AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike
By Trevor Hedge
Robbie Bugden took a clean sweep today at Queensland Raceway onboard the SA Kawasaki / BCperformance ZX-10R during round three of the 2016 Ipone Superbike series.
Michael Blair rode the YRT/ Ipone / Blairbuild YZF-R1 hard all day and perhaps looked to have the pace to best Bugden, but the wily veteran always had his measure thanks to excellent racecraft. The only time Blair got past Bugden today was under a yellow flag, thus he was then penalised that position and put back to second in that opening Superbike bout.
Ben Burke crashed at turn three in that first stanza when six laps in to the race, and thus took no points from that contest. Burke bounced back to a pair of third place results in the final two Superbike clashes, but that DNF in the opening contest cost him second place in the Ipone Superbike Series points chase.
Matt Walters was the next best all day, but couldn’t muster that final leap of speed to challenge the top three. Burke’s mistake in the opening bout meant that Walters secured third overall for the day.
Mitch Levy won the day in Supersport with two wins and a second place securing him the round victory ahead of race two victor Kyle Buckley. Levy has now closed to within ten points of Buckley’s series lead in the Supersport points chase.
The Ninja 300 Cup contest was an epic battle between two relatively new youngsters on the grid. 15-year-old Broc Pearson has been contesting the Asia Dream Cup series in the past two season onboard a Honda CBR250, but back on home soil between his overseas commitments the lanky Queenslander has this weekend secured the use of a Cube Racing Ninja 300 and used it to great effect to take the round win ahead of 16-year old Goulburn based newcomer Tom Toparis.
The Goulburn lad had taken victory in the opening stanza and set a new lap record for the class on his way to the chequered flag. A 1m23.716 knocking off Paul Young’s 2015 lap record of 1m24.571.
Broc Pearson lowered the benchmark yet again in the final race, lowering the lap record further to 1m23.654. How fast will the young Ninja warriors circulate tomorrow…?
Simon Galloway secured the overall victory in the Formula Oz category today ahead of Lucas Vitale and Brett Kitchin.
Despite a busy 17-race programme today, every single race ran almost exactly to schedule and no injuries of any significance were reported.
AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike Series Points
- Robbie Bugden – 190
- Michael Blair – 150
- Ben Burke – 150
- Matt Walters – 146
- Liam Wilkinson – 112
- Paul Byrne – 94
- Beau Beaton – 89
- Brad Swallow – 69
- Matt Harding – 65
- Evan Byles – 61
AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike Round Points
- Robbie Bugden 25-25-25 / 75
- Michael Blair 22-22-22 / 66
- Matt Walters 20-18-18 / 56
- Beau Beaton 18-14-16 / 48
- Craig McMartin 15-15-15 / 45
- Liam Wilkinson 14-16-14 / 44
- Ben Burke 0-20-20 / 40
- Jack Baker 13-12-11 / 36
- Dane Purcell 12-11-10 / 33
- Brendan McIntyre 11-10-9 / 30
AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike Race One Results
- Bugden
- Blair
- Walters 4.47
- Beaton 5.32
- Byrne 5.72
- McMartin 12.40
- Wilkinson 12.45
- Baker 24.09
- Purcell 33.61
- McIntyre 39.04
AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike Race Two Results
- Bugden
- Blair 0.06
- Burke 1.53
- Walters 3.48
- Wilkinson 10.84
- McMartin 12.86
- Beaton 21.01
- Swallow 21.10
- Baker 24.51
- Purcell 34.89
AFX-Superbike 2016 – Round Three – Queensland Raceway – Ipone Superbike Race Three Results
- Bugden
- Blair 0.17
- Burke 0.77
- Walters 4.45
- Beaton 8.59
- McMartin 11.51
- Wilkinson 13.32
- Swallow 20.11
- Byrne 25.36
- Baker 27.83
