Brayden Elliott wins Supersport opener

Brayden Elliott wins Morgan Park ASBK Supersport opener

Brayden Elliott used his pole position to good effect and led the Supersport field away at 1256 this afternoon for the opening 14-lap 600cc bout at Morgan Park.

Perth’s Thyron Van Vuuren moved into second place ahead of Troy Guenther and Kane Burns as the pecking order up front started to shake itself out. Unlike the earlier Superbike bout, this was not going to be a one-man show.

Thyron Van Vuuren moved into the race lead with 11 laps to run but the new fastest man on the circuit was Troy Guenther, only four-tenths covering the leading trio as Kane Burns struggled to keep that triumvirate within striking distance.

Brayden Elliott pushed his GSX-R600 harder as the race wore on, the Tumut based rider dipping into the 16s with eight laps to run which was enough to promote him to the front of the field. Elliott continued to set a pace that his foes not could match and started pulling away from his pursuers to the tune of a second a lap.

The battle for second place however was running hot with Troy Guenther and Thyron Van Vuuren the protagonists. That was until Van Vuuren went down at turn seven with six laps remaining, leaving Guenther safe in that second place with a comfortable buffer over the Kane Burns, who had been promoted to third place by Van Vuuren’s demise.

A rider down at turn four brought out the red flag with four laps still remaining. Riders returned to pitlane as Racesafe attended the incidents and after a short delay the riders were away for a four-lap re-start to decide the outcome of the two-part race. Cam Russell awarded a 10-second jump start penalty, a hefty blow after the Victorian Yamaha rider had been running eighth.

Brayden Elliott again quickly established his position at the front of the field from Guenther and Burns.

Chris Quinn had not fared well at the re-start, going down on the second lap but rejoning the race and retaining sixth place on combined time ahead of Sam Lambert.

Brayden Elliott won at the flag and also on combined time. The Suzuki riders buffer 3.17 seconds over Troy Guenther who had two-seconds on third placed Kane Burns. Fourth placed Aaiden Coote crossed the stripe 24-seconds behind the race leader on combined time, with a couple of bike lengths over fifth placed Nicholas Liminton.