Yam | +21.586 |
| 11 | S. Pezzetta | Yam | +22.558 |
| 12 | J. Pelgrave | Yam | +41.345 |
| 13 | J. Soderland | Yam | +42.192 |
| Retirements | |||
| NC | J. Simpson | Yam | Retired |
| NC | M. Hamod | Yam | Retired |
| NC | T. Edwards | Kaw | Retired |
| Disqualified | |||
| DSQ | J. Farnsworth | Yam | Disqualified |
Half points awarded. The top three were classified at five laps.
Gaps for positions 4–13 are to Schmidt at the end of lap four.
Results remain provisional until the protest and appeal time limit expires.
