Recapping a big St. George MCC Summer Series opener from SMP

2025 St. George MCC Summer Series
Round One – SMP

With Nick Edards – Images by Half Light

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The sixth season of the St. George MCC Summer Nights series (SNS06 for short) opened with Round One at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday, December 6. Daytime temps were drifting into 40C+ territory, and the threat of thunderstorms in the evening wasn’t a great outlook, but as it turned out, the event dodged any major rainfall, with just a few light and inconsequential sprinkles early in the evening.

However, the heat was unrelenting, and it was still around 33° at 2230 as racing completed. It was a good evening of racing, but was it pleasant? No, no it was not.

To recap the format of SNS, there’s a quickfire 10-minute qualifying and three “nine-minute plus one lap” races per class, time permitting. Nine minutes plus one lap usually translates into a seven-lap sprint race.

For this round, there were five classes of racing.  Pirelli Superbikes and AGV 600 groups are split into F1 for International and National (ASBK) riders, and F2 for clubbies. F1 and F2 classes share the track for all sessions, including qualifying and racing. So, for example, Pirelli Superbikes F1 and F2 are always on track together.

The fifth class is F3 Superbikes for club racers not expected to lap quicker than 1:40 at the start of the season. For comparison, the top riders in the Pirelli Superbikes F1 class will lap around the 1:30 mark, so the speed differential is significant.

Retro Superbikes would have been a separate class, sharing track time with F3 Superbikes, but lack of entries meant the two were combined, and the pair of Retro Superbike entrants ran in the F3 Superbike category.

As always, time is a factor. There’s a hard cut-off for racing at 22:30. Any races that can’t complete before that mark have to be scrubbed, and the pace of the event, with minimal breaks between any session, means that any delays can force late races to be cancelled.

As it turned out SNS06 Round One, despite some short delays, hit its marks. Race One of the AGV 600s had to be abandoned early in the evening after two red flags, as a further restart would’ve compromised the schedule, but overall things ran well. Not a perfect outcome, but everyone goes into SNS events knowing that time isn’t friendly towards delays.

Headlining Pirelli Superbikes F1 was Josh Brookes – always a welcome competitor filling in time between BSB seasons; Senna Agius – coming out of a stellar Moto2 season and making a guest appearance on the Desmosport Ducati V4R; Glenn Allerton and his protégé and nephew – emerging talent Joshua Newman on the Superbike Advocates Ducatis.

Plus JJ Nahlous, who’s always quick and looking to build on a very impressive first season in ASBK, as well as Marcus Hamod, usually associated with the smaller classes, stepping up into Superbikes and expected to be somewhere in the mix as the evening progressed.

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Unlimited F1 & F2 Race One

Senna Agius took pole with a 1:29.443, the only rider under 1:30 and nearly a second quicker than Nahlous, who grabbed second on the grid, edging out Brookes and Allerton, Hamod and Newman completing the second row.

Agius started from the pit lane in Race One, and Brookes was a little slow off the line, which gifted Nahlous an early lead and put Agius somewhere around ninth place heading into Turn Two on the opening lap.

Agius made good progress through the field but couldn’t make up the ground on Brookes and Allerton, who were hunting down Nahlous, who had, at one point, pulled out a 1.6-second lead.

Brookes fought hard and was able to close the gap and then make the moves on Nahlous to take the win by six-hundredths of a second.

Allerton was third, barely half a second back, Agius five seconds further back in fourth.

Leading home the F2 class was Dominic de Leon, followed by Damien Adams and Cameron Prentice.

Unlimited F1 & F2 Race One Results

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Unlimited F1 & F2 Race Two

The progressive grid format means the Race One result determines the Race Two grid, which put Brookes on pole with Nahlous, Allerton, Agius, Hamod and Newman filling out the first two rows on the grid.

Agius really stamped his authority on Races Two and Three, winning both.

Nahlous took an early lead in Race Two, which Brookes reeled in, but starting from fourth, Agius worked his way through with some strong overtakes and led Brookes over the line by a slender one-tenth of a second.

Nahlous was within half a second of Agius at the finish, with Allerton having dropped back a little from the three riders in front of him.

Once again, it was Dominic de Leon leading home the Unlimited F2 racers, followed by Damien Adams, with Kayne Gasbarri ahead of Prentice.

Unlimited F1 & F2 Race Two Results

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Unlimited F1 & F2 Race Three

That progressive grid format gave Agius pole in Race Three, but it was Allerton, coming from fourth on the grid, who initially took the lead around the outside into Turn One.

Nahlous then forced his way through to the lead before the end of the first lap.

Agius worked his way past Allerton and Nahlous with three minutes and one lap to go and held that lead to the finish. Nahlous didn’t give up, and was all over the back of Agius in the closing laps, doing really well to be just two-tenths of a second behind the Ducati at the flag.

