ASBK Supersport opener at P.I. an almost photo finish and the pace was hot!

Round One – Phillip Island
Kawasaki Supersport

Race One

Olly Simpson fired off the line on the NextGen Ducati, but a big highside at turn one for Marianos Nikolis saw the red flag come out, and riders were sent back to the grid to prepare for a full restart over a reduced eight-lap distance. Nikolis landed heavily on his back but was conscious. Precautions in case of spinal injury were taken, and he was stretchered from the track.

Simpson again took the lead at turn one with the two BC Performance Kawasaki NextGen ZX-6R machines of Tom Edwards and Hayden Nelson close astern, just ahead of Stop & Seal Ducati’s Tom Toparis and Italian Roberto Tamburini.

Simpson made the most of the clean air to pull away to an early lead over the opening lap with a 1m40.904 from a standing start, starting lap two six-tenths clear of the Kawasaki pairing. The top five closed up a little again early on lap two as that quintet started to pull away from the field.

Tom Toparis slotted up the inside of Hayden Nelson as they started lap three to move up to third, but it was Tom Edwards who set a 1m34.923 on lap two to underline his potential on the ZX-6R. Nonetheless, Tom Toparis got the better of Edwards as they started lap four to make it a Ducati 1-2 up front as the race broached the halfway mark. At this midway juncture, it was Simpson, Toparis, Edwards and Nelson covered by a second, while fifth-placed Roberto Tamburini on a regular Supersport specification machine remained within striking distance. The top five were now five seconds clear of Valentino Knezovic in sixth.

Tom Toparis then had a mechanical issue, which saw him drop out of the leading group; it looked as though his shifter might have come adrift on the Stop & Seal Ducati.

Hayden Nelson was now getting wound up, a 1m34.801 new fastest lap of the race on lap five and less than half-a-second now covered the top three with two laps to run.

Roberto Tamburini then declared his intention to take the battle to the NextGen machines for the podium as he briefly got the better of Nelson to move up to third, but the Kawasaki youngster retaliated quickly to take that third place. The dust-up between that pair, though, had given Olly Simpson and Tom Edwards some breathing space, and it now looked as though it was down to a two-man fight for the victory.

Final lap!

Edwards around the outside of Simpson at turn three, but Simpson went back up the inside on the exit of turn four, which allowed the following duo back into the game!

Olly Simpson led Edwards and Nelson around 11 and 12 to take the win, despite Nelson putting the fastest lap of the race on that final lap, a 1m34.723 to underline his and the Kawasaki’s potential as he stole second place from his team-mate on the line. A tenth covered the podium finishers at the flag.

A ripper opening bout of the season.

Roberto Tamburnini just missed the podium and was close astern of that top trio as they got the chequered flag.

Valentino Knezovic was ten seconds further behind in fifth, well clear of Will Nassif, who in turn had a handy buffer over seventh-placed Sam Drane.

Tom Toparis limped home to still bag decent points for an eleventh-place finish.

There was much talk of the 1m34.723 on the final lap by Nelson being a new lap record, but I believe that to be erroneous, as Jonathan Nahlous recorded a 1m34.682 at this event two years ago on a Supersport spec’ Complete AV YZF-R6.

ASBK Supersport Race One Results

1. Olly Simpson
2. Hayden Nelson +0.075
3. Tom Edwards +0.113
4. Roberto Tamburini +0.686
5. Valentino Knezovic +10.194
6. Will Nassif +16.228
7. Sam Drane +20.000
8. Scott Nicholson +20.340
9. Sam Pezzetta +21.568
10. Josh Soderland +24.286
11. Tom Toparis +28.628
12. Ghage Plowman +32.532
13. Jordy Simpson +35.642
14. Haydyn Fordyce +39.113
15. Oliver Short +39.272
16. Lauchy Williams +46.787
17. Tianhao Zhao +58.626
18. Brock Quinlan +66.805
19. Anthony Chiodo +83.338

2026 ASBK Provisional Calendar