Recapping the ASBK Supersport action from The Bend

3 months ago 94

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ASBK 2025

Round Eight – The Bend

Kawasaki Supersport Race One

Drizzle had sprinkled around The Bend layout ahead of the opening Supersport bout of the final weekend of season 2025, which saw officials declare it a wet race; however, it appeared the entire grid was starting on slicks.

Olly Simpson fired from the second row of the grid to forge his way into the lead ahead of Tom Toparis, but the latter of that pair went a little deep into turn one, which allowed Will Nassif to steal that second place. Kyle Ryde then got the better of Will Nassif to move up to second place.

Up front, Simpson had pulled the pin! He had eight-tenths over Ryde by the third split, but the BSB champ then chased him down and was nipping at his heels as they started lap two. That pair had 2.5-seconds over Toparis in third by halfway through the second lap. Championship contenders Archie McDonald and Jack Mahaffy were fourth and fifth, respectively, ahead of Tom Bramich and Will Nassif.

Kyle Ryde looked somewhat content to follow Simpson for the next couple of laps before moving through to the lead early on lap four. Archie McDonald was now the fastest man on track and got the better of Toparis for third place as the race broached the halfway point. Archie McDonald was lapping a second quicker than the leading duo and had started to close on them, only for the red flag to come out after a rider crashed at turn 17.

Riders gridded back up in the positions they were in at the end of the fourth lap and got underway again after a lengthy delay on what was now a dryer track. Unfortunately, on the sighting lap, Tom Bramich rolled to a stop and was unable to grid up for the five-lap restart.

Kyle Ryde took the lead at turn one, Simpson nosed back ahead at turn three, Ryde got him back, Simpson got him back again to lead around the back of the circuit. Tom Toparis then got the better of Ryde for second place, Archie McDonald moved up to fourth, and Hayden Nelson was fifth ahead of championship leader Jack Mahaffy.

Simpson led them down the chute to start lap two, but Tom Toparis used the power of the NextGen Ducati and the slipstream to nose ahead at turn one, only for Kyle Ryde to gazump the pair of them and slot through to the lead on the entry to turn one. Ryde, Toparis, Simpson, McDonald, Nelson and Mahaffy the top six halfway through lap two.

Jack Mahaffy moved up to fifth as they started lap three, and nothing separated the top seven. Ryde was a little wide early on lap three, which allowed Tom Toparis back through to the lead. Archie McDonald then demoted Simpson to fourth, but the South Australian got him back at turn one as they started lap four. McDonald under him a few turns later to move back up to third, and the pair swapped positions again a few turns later.

Up front, Kyle Ryde was all over the back of Toparis and made his move through to the lead as they started the final lap after setting a new fastest lap of the race. McDonald and Simpson were a second behind that pair but were well clear of Mahaffy, who was now being challenged for fifth by Hayden Nelson.

Ryde led Toparis onto the straight to take the victory by a length at the chequered flag.

Archie McDonald set a new race lap record on that final circuit to finish eight-tenths behind the victor.

Olly Simpson took fourth ahead of Hayden Nelson and Jack Mahaffy.

With Toparis in the Next Generation sub-category and not scoring points in the Supersport class, Mahaffy’s championship lead was trimmed by five points. The gap heading into the final race of the season was now down to 19 points between the two Stop & Seal YZF-R6 riders.

Kawasaki Supersport Race One Results

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Speed
1	K. Ryde	Yam	9:38.667	266
2	T. Toparis	Duc	+0.074	269
3	A. Mcdonald	Yam	+0.800	268
4	O. Simpson	Kaw	+1.514	268
5	H. Nelson	Kaw	+2.937	266
6	J. Mahaffy	Yam	+3.063	268
7	J. Farnsworth	Yam	+7.379	263
8	W. Nassif	Yam	+9.607	262
9	B. Beaton	Duc	+11.833	263
10	L. Russo	Yam	+14.575	269
11	M. Hamod	Hon	+14.782	259
12	J. Newman	Yam	+20.820	254
13	R. Gilbert	Yam	+28.379	261
14	G. Plowman	Yam	+38.748	257
15	L. Waters	Yam	+43.965	259
16	T. Zhao	Yam	+44.277	250
17	L. Patteson	Yam	+51.213	249
18	B. Quinlan	Yam	+1m14.923	254

Kawasaki Supersport Race Two

The 2025 Australian Supersport Champion would be crowned after nine laps of The Bend on Sunday afternoon. Jack Mahaffy went in with the upper hand, and it seemed as though only a DNF could see the championship slip from his grasp at this late stage.

The only other rider in the race for the championship was Mahaffy’s Stop & Seal teammate, Archie McDonald, but he entered this final bout 19 points behind. Archie had missed a round earlier in the season due to racing commitments in Europe; otherwise, things would have been tighter at the top. Archie had set a new race lap record earlier in the day and thus had race-winning pace, but BSB champ Kyle Ryde had taken the victory on Sunday morning ahead of Tom Toparis.

Olly Simpson got a great launch off the line once again to lead the field into turn one ahead of Tom Toparis, Archie McDonald, Kyle Ryde and Hayden Nelson. Mahaffy was down in seventh place early on.

Archie McDonald got the better of Toparis with an inside move late on the opening lap to move through to second place, but across the stripe for the first time, Simpson had a few bike lengths. On the brakes for turn one, though, Kyle Ryde gave his Stop & Seal teammates a lesson in late braking, gazumping both of them to move up to second place.