Allerton finished in third, a little over a second behind Nahlous. A small off late in the race, whilst chasing Allerton, robbed Brookes of a chance for more points.

Race three saw Damien Adams lead home the Unlimited F2 racers, Gasbarri second and De Leon third.

Unlimited F1 & F2 Race Three Results

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Unlimited F1 & F2 Overall & Rider Quotes

At the end of Round One, Senna Agius heads the points table on 67 points, ahead of Nahlous (58), Allerton (53) and Newman (47). Brookes’ DNF in Race Three really hurt his point score and leaves a big gap between him and the leading trio, as he now sits on 45 points. But his never-give-up attitude will surely be on display for the rest of the series as he tries to make up that deficit.

In Unlimited F2, Dominic De Leon’s title defence got off to a great start with wins in Races One and Two on the Kawasaki, but a last-minute glitch with his steering damper before Race Three necessitated a rapid bit of spannering from his team, removal of the offending item and forcing a start from pitlane.

This effort netted him a well-earned third place in class and has him heading the points table with 68-points into Round Two.

Damien Adams had a productive evening on the Suzuki with one win and two second places for 65-points, trailing De Leon by just three points. Gasbarri holds third spot on 55, ahead of Prentice on 52.

Josh Brookes – Pirelli Unlimited F1

“I picked up the flight case from the transport company Friday lunchtime and bought it home to unpack. The bike inside was sent over by the race team. It’s not my British Superbike bike, it’s a bike they’ve put together for British Superstock spec and for Australian Superbikes which sort of mirrors British Superstock. I did have a few things to setup and alter on the bike. Changed the tyres, put race brake calipers and pads in and generally checked over the bike in preparation for the following day.

“The following day provided a few practice sessions where I tuned the electronics a bit to suit myself; I knew a bit about what I wanted from last year, same with the suspension, just made a couple of adjustments to put it where it was when I was happy with the bike last year. This bike very much is the same as the bike I built last year, but I didn’t have the burden that I had last year [of having to build the bike from scratch].

“I then went into the evening with qualifying and three races. In qualifying I did the minimum number of laps because I wanted that tyre to carry over into the first race, I think that’s what most people on the grid do, use two rears, one for qualifying and Race One and then another for Race Two and Three. I qualified third which I was pretty happy with as I didn’t do many laps.

“Race One, I got a poor start because the bike didn’t start off the way my BSB Superbike would; I hadn’t practiced any starts and it caught me by surprise a little. I followed JJ Nahlous for a few laps, made a pass on him, he passed back and then on the final lap I positioned myself to do a slipstream move on the main straight to take the win.

“Race Two I started with a new tyre, I had good grip from the bike and it was performing well, I got a slightly better start but Senna Agius passed me on the Ducati, I did attempt to line up for some passes back but it wasn’t successful so he won that race and I was second.

“The final race I got a little bit better start but because of the hard battle I’d had in Race Two, I’d used up a lot of that tyre so carrying that tyre into Race Three, I felt like I’d penalised myself and I really didn’t feel as strong as in the previous races and I was taking a lot of risks to make up the ground I’d lost in the early laps. I was making good progress although I’d lost a lot of ground to the first three and then I was closing that up slowly. I just got onto the back of Glenn Allerton in third and unfortunately lost the front. I had used the same front for the whole evening so I think in future, I will swap the front tyre in between races One and Two so that I have more grip up front. In any case it was me who was taking the risks on the brakes to try and make up the lost time that caused that crash I believe. I’m OK, I didn’t sustain any injuries of any kind to report but the bike was pretty rough when I got it back and looked at it. Next race is January 9 so I’ve got time on my side to get it repaired and back in good order and I’m looking forward to returning.”

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Glenn Allerton – Pirelli Unlimited F1

“It was awesome to be back on the bike for the last time this year. The heat was a real issue and really takes it out of you but then it’s the same for everyone. Made some major adjustments to the bike just to see what differences they made and we had the speed, just couldn’t quite land the wins. It was a fantastic way to end the year surrounded by family and friends and as always, St George Nights is a great event to be part of.

“Shout out to my nephew Josh (Newman) who hadn’t thrown a leg over the Ducati V4 until the day before. To put in 32.7 in such tough conditions on such a new bike to him was a fantastic result and can’t wait to see where he takes his racing from here.”

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JJ Nahlous – Pirelli Unlimited F1

“It was a great night of racing at Round One of SNS06 and back on the Yamaha for the first time in a while after riding the Honda for the last two ASBK rounds. We started off looking on ways to improve the setup with the bike and each time we went out, the bike was getting better and better. It was awesome to race with such experienced riders like Senna Agius and Josh Brookes. Being amongst them was awesome, and it was great to see what they could do differently. I did many PBs on Saturday night, which was great, seeing the improvement with the bike. Massive thanks to the St George club for running such a great event once again, I’m excited for the next one!”

