ASBK 2025
Round One – Phillip Island Team Reports
Onyabike McMartin Racing with K-Tech
Josh Waters and the Onyabike McMartin Racing with K-Tech Team started off the new season in the perfect form, Waters, the first ever rider in the 35 year history of the championship to win four titles, started his championship defence taking the round victory at Phillip Island over the weekend.
The 2025 season got underway in conjunction with the WorldSBK championship and a three-race program, meaning additional points were up for grabs. As per a normal weekend the practice sessions got underway on Friday, but only two sessions meant the team had to work to their program to be ready for qualifying early on Saturday morning.
A super early start on Saturday was no problem for the Onyabike McMartin Racing with K-Tech team, a solid qualifying session saw Josh top the timesheets with his first run of two flying laps uncorking a 1:31.026 on lap three. Despite several attempts no other rider was able to surpass this benchmark meaning Josh would secure pole position as well as an important championship point.
Josh launched from pole position to lead the field into turn one. By the completion of lap one the gap was .8 over Ant West. A series of four blistering laps in the 1:31’s opened up a gap of 1.9 as half race distance approached.
As the rest of the field started to slow Josh was able to remain consistent and increase the lead to 3.6 seconds by the completion of lap seven. Waters remained consistent over the final laps to record the first win of the 2025 season by 4.4 seconds and start the quest for an unprecedented fifth championship in the best possible style.
Sunday morning’s race two was held under completely different conditions. Much cooler track temperatures pointed to faster lap times. Despite the different conditions the race was almost a carbon copy of race one.
Josh got a great start on the McMartin Racing with K-Tech Ducati V4R and led the field through turn one. Opening up a gap of over a second over the first few laps and then holding it over three seconds by half race distance to eventually clinch victory by 2.6 seconds.
Track temperature had increased slightly for race three, but that did not stop Josh’s march to round victory.
Another brilliant launch off the line and blistering first lap saw Waters build a handy lead after only a few laps. Building a safe margin, Josh was able to maintain the gap and took the chequered flag to finish the weekend in perfect fashion.
Pole position, three race wins and leading every lap of the three races, sees Josh Waters and the Onyabike McMartin Racing Team head to the next round at Sydney Motorsport Park with an 18-point lead
Yamaha Racing Team (YRT)
Over three spectacular days at the picturesque Phillip Island Circuit, the Australian Superbike Championship roared to life in conjunction with the opening round of the World Superbike Championship. In a slight twist to the usual ASBK format, the domestic Superbike riders had three races instead of two and the YRT men leave round one well placed.
Mike Jones finished the round in second place with 3-2-2 results, showing plenty of grit and fighting spirit every time he hit the track. Phillip Island hasn’t been a favourite of Jones in terms of results, so to finish the weekend with a strong result and improve his pace over previous years leaves him feeling good about what’s to come.
In each and every race, Jones and fellow Yamaha mounted racer, Ant West engaged in battle for the final two spots on the podium and every time the victory of the dual was only decided metres before the finish line. They were never further than a few bikes lengths apart for the majority of the weekend and it proved to be the battle to watch in the ASBK race.
Mike Jones – P2
“It’s good to start the year with a podium, but more importantly, to ride well and minimise the points damage to Josh Waters, who rides so well here. I have struggled a bit here in the past but have worked hard on some technique and watched a lot of footage to see where I have been lacking and where I could improve. Today was a small step forward in that regard so a nice reward for the work done behind the scenes. The team worked well all weekend, and we got the bike dialled in quickly. So, a huge thanks to them and we can take this momentum onto round two.”
For Max Stauffer, it was a nervous weekend as he was limited for seat time leading into the opening weekend with a hand injury and first time in race conditions with his new team. But he handled it well and leaves the Island in fourth place on the back of 6-7-7 results and feeling much better after getting round one under his belt.
Stauffer showed he is growing in maturity on the track as he kept a cool head in all three races and logged consistent finishes to bring home his fourth position. He knows the speed will come and can still take a lot of positives from the weekend.
Max Stauffer
“I was aware that I was coming in a little under prepared but at least I was riding pain and injury free. My goal now is to build some continuity in my riding that will allow me to improve every time I get on the track. The weekend was good to get more used to the bike and learn some things that can only be done in race conditions. I need to work on my starts as two of them weren’t great on the weekend, but I know the speed will come and I look forward to getting to SMSP for the next round as I have done plenty of laps around there and confident I will be riding better.”