Kyle Ryde then did the same to Olly Simpson next time around to take the race lead. Archie McDonald nosed ahead of the BSB champ around the back of the circuit, only for Ryde to get him back a few turns later. Then it was McDonald to the lead again, then it was Ryde leading again, and their dust-up then allowed Olly Simpson back into the game and the South Australian split the Stop & Seal pair.

Simpson then ran very wide, which cost him time and allowed McDonald to back through to second. Only half a second covered the top five at the halfway point of the race; Ryde, McDonald, Simpson, Toparis and Nelson were the chief protagonists.

Archie McDonald set a new record on lap four and was looking to mount a challenge on Kyle Ryde for the lead. Tom Toparis then moved up to third to make it a Stop & Seal 1-2-3.

McDonald was clambering all over the back of Ryde, but his first attempt on lap five resulted in him running a little wide, which then gave Ryde plenty of breathing space. It also allowed Toparis to sneak through to second. Olly Simpson then pushed McDonald aside into turn one next time around. Tom Toparis then lowered the lap record further as he tried to chase down Kyle Ryde.

McDonald got the better of Simpson with three laps to run to move back up to third. Tom Toparis had his ears pinned back in trying to reel in Ryde, and with three laps to run, was within striking distance. A massive slide onto the main straight, though, saw Toparis have to get out of the throttle to save a high-side, and that cost him almost a second by the time they were at the other end of the main straight.

A new lap record once again to Archie McDonald on the penultimate lap reduced Ryde’s lead to just on a second. McDonald had that down to half a second around the back of the circuit, then it was only three-tenths… Archie certainly made Kyle work for it on that final lap… Sliding up the inside, but then lost grip on the exit, which gave Ryde the advantage through the final turns, and the Brit went on to take the win.

Tom Toparis rounded out the podium ahead of Olly Simpson and Hayden Nelson. Nelson had lost touch with that leading group across the second half of the race.

Jake Farnsworth took sixth ahead of a four-way contest for seventh that was won by Will Nassif ahead of Tom Edwards, Jack Mahaffy and Beau Beaton.

Mahaffy’s ninth-place finish was enough to secure the Victorian the 2025 Australian Supersport Championship.

Kawasaki Supersport Race Two Results

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Speed
1	K. Ryde	Yam	17m13.215	268
2	A. Mcdonald	Yam	+0.461	267
3	T. Toparis	Duc	+2.948	271
4	O. Simpson	Kaw	+3.648	266
5	H. Nelson	Kaw	+10.943	262
6	J. Farnsworth	Yam	+14.827	264
7	W. Nassif	Yam	+18.441	264
8	T. Edwards	Yam	+18.556	264
9	J. Mahaffy	Yam	+19.234	265
10	B. Beaton	Duc	+19.576	263
11	L. Russo	Yam	+21.662	271
12	M. Hamod	Hon	+21.686	260
13	T. Bramich	Yam	+25.525	272
14	R. Gilbert	Yam	+33.712	265
15	J. Newman	Yam	+33.963	252
16	G. Plowman	Yam	+59.063	251
17	L. Waters	Yam	+1m12.321	257
18	T. Zhao	Yam	+1m14.303	251
19	L. Patteson	Yam	+1m17.080	252
20	B. Quinlan	Yam	+1m53.972	254

Kawasaki Supersport Round Points

Pos	Rider	Bike	Pole	R1	R2	Points
1	K. Ryde	Yam		25	25	50
2	A. Mcdonald	Yam	1	20	20	41
3	O. Simpson	Kaw		18	18	36
4	H. Nelson	Kaw		17	17	34
5	J. Farnsworth	Yam		15	16	31
6	W. Nassif	Yam		14	15	29
7	J. Mahaffy	Yam		16	13	29
8	L. Russo	Yam		13	12	25
9	M. Hamod	Hon		12	11	23
10	R. Gilbert	Yam		10	9	19
11	J. Newman	Yam		11	8	19
12	G. Plowman	Yam		9	7	16
13	T. Edwards	Yam			14	14
14	L. Waters	Yam		8	6	14
15	T. Zhao	Yam		7	5	12
16	T. Bramich	Yam			10	10
17	L. Patteson	Yam		6	4	10
18	B. Quinlan	Yam		5	3	8

Kawasaki Supersport Championship Points

Pos	Rider	Bike	Points
1	J. Mahaffy	Yam	294
2	A. Mcdonald	Yam	282
3	O. Simpson	Kaw	270
4	H. Nelson	Kaw	206
5	T. Bramich	Yam	194
6	J. Farnsworth	Yam	193
7	M. Hamod	Hon	181
8	W. Nassif	Yam	140
9	L. Russo	Yam	140
10	J. Newman	Yam	128
11	R. Gilbert	Yam	112
12	S. Pezzetta	Yam	101
13	T. Edwards	Yam	98
14	C. Swain	Yam	85
15	B. Quinlan	Yam	70
16	L. Waters	Yam	68
17	J. Torres cabrera	Yam	65
18	G. Nelson	Yam	58
19	M. Simpson	Yam	51
20	K. Ryde	Yam	50
21	C. Turner	Yam	45
22	D. Van rosmalen	Yam	43
23	T. Zhao	Yam	43
24	C. Middleton	Yam	29
25	H. Ford	Yam	26
26	C. Morrison	Yam	20
27	D. Adams	Yam	19
28	G. Plowman	Yam	16
29	M. Tustin	Yam	15
30	S. Mikami	Yam	15
31	L. Patteson	Yam	10
32	H. Fordyce	Yam	8
33	S. Boldrini	Yam	5

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