Waters’ two seconds at Phillip Island stretches the Superbike points gap

The two races of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul fifth round, were held in very contrasting conditions.

Aboard the McMartin Racing Ducati, Waters finish second in both races. In the dry conditions of Race 1, his guest teammate teenager Harrison Voight won, before DesmoSport Ducati’s Broc Pearson broke through for his first ASBK victory in a wet Race 2.

The 37-year-old Waters won the round with Pearson second ahead of Glenn Allerton (GT Racing BMW).

“In Race 1, I didn’t want to do anything silly in the last few laps when I was behind Harrison (Voight), and I didn’t have great feel at the start of Race 2 in the wet, but I worked my way into it,” Waters said.

“I don’t actually enjoy riding in the wet that much, but I suppose my dirt track background helps when the conditions are really slick.”

With two rounds remaining (at One Raceway and The Bend), 37-year-old Waters has is 29 points ahead of Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team), with Pearson third ahead of Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) and Max Stauffer (Penrite Racing Yamaha).

In the first race, Waters had the jump ahead of Voight and they pulled away to be clear of the rest. Waters led the first six laps before Voight slipped through to the lead at Turn 4 on the next circuit. They remained that way to finish 0.23s apart.

Behind them, Arthur Sissis (Yamaha) grabbed third from Halliday at Turn 1 on the final lap while Allerton and Jones shadowed them to the line. Stauffer, Ant West (Yamaha), Pearson and John Lytras (Yamaha) completed the top 10.

Rain and a wet track faced the riders for Race 2. Pearson shot away at the start ahead of Sissis and Allerton. Waters was slow away and eighth when Sissis went down at Turn 4 which brought out the red flag.

Pearson executed a similar getaway at the restart and led until Lap 7 when, after he was sixth early, Waters took the lead. It was short-lived as Pearson hit back Turn 4 on the final lap to take the win.

Waters was a close second from West, Allerton, Cameron Dunker (Yamaha) and Paris Hardwick (Yamaha). Jones was next from Ryan Yanko (Yamaha), Adam Senior (Yamaha) and Halliday.

Stauffer was fourth until he fell at Turn 4 on the final lap. Earlier Voight pulled out, the wet conditions and next weekend’s European Moto2 round in Spain, firmly the priority.

Round 6 of ASBK will be at One Raceway on October 4-6.