Addicted to Track
Ant West and his ‘Addicted to Track’ Team started the championship strongly finishing third for the round in a very competitive outing.
West was fast from the moment he hit the track on Friday, and he was able to carry that through the entire weekend. It is the best start to a season for West and he will be wanting to carry that onto the next round at SMSP.
Jack Favelle stepped up to the ASBK class this season and continues to excite with big strides forward each time he wrestles the R1 on track. Jack had a great start by qualifying in the Top 10 for his first ASBK round on the R1. He had tight races in the busy field to finish the top ten and finished with an overall P11for the round.
Ryan Yanko must be the hardest working 40-year-old in the paddock – period! Dicing with the top ten was super impressive to watch, and his overall P12 in a star-studded field was very well deserved.
Maybe the most impressive result for the weekend was John Lytras in fifth place on board his Yamaha R1. With a small budget but a dedicated group of supporters, the Queensland based, Caboolture Motorcycles backed, gun showed he had found some pace over the off season and put together three consistent races when chaos was happening all around him.
Cam Dunker had a fall in race one but showed his star his on the rise. Dunker in his first national race event with the MotoGo team was up in the heat of battle all weekend and finished with DNF-5-4 results to claim eighth for the round. Dunker certainly is one to watch.
DesmoSport Ducati
Seventh overall for Broc Pearson at the opening round of the 2025 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit, taking fifth and fourth before another rider took out the Gold Coast-based rider in a turn 1 crash, across the weekends three 11-lap race format.
Despite launch control settings hampering starts, Pearson showed strong pace in his two races, being the only rider on track to set times under 1:32.9 every lap of race two whilst making 10 passes through the field.
DesmoSport Ducati will now continue to develop the electronics on the Panigale V4 R, in particular the launch control settings, along with some other new components brought over to us with our WorldSBK counterparts before heading back to Sydney Motorsport Park for round two in March.
Broc Pearson – P7
“I leave round 1 with a lot of confidence. We built through the weekend to have a really competitive bike for the races. Although we had issues getting the bike off the line in every race with the launch control, I was able to move through the field the best I’ve ever been able to, but the time lost on the first lap really hurt our track position and the lead riders were just too far down the road by the time I got past everyone. I’m really happy with how our team is working together though and the bike we have developed this year. Although we would have liked to leave here with some more points, I’m motivated to get back to winning and I’m looking forward to gearing back up again for Sydney next month.”
Ben Henry – DesmoSport Ducati Team Owner
“I’m really happy with the direction we’ve gone with the bike and I’m proud of the effort every single member of the team put in, both over the weekend and in the lead up as we developed the bike for this season. A lot of long nights, especially for Robin, Charlie and Ed, and a big effort from Broc in the races proved that we had the race pace to be on the podium if not for the starts. We had some fun team building during a photoshoot on Saturday night and even though I’m disappointed with the points we left on the table this weekend, I’m really proud of what we have and what we’re building, so let’s roll on to Sydney next and get the job done.”
Superbike Advocates Racing
Superbike Advocates Racing made its series debut with Glenn Allerton on board the Ducati V4R at Phillip Island, the newly formed team putting months of preparation to the test.
Allerton tested the MoTeC electronics on Friday’s practice sessions and finished both sessions in P4, followed up by setting a 1:32.7 qualifying time to claim sixth on the grid, heading into race one.
Race one saw Allerton battle within the top five, finishing fourth for the team’s first ever ASBK race. He followed that up with sixth in race two, spending most of the race in fourth, but getting shuffled back a couple of places on the final lap.
An unfortunate radiator failure in race three caused an early retirement, with Allerton running with the podium contenders until this point. That netted the team ninth overall in the round overall and standings.
Glenn Allerton
“It was a fantastic first outing for Superbike Advocates Racing. This has been a massive undertaking, and I have to thank Lee and the entire team for their efforts in delivering such a strong bike. The Ducati is new for all of us, but we improved all weekend, and in race three, we were fighting for the podium. It was disappointing to retire due to the radiator issue, but I’m happy with the progress we made. We head to Sydney Motorsport Park with confidence, and I expect to be fighting for podiums and race wins soon.”
