Top guns star in the rain as ASBK frontrunners have pre-season hit out
BSB’s josh brookes joined Mike Jones and Glenn Allerton at a weather-threatened Motul Summer Night Series double-header at Sydney Motorsport Park on 11 January.
In a night of red flag chaos, Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) drew first blood in the Pirelli Unlimited F1 class and ended up with two victories for the evening after battling with Allerton (Superbike Advocates Racing – Ducati) and Brookes (DAO Honda).
This was the first race meeting for Allerton on the Ducati V4 R, having made his much-publicised switch from BMW during the off-season.
Two-time British Superbike champion Brookes picked up one victory, acclimatising to the Fireblade after spending two years with the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad outfit. The top four lapped within a few tenths of one another and also included 2024 ASBK Supersport champion JJ Nahlous, who joins the Superbike class this season.
Nahlous, with Jon Falzon working the electronics on his MotoGO Yamaha, hit the podium and impressed with his lap times. Behind the lead group were Sean Condon (Bikebiz – Yamaha) and Jack Favelle (Addicted to Track – Yamaha), both Supersport front runners making a step up and lapping strongly.
Tim Griffith (BC Performance – Kawasaki) dominated Unlimited F2 with two wins and Dominic De Leon (AT1 Pro Race Suits – Kawasaki) also won one.
In AGV 600cc F1 Queenslander Glenn Nelson (Stop & Seal) was on the podium all evening, taking two victories and the round win. Jake Farnsworth (Worth Race Developments) struggled with mechanical problems but still managed second for the night and one win. Marianos Nikolis and Will Nassif (MotoGO) were the other race winners. Christian Rossi and Kristian O’Donnell picked up two wins in the AGV 600cc F2 class. Tom Bramich also made his debut outing on the BC Performance Kawasaki Ninja 636, while Josh Newman completed his first Supersport race laps on the Addicted to Track Yamaha R6.
Ben Lucchitti (Healta) won the Airoh Unlimited F3.
Nahlous rocks Round One
JJ Nahlous starred at Round One, run just after the AMCN Yearbook went to press, showing how quickly he has adapted to the MotoGO Yamaha. Sydney’s summer storms once again caused trouble but it was still an exciting meeting to watch. After a hasty build in his own garage, Josh Brookes was on hand to debut his DAO Honda Fireblade, picking up the opening race pre-rain, but Addicted to Track’s Jack Favelle also excelled in his first Superbike races, winning in the wet. Markus Chiodo (Honda) took out the opening AGV 600cc F1 race with the wet winners being Jake Farnsworth and Will Nassif. The final is a double-header on 7-8 February.
