Five riders, three classes as Addicted to Track targets ASBK podiums
The Superbike field grew to 31 entries for the opening round of ASBK’s new summer championship alongside MotoGP at Phillip Island. When we first looked at that grid, the question was how many would follow the series beyond the Grand Prix. The revised entry list for The Bend this weekend, November 13–15, has 16 Superbikes.
The revised list for The Bend has 16 – Image RbMotoLens
Jonathan Nahlous came from eighth on the grid to take his first Superbike win in Race One, with Cam Dunker second. Harrison Voight won Race Two while Cru Halliday held Dunker off for second. The rain that washed out Sunday’s third race left Voight three points clear of Nahlous. The defending champion is absent from the Bend entry list after his testing crash at One Raceway. Nahlous heads to South Australia on 41 points, with Dunker on 38 and Halliday on 37.
We caught up with Addicted to Track principal Mark McGregor as he drove the team truck to The Bend this morning. He has five riders entered across three classes, including two on newly built R6s and a former 300 champion returning to the team on a Superbike.
Why the Superbike field has thinned
McGregor pointed to tighter budgets and the haul to The Bend for riders based outside Victoria and South Australia. He expects a better turnout at One Raceway in December. He backed the switch to summer and sees the Fox Sports and Kayo coverage at the opener as a step towards giving sponsors the airtime they’ve been asking for, but was disappointed to learn that the Kayo/Fox coverage will not continue at The Bend.
When we spoke to McGregor last year, he wanted Road Racing Association Australia to have a seat at the table with Motorcycling Australia. He says there has been more dialogue since then, including a review of the previous season and a briefing on the coming Supersport changes. Another meeting is planned for this weekend at The Bend, where he wants to discuss how the paddock and promoters can work together to get more riders on the grid.
One idea he’s keen on is a separate race for club riders at selected ASBK meetings. McGregor has seen Queensland club podium finishers sit out a state title meeting because they reckon they aren’t quick enough, even though they’d be racing against many of the same people. Giving club riders a race of their own at a national round would let them see how the ASBK paddock works from the inside.
What a full Next Gen R6 build would cost
The Bend is the first Supersport outing for the season, with traditional 600s racing against Next Gen machines. McGregor reckons it would cost about $35,000 to bring an R6 up to a competitive full Next Gen specification. That’s on top of a bike he already owns and has had on the podium.
He put the ECU, wiring harness and dash at around $10,000. A separate data logger takes the electronics to about $15,000. He allowed another $20,000 for GYTR parts and hardware, including linkages.
The R6s Addicted to Track is bringing to The Bend are built under the Supersport rules and retain Yamaha’s YEC electronics. The rules allow changes to the R6’s cams, valve springs and intake funnels. McGregor puts that engine work at around $13,000 fitted.
Getting the parts in time was another problem. McGregor said GYTR takes two orders a year, and the rules were settled many months after the February order he would have needed to make to get parts in time through the Australian supply channel. That meant looking for stock in Europe, where he reckons list prices can be around 30 per cent higher than what Yamaha Australia offers ASBK competitors.
Lytras and Khouri on the R1s
McGregor says Addicted to Track has a completely different line-up from the previous season. He has also brought in new crew, moved into a bigger Brisbane workshop and put a new livery on the bikes. John Lytras is the long-term signing in Superbike, having agreed to a two-year deal after a year of talks and some remote assistance from the team.
Lytras was classified seventh in both races on his debut with the team at Phillip Island. He was in the group fighting for fifth in Race Two.
Mark McGregor
“We had a goal of a top five and we came away in sixth.”
McGregor put some of that missed opportunity down to sending Lytras into traffic in qualifying. Lytras felt he took too long to make his passes in Race One. McGregor says Lytras has already matched the times the team was doing in testing with Anthony West, who gave Addicted to Track its first Superbike win last year.
Harry Khouri, who won the 2020 Australian Supersport 300 title with Addicted to Track, is back for a Superbike wildcard at The Bend. He comes off two second places in Spanish Superstock 1000 at Jerez. McGregor sees enough in common between Khouri’s Spanish race bike and the ASBK R1 to expect him to get up to speed quickly at a circuit he knows. It’s a one-round deal for now.
Two bikes and two sets of leathers for Dunker
Dunker took his first Superbike win at The Bend in May. This time he’ll race an R1 for Blue Marlin Pools East Racing and an R6 for Addicted to Track. He’s been riding a 600 in preparation, so we asked how much time he’d had on the R6 that McGregor’s crew has built for him.
Mark McGregor
“Mate, he’s absolutely spent no time on the bike at all.”
The teams are in neighbouring garages. Dunker will change leathers between classes to suit the different sponsor arrangements. On Sunday morning, the timetable gives him 25 minutes between the end of Supersport warm-up and the start of Superbike warm-up.
Marcus Hamod is entered in Supersport at The Bend on the other new R6. He has been quick in testing on an R6, and McGregor expects him to run near the front. Lytras did the shakedown work on the new race bikes at Queensland Raceway.
Why McGregor stayed in Supersport 300
Crash repairs and the time it takes to bring young riders along had made McGregor question whether he’d run a Supersport 300 bike again.
Mark McGregor
“I was absolutely ready to give it away.”
Then Stu Avant came to the workshop after Queensland Raceway, and the two put together a ride for 15-year-old New Zealander Ryder Chamberlain with backing from the Superbike Pathways Foundation.
Chamberlain had taken two second places as an Oceania Junior Cup wildcard at Queensland Raceway. Avant’s plan brings Jeremy Burgess into the garage at The Bend to give Chamberlain some support and confidence as he steps up to the 300. McGregor hopes the arrangement can open the door for another young rider down the track.
By the Sydney finale in March, McGregor wants points banked at every round and regular podiums across all three classes.
