Supersport race one and race two reports from Morgan Park ASBK

ASBK 2024
Round Four – Morgan Park
First Australian Supersport Race

Jonathan Nahlous defeated Tom Toparis lead position on saturday afternoon but the top is tight.

It was a cool Sunday morning, with ambient temperatures around 10 degrees, but a strong wind blowing across the Morgan Park track made it feel even colder. There was very little cloud cover, however, which made the track feel warmer than expected at 24 degrees in the pit lane. That wind, however, meant that certain parts of the track could feel much colder than that.

Michelin challenged Pirelli’s long-standing dominance in the category in Australia this year, with the Stop & Seal drivers all wearing Michelins while pole-sitter Nahlous, Tom Bramich and many others defended Pirelli’s honour.

Tom Bramich took the lead into the first corner ahead of Jonathan Nahlous, Archie McDonald and Olly Simpson. Tom Toparis overtook team-mate McDonald at the back of the track for the first time and then set out to chase Simpson for third place.

Jonathan Nahlous made a great tackle that sent Tom Bramich off the track early in the second lap, can he break away…?

Archie McDonald then crashed at turn six, losing control of the front. Minutes later he was joined by one of his teammates on the grass, then further down the track Tom Bramich crashed, OIly Simpson crashed… Bikes lying flat everywhere…

There was a lot of smoke coming from Bramich’s car and officials raised a red flag and stopped the race due to concerns about oil on the track.

It took a while to restore a Supersport that was so warped that it had to be dragged onto a tow truck to get the completely destroyed car back to the repair shop.

Pit lane became chaotic as teams rushed to repair their machinery.

Champion driver Jonathan Nahlous was one of the lucky ones who had nothing to worry about other than waiting for the rescue team to clear the track surface.

Several Supersport riders reported oil everywhere, possibly from early crashes. Luca Durning went down but then climbed back up and returned to the pits, unaware that his side skirt had been trailing oil all over the track.

As I walked through the pits, I thought about how dangerous some of those bikes could be to race after so many patches and hasty repairs. So it was a relief when the officials finally decided that the Supersport 300 would race next, giving the Supersport competitors more time to fix their damaged bikes.

Several cyclists also suffered quite a few bruises, but fortunately, it appears that all were not seriously injured.

The Supersport race finally restarted just after noon and Jonathan Nahlous was the leader of the pack to the finish line first but then slowed down a lot after a slightly wrong corner entry which forced Toparis to take evasive action to avoid hitting him from behind, which cost Toparis quite a bit of power on the way out.

Tom Toparis took the lead as they crossed the starting line for the second lap. Archie McDonald had moved up to third by this point ahead of Hayden Nelson, Olly Simpson and Tom Bramich.

Nahlous gave Toparis no chance to escape, the young man stubbornly clinging to the back of the Stop & Seal machine throughout the opening laps and overcoming the challenge.

The pair had already left their pursuers behind, with Archie McDonald 2.5 seconds clear with eight laps to go. However, Archie managed to shake off Olly Simpson, Hayden Nelson, Tom Bramich and Jack Favelle as the four battled for fourth place.

Nahlous was still hot on Toparis’ heels at the halfway mark. Both were running 1 minute 15 seconds.

A small slip on Toparis’ main straight as they started lap seven gave Nahlous the opportunity to drive alongside and then pass Toparis for the lead. He stayed there for the entire lap and it was Toparis’ turn to smell the exhaust fumes.

With two laps to go, Toparis was still on Nahlous’s tail, with nothing separating them. Toparis poked his nose out in front at turn ten, but Nahlous was right back in the game after two turns and led across the finish line on the final lap.

Toparis crashed! Tom Toparis then crashed at turn six! Nahlous had a clear run to the finish…. The Goulburn driver appeared to be injured from that high hit, and his car remained on the track, prompting the red flag to be raised.

The race was declared and Nahlous took a deserved victory in a closely fought contest.

Nahlous won by five seconds over Archie McDonald, who took a rather lonely second place after his teammate died.

Olly Simpson secured third place on the podium by a full length ahead of Tom Bramich, who was racing on his spare bike after a major crash yesterday.

Jack Favelle finished fifth but was later disqualified for using substandard tyres, which moved Hayden Nelson up to fifth and Jake Farnsworth up to sixth.

Nahlous’ win could prove pivotal in the title race as he extends his lead over Olly Simpson to 35 points.

McDonald’s second place saw him close the gap on Simpson to two points, and he is now level on points with Tom Bramich.