Motoschool Racing Team
The Motoschool Racing Team marked their ASBK debut with an extremely positive tenth overall for Superbike rider Tom Edwards at Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.
After qualifying in eleventh, Edwards improved his position to ninth in race one followed by fourteenth and tenth in the final outing. It was a successful Aussie homecoming for Edwards who was able to bank valuable track time to further develop the Motoschool Yamaha R1 package.
Tom Edwards
“I was really happy with the weekend overall. Coming down with not that much preparation, I think the team did a great job putting together a good package. We didn’t do anything wrong and made steady progress throughout the weekend, going quick straight away in the first session which was a massive bonus. Then we spent most of the weekend chasing setup – mainly trying to hold onto tyres over longer stints. We dipped into the 1min32s bracket but I couldn’t really maintain that pace. For race three we made a change, but there was a racing incident at turn one at the start which sent me to dead last. The bike did feel a lot better but the best we could fight back to was P10, which was still very positive.”
Haydan Parker – Motoschool Racing Team Owner
“Firstly I’d like to thank Motorcycling Australia for welcoming us into the paddock, it was a pleasant first outing and the embrace we had from the other teams was really great. In particular I’d like to thank Patrick Li for his help and advice and to end up fighting in and around the top ten is really quite incredible. I love working with Tommy, he’s a gentlemen and a true professional. It was great to see his father Paul back on the grid with him and all his family travelling down. In Supersport 300, Oscar wasn’t quite where he wanted to be after his crash. Elijah and Zane both hit personal best times, which was great. This weekend was about understanding the level of the guys, finding the level of the bikes and building that competency and bridge between the two. All in all I’m really proud of the boys and team morale is high! ”
SW-Motech Superbike Points
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Bike
|
R1
|
R2
|
R3`
|
Points
|
|
1
|
J. Waters
|
Duc
|
25
|
25
|
25
|
76
|
|
2
|
M. Jones
|
Yam
|
18
|
20
|
20
|
58
|
|
3
|
A. West
|
Yam
|
20
|
18
|
18
|
56
|
|
4
|
M. Stauffer
|
Yam
|
15
|
14
|
14
|
43
|
|
5
|
J. Lytras
|
Yam
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
40
|
|
6
|
J. Nahlous
|
Yam
|
11
|
12
|
16
|
39
|
|
7
|
B. Pearson
|
Duc
|
16
|
17
|
33
|
|
|
8
|
C. Dunker
|
Yam
|
16
|
17
|
33
|
|
|
9
|
G. Allerton
|
Duc
|
17
|
15
|
32
|
|
|
10
|
T. Edwards
|
Yam
|
12
|
7
|
11
|
30
|
|
11
|
J. Favelle
|
Yam
|
8
|
9
|
12
|
29
|
|
12
|
R. Yanko
|
Yam
|
9
|
6
|
13
|
28
|
|
13
|
C. Halliday
|
Yam
|
13
|
13
|
26
|
|
|
14
|
A. Sissis
|
Yam
|
5
|
8
|
9
|
22
|
|
15
|
M. Walters
|
Apr
|
7
|
4
|
10
|
21
|
|
16
|
T. Toparis
|
Yam
|
10
|
10
|
20
|
|
|
17
|
M. Aizuddin
|
BMW
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
16
|
|
18
|
C. Holding
|
Yam
|
4
|
3
|
6
|
13
|
|
19
|
J. Soderland
|
Yam
|
5
|
4
|
9
|
|
|
20
|
N. Mahon
|
Yam
|
7
|
7
|
||
|
21
|
A. Senior
|
Yam
|
2
|
5
|
7
|
|
|
22
|
P. Linkenbagh
|
Yam
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
|
|
23
|
K. Higuchi
|
Suz
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
5
|
|
24
|
M. Kemp
|
Yam
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2025 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
 |
||
| Round | Location | Date |
| 2 | Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW | Mar 28-29 |
| 3 | Queensland Raceway, QLD | May 2-4 |
| 4 | Morgan Park Raceway, QLD | Jun 13-15 |
| 5 | Queensland Raceway, QLD (Superbike Only) | Aug 8-10 |
| 6 | Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC | Sept 6-7 |
| 7 | One Raceway, NSW | Oct 3-5 |
| 8 | The Bend, SA | Nov 7-9 |
