Waters completes trifecta in final bout at P.I. ASBK season opener

ASBK 2025

Round One – Phillip Island
SW-Motech Superbike Race Three

If you are at all interested in following ASBK in 2025, I thoroughly recommend digesting this piece I wrote on Friday, which is essentially a pre-season form guide. 

Josh Waters came into this third and final Australian Superbike race at the season-opening round off the back of two dominant race wins. Left to battle over the remaining steps on the rostrum in those first two encounters had been Anthony West and Mike Jones. Would anyone else step up to the plate in this one…?

Broc Pearson had been having launch control problems all weekend and put his hand up on the grid to indicate some problem before they set out on the warm-up lap. The DesmoSport Ducati man, though, did manage to get the fire lit in the V4 R and away with the field on the warm-up lap.

When the lights went out, Josh Waters smoked them off the line as he had done all weekend.

Broc Pearson went down at turn one. Pearson was tripped up by another rider as they entered turn one, which set off a chain reaction that saw him brush yet another rider. Ultimately, the DesmoSport Ducati man ended up being horizontal in the kitty litter. The incident would be subject to further investigation by officials post-race.

Josh Waters led Mike Jones and Cam Dunker by a full-second at the end of the opening lap. Anthony West third, Glenn Allerton fourth and the fast-starting rookie Jonathan Nahlous fifth.

Cam Dunker took second place from Mike Jones at turn four, but the MotoGo rider was swamped at the end of the main straight by Jones, West and Allerton, that trio relegating the youngster to fifth, just ahead of fast-starting rookie Jonathan Nahlous.

Glenn Allerton put an aggressive move on Dunker for fourth place on the entry to Siberia that sent the youngster way wide. Allerton clearly had his elbows out in this one, and he immediately started poking Anthony West in the ribs with them.  Nothing separating Jones, West and Allerton with eight laps to run.

Up front, Waters was in a race of his own, two-seconds up the road…

Anthony West took second place from Jones on lap four at turn ten with a pretty determined move. At half-race distance nothing separated West, Jones and Allerton as they stalked each other over second. Waters led them by three-seconds with just under six-laps to run.

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Jones and Allerton then started to dust each other up which allowed Westy some clear air and the veteran took full advantage of it.

With four laps to run the front runners were already starting to encounter some lapped traffic.  Cam Dunker was in a fairly lonely fourth place at this juncture, five-seconds behind the podium battle, and three-seconds clear of Nahlous.  John Lytras was in sixth with a handy buffer over Max Stauffer and Ryan Yanko.

Mike Jones eventually managed to creep away from Glenn Allerton. The YRT man then started reeling in West on the Addicted to Track entry.  Allerton then retired after running off at turn four with some problem on the Superbike Advocates Ducati.  Both Tom Toparis and Cru Halliday retired with tyre problems.

At the last lap board Waters led West by over three-seconds despite buttoning off somewhat in the final laps. Jones was all over West on the final lap… Up the inside at turn ten after West had a slide at Lukey, leads him around 11 and 12, Westy all over the back of Jones but the YRT man took that second place by four-hundredths of a second.

A clear and decisive victory capped off the perfect weekend for Josh Waters. The defending champ came into this only a few weeks after breaking his collarbone and is certainly pretty sore and weak in that shoulder. Thus this is a really great result for him and the team.

Mike Jones was never in the same race but was smart enough to hang in there and keep racking up the points, so he leaves here only 18-point behind Waters.

The best domestic Superbike season start ever for Anthony West will have his Addicted to Track squad frothing and the veteran even more motivated to train than he already obviously has been in the off-season.

Cam Dunker took fourth place, 12-seconds behind the winner but five-seconds clear of Jonathan Nahlous. An excellent weekend for Dunker, but he would have expected more. That race one DNF a hefty blow to his points haul.

Fifth place for rookie Nahlous, an absolutely sensational result for the family-backed Complete AV outfit.

John Lytras might now have plenty of Superbike starts under his young belt, but sixth is a great result for his family-backed and generally fairly poorly resourced team. Lytras fifth for the round by a single point over Nahlous.

Max Stauffer is clearly suffering from a lack of pre-season preparation to allow him to adapt to the YRT machine after copping hand injuries at the FIM Intercontinental Games late last year. His time will come. Despite the relative lack of pace comparative to the front runners, Max managed to card 43-points to finish the round fourth.

Ryan Yanko would be absolutely stoked with an eighth place, and deservedly so.

Jack Favelle ninth and Tom Edwards tenth. We can expect much more to come from that pair as they and their teams hone their race package for the season ahead.

Nine of the top ten finishers in this bout on Yamaha machinery.

Matt Walters got a few finishes under his belt on the Aprilia, which, after some disasters of late, will be a win in itself.

Arthur Sissis and the whole Stop & Seal squad will be deeply disappointed with their showing this weekend. Hopefully, this is an outlier, and they can come out firing in the remaining rounds. 42-seconds behind the winner after 11 laps is not where Arthur deserves to be.

Broc Pearson and DesmoSport Ducati showed great promise for the season ahead as they had a pretty good set-up but were ultimately held back by their launch control problems, and then Broc got tripped up at turn one in this final bout.

Glenn Allerton certainly had the fire in his belly, and the new Superbike Advocates Team will benefit from some more testing that will help ensure the three-time champ is in podium contention at every round.

At this stage, it looks like Josh Waters will have to make some mistakes or suffer some mechanical gremlins for anyone to challenge him. I am sure he has more speed up his sleeve, should he need to show it, and there will be some circuits that will be a little harder for him than here and SMP. Five-time Australian Superbike champion in the making…?

There is a lot of racing still to go yet, at quite a few different circuits, but I would say that is a fair bet. However, anything can happen in racing, and his rivals will be doing all they can to try and catch up. And some of them have plenty of work to do after coming into this season very unprepared. Of course, a lot of that is often outside the control of the rider, and that is not a values judgment criticising anyone, just a statement of fact.

SW-Motech Superbike Race Three Results

SW-Motech Superbike Points

2025 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

Round	Location	Date
1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC	Feb 21-23
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