Jake Farnsworth is still in the ring, just three points behind McDonald and Bramich.

Toparis started the championship after sitting out the opening round, where Nahlous scored a perfect 76. And with 20 or 25 points on the line today, he’s now 59 points behind Nahlous at the midpoint of the season. Early indications are that Tom is largely fine after that crash, but he has a sore back and is being investigated.

Supersport Race One Results

1. Jonathan Nahlous
2. Archie McDonald +5.200 seconds
3. Olly Simpson +8.458 seconds
4. Tom Bramich +8.685 seconds
5. Hayden Nelson +10.501 seconds
6. Jake Farnsworth +11.296 seconds
7. Jack Mahaffy +14.126 seconds
8. Marianos Nikolis +17.220 seconds
9. Glenn Nelson +17.754 seconds
10. Callum Barker +23.869 seconds
11. Brandon Demmery +40.815 seconds

Second Australian Supersport Race

Tom Toparis missed the second Supersport race after suffering a serious crash late in the opening heat earlier in the day. He battled for the lead with Jonathan Nahlous before retiring and taking himself to the medical centre with back pain.

Jonathan Nahlous jumped when the lights went out and immediately opened up a gap on Archie McDonald, Hayden Nelson and Olly Simpson.

Just as Nahlous looked set to pull away, Archie McDonald and Hayden Nelson began to close the gap on the championship leader.

As the race progressed, Hayden Nelson began to lose contact with Archie McDonald, who continued to follow Nahlous, lap after lap. It wasn’t until five laps to go that McDonald pulled onto the inside at Turn 1, preventing Nahlous from turning in and seeing McDonald take the lead for the first time.

Archie McDonald still held the lead, but Nahlous looked like he could run a tighter pace and rely more on his Pirelli front tyres than the Michelin-tired Stop & Seal rider, but Archie still held on. McDonald’s wide sweep of pace, however, opened the door for Nahlous, and if he decided to accelerate on the inside, Archie would have been left with nothing to do.

Nahlous was close to McDonald on the penultimate lap but then lost a bit of the gap as they started the final lap, giving McDonald some breathing room. Nahlous thought the race was over and that momentary tumble was enough for McDonald to hang on and win by three-tenths.

Hayden Nelson, the only Dunlop rider in the group, finished sixth behind the pair, but two seconds ahead of Jack Favelle. That made for three different tyre brands on the podium.

Further down the line, Olly Simpson and Jake Farnsworth were in a heated battle for fifth place, but by the finish line, Simpson had pulled clear to take fifth.

Tom Bramich was injured and bruised in seventh place on his spare bike.

Marianos Nikolis took a commendable eighth place, ahead of Jack Mahaffy and Glenn Nelson.

Jonathan Nahlous won the round by a point over McDonald, but McDonald moved up to second in the championship thanks to today’s performance. The gap between the two was 32 points when we went to Phillip Island in September.

Supersport Race Two Results

1. Archie McDonald
2. Jonathan Nahlous +0.299 seconds
3. Hayden Nelson +6.203 seconds
4. Jack Favelle +8.460 seconds
5. Olly Simpson +10.577 seconds
6. Jake Farnsworth +11.085 seconds
7. Tom Bramich +17.393 seconds
8. Marianos Nikolis +18.770 seconds
9. Jack Mahaffy +18.864 seconds
10. Glenn Nelson +30.787 seconds
11. Brandon Demmery +50.509 seconds

Supersport lap points

1. Jonathan Nahlous 46
2. Archie McDonald 45
3. Olly Simpson 34
4. Hayden Nelson 33
5. Jack Favelle 33
6. Tom Bramich 31
7. Jake Farnsworth 29
8. Marianos Nikolis 25
9. Jack Mahaffy 25
10. Glenn Nelson 22

Supersport Championship Points

1. Jonathan Nahlous 176
2. Archie McDonald 144
3. Olly Simpson 137
4. Tom Bramich 133
5. Jake Farnsworth 131
6. Jack Favelle 104
7. Tom Toparis 97
8. Jack Mahaffy 89
9. Hayden Nelson 86
10. Glenn Nelson 80

2024 Australian Superbike Championship Schedule

• Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC 23-25 ​​February
• Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW 22-23 March
• Round 3: Queensland Circuit, QLD 26-28 April
• Round 4: Morgan Park Circuit, QLD 12-14 July
• Round 5: Phillip Island GP, VIC September 7-8
• Round 6: One Raceway, NSW October 4-6
• Round 7: Bend Motorsports Park, SA November 8-10