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Dominic De Leon – Pirelli Unlimited F2

“It wasn’t easy as I’m so not bike fit or fit in any sort of way so I’m blown away to currently he in the position I’m in. Before Race Three, at the 30 second siren, boys pull off the tyre warmers and I decided to back off the steering damper as the steering had been hard work in the previous race. As I went to adjust it, I noticed that it was wiggling around and loose.

“I thought ‘that’s it, I’m not going out’ but the boys hustled and Matt Pace was like ‘no, you’re going out there’ and they pulled the steering damper off. Now in that last race, the bike was REAL difficult to ride, I didn’t realise how much of a difference that thing [the steering damper] makes, the bike was head shaking on acceleration and I thought ‘I’ve really got to ride this thing different because I don’t want to crash, I want to bag some points’. So that was my Race Three. But we’re not going to have that issue again, we know what it was and we’ll fix that. So we’re going to get out there and give it some more! I’m going to get more fit every round. It was a great round, I’m buzzing still!”

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Damien Adams – Pirelli Unlimited F2

“Round 1 of the latest Summer Night Series was honestly one of the most fun nights of racing I’ve had. The conditions were crazy hot, but it was awesome to finally make my debut in the Superbike class and battle it out all night with some seriously fast riders. Qualifying went well and set me up nicely which gave me a lot of confidence heading into the races.

“Race 1 was a good one. I was running as high as seventh outright before a small mistake in the last corner dropped me back a couple of places. Race Two was all about staying consistent in the heat and keeping the pace up. Finished ninth outright, second in class again which felt solid considering the level of competition. Race Three was where it all came together. Grabbed first place in the F2 class, which felt unreal and was a perfect way to finish the night.

“I went into this round with the goal of finishing inside the top ten outright and top five in F2, so to tick both of those off, along with setting some big PB lap times which was something I’m really proud of. Massive thank you to everyone who came out to support me and everyone who sent messages. I can’t wait to get back out there Round Two and hopefully put the Suzuki on the podium again!”

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Unlimited F1 Points

Unlimited F2 Points

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600cc F1 & F2 Race One

Jake Farnsworth took pole, 1.65s clear of Will Nassif, with Jai Russo, Joshua Soderland and Alex Tamras rounding out the five fastest qualifiers. Tamras was the fastest of the 600 F2 class, ahead of Peter Zammit and Scott Newham in sixth and seventh overall.

Two red flags led to the opening race being cancelled.

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600cc F1 & F2 Race Two

Farnsworth was on form for the opening 600 bout, taking the win well clear of Nassif, with Soderland rounding out the podium. The fastest 600 F2 racer was Timothy Rodley in fifth overall.

600cc F1 & F2 Race Two Results

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600cc F1 & F2 Race Three

Farnsworth was untouchable in race three, finishing 30 seconds clear of Kristian O’Donnell, who held off Soderland by a hair at the finish line for second. Russo came home fourth, with Tamras leading the 600 F2s with fifth overall, followed by Rodley and Newham in sixth and seventh.

600cc F1 & F2 Race Three Results

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600cc F1 & F2 Overall

With just two races run, Farnsworth leaves round one on a perfect 50 points in the 600 F1 class, while O’Donnell and Soderland sit on 36 points apiece, with Russo not far off on 34 points.

In F2, Tamras and Rodley tied on 45 points, with a win and second each, while Newham rounded out the overall podium.

600cc F1 Points

600cc F2 Points

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Unlimited F3 Race One

Eric Smaller topped qualifying, seven-tenths clear of Ben Vella.  Paul Parlett qualified his Retro Superbike XR69 seventh.

Smaller would go on to win the opening race by almost three seconds, Ben Vella and Robert Salvia fighting it out for second, with Vella coming out on top. Parlett brought his retro Suzuki home in 11th, with Farrell 13th overall.

Unlimited F3 Race One Results

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Unlimited F3 Race Two

Robert Salvia took the Unlimited F3 win in race two, with Smaller settling for second, and Reece Gordon taking third. Parlett was the sole retro bike in race two, finishing 11th.

Unlimited F3 Race Two Results

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Unlimited F3 Race Three

Reece Gordon took out the final race of the weekend, Salvia and Vella rounding out the podium, with Vella just holding off Smaller. Both Parlett and Farrell were on track for the final race, finishing ninth and 10th, respectively.

Unlimited F3 Race Three Results

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Unlimited F3/Retro Overall

It was tight in the Unlimited F3 class after round one, with Robert Salvia taking out the win on 63 points, a single point ahead of Eric Smaller (62), with Reece Gordon third on 60 points.

Parlett took the Retro Superbike tally of 75 points, with Farrell leaving on 40 points, having missed race two.

Retro Superbikes Points