Aiden Wagner secures YMF Loan Supersport Crown
Aiden Wagner Soil Testing pilot Aiden Wagner has had the perfect day out at Eastern Creek, winning all three Supersport races to be crowned champion at the 2014 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship.
In perfect style Wagner finished eight points clear of his on-track rival Aaron Morris (Maxima Yamaha) who had to settle for second after three races where he finished in second spot.
Allsite Concrete Cutting’s Callum Spriggs claimed third outright in the championship series.
Race 1
With one point separating Wagner and Morris in the championship standings leading into the opening race, the action in the Supersport class was expected to be fierce.
In the opening race of the day, Michael Blair (Campbell Home Timber & Hardware) took an early lead from Wagner, Spriggs and Morris.
By the end of the first lap, Wagner had moved into the lead, and while Blair was running second in the race he was issued with a 15-second jump-start penalty pushing him back to the rear of the field.
Morris was effectively second outright before being passed by Spriggs at the halfway point of the race and moving back into third.
On the sixth lap, Morris produces a stunning move to get past both Spriggs and Blair to take a strong hold on second.
But this race was all about the stunning show put on by Wagner – comfortably working his way through the final laps to take a well-earned win, finishing 6.613 seconds ahead of Morris.
The result put Wagner two points ahead in the outright standings with two races left to be run.
Spriggs finished the race in third, with Brayden Elliott claiming fourth and Luke Mitchell (JNL Racing) taking fifth.
Race 2
The battle at the top continued in race two, as Morris shot out to an early race lead from Wagner, with Spriggs, Blair and Elliot behind them.
The gap between the top pair and the rest of the field widened over the first few laps, with Wagner and Morris both taking turns in the lead, and less than half a second separating them at any point in time.
Spriggs battled hard in third, and had put a handy eight-second gap on Elliott in fourth place at the half-way mark of the race, while Blair’s race ended prematurely when he entered the pits on lap six.
At that point, despite the close proximity of Morris, Wagner had spent a fair amount of time in the lead, and he looked comfortable taking on the role of pace-setter.
And heading into the final lap, it was always going to come down to the wire.
On the second turn of the final lap Morris made his move – passing Wagner before running wide and letting his rival regain the lead.
There was not much more Morris could do as Wagner picked the best lines and negotiated a back-rider perfectly in the remainder of the race, to make it two-on-the-trot and take a five-point lead heading into the final race.
Race 3
With everything on the line, it was Wagner taking the early race lead, while Morris had to settle for third spot, tucked in behind Spriggs.
Wagner held onto the lead coming into the third lap with Spriggs and Morris both within a second of the leader.
It felt like the story of the day, and indeed the weekend, where Morris had a good showing of early pace, but once Wagner got in front there was just no stopping him.
Morris did manage to get himself into second spot in the latter stages of the race, but it was Wagner’s race and Wagner’s day – making it three from three to clinch a well-earned championship gong.
ROUND RESULTS
1 Aiden WAGNER (QLD) 75
2 Aaron MORRIS (NSW) 66
3 Callum SPRIGGS (QLD) 60
4 Brayden ELLIOTT (NSW) 51
5 Aaiden COOTE (WA) 45
6 Luke MITCHELL (NSW) 45
7 Jay PRESEPIO (SA) 34
8 Michael BLAIR (NSW) 33
9 Thomas BRYDEN (NSW) 33
10 Cambridge OLIVIER (ACT) 30
OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Aiden WAGNER (QLD) 379
2 Aaron MORRIS (NSW) 371
3 Callum SPRIGGS (QLD) 300
4 Aaiden COOTE (WA) 221
5 Jay PRESEPIO (SA) 196
6 Luke MITCHELL (NSW) 191
7 Brayden ELLIOTT (NSW) 169
8 Daniel FALZON (SA) 165
9 Cambridge OLIVIER (ACT) 135
10 Thomas BRYDEN (NSW) 131
