ASBK round four: Supersport, Supersport 300, R3 Cup and Superbike Masters reviews. 

The Morgan Park Raceway round of the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) from June 13-15 was a ‘full house’, with six classes competing across 16 races.

In SW-Motech Superbike, Josh Waters increased his championship lead as arch-rival Mike Jones went on a Sunday rollercoaster, so let’s now wrap up the highs and lows of the Kawasaki Supersport, Race and Road Supersport 300, ShopYamaha R3 Cup and Superbike Masters classes.

For full results from Morgan Park Raceway, click here.

Round four of the Australian Superbike Championship was supported by the Southern Downs Regional Council.

Kawasaki Supersport

Archie McDonald (Stop and Seal Yamaha) returned from his latest European sojourn with more sting in the tail than ever, completing a perfect round with pole position, two race wins and a new lap record.

Despite missing the last round at Queensland Raceway, McDonald’s now moved back up to second in the standings on 160pts, behind teammate Jack Mahaffy (186) and in front of BCperformance Kawasaki duo Olly Simpson (154) and Hayden Nelson (130).

Mahaffy (3-2) finished on the same points as the returning Tom Edwards (Team BWR Yamaha, 2-3) in Warwick, with the latter back in Supersport mode for the first time in five years after finishing second in the 2021 championship behind Broc Pearson.

In race one, McDonald weathered strong early pressure from Edwards to claim a dominant victory in the 13-lapper – cut short by one lap after a savage Glenn Nelson (Stop and Seal Yamaha) highside at turn six. Will Nassif (Omega Racing Team Yamaha) was another to go down.

The pace was red-hot, with a new lap record set five times – twice by Edwards and three times by McDonald.

Mahaffy was a lonely third, while Simpson, Tom Bramich (Apex Yamaha), Nelson, Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha) and Jesus Torres Cabrera (Yamaha) all flashed over the finish line in quick succession to claim positions 4-8.

Race two was also red-flagged after eight laps when Marcus Hamod (Honda) was flung over the bars – but not before McDonald lowered the lap record again to 1:14.338.

The race was restarted as a five-lap dash, with McDonald again having too much class as he made it a Sunday double ahead of Mahaffy, Edwards, Nelson, Simpson and Farnsworth.

Race and Road Supersport 300 and ShopYamaha R3 Cup

More sensational slicing and dicing in the Race and Road Supersport 300 class, with the combined winning margin across all three races a staggering 0.169 seconds!

But in terms of race management and consistency, Scott Nicholson came to the fore again as he extended his lead in the championship to 57pts (229 to 182) over fellow Kawasaki rider Tara Morrison.

Nicholson went 1-2-1 across the races, with John Pelgrave (Yamaha, 2-3-4) and Tyler King (8-5-2) second and third overall.

Jake Paige (Kawasaki) was the other race winner, by an miniscule 0.004secs in race two, but then crashed out of the finale as did fellow teen hard-charger Hudson Thompson (Yamaha).

Thompson was third in race one, while Riley Nauta (Kawasaki) claimed the final podium position in race three.

Paige is third in the standings on 170pts from Thompson (166).

In the ShopYamaha R3 Cup, Mitch Simpson’s lead is now just 13pts (146 to 133) over the rapidly improving Nikolas Lazos after the latter won the round courtesy of his 4-1-3 scorecard.

Simpson was disqualified from the opener after a machine irregularity, but then followed with 3-1 results to maintain his place at the pointy end of the ever-tightening leaderboard.

Thompson (1-2-7) and Pelgrave (3-4-2) were second and third overall at Morgan Park, while Phoenix O’Brien (second in race one) was the other rider to finish a race on the podium.

 Jordy Simpson (Yamaha, 127pts) is third in the standings from Thompson (119) and Pelgrave (117).

The final round of the ShopYamaha Cup will be held at The Bend from November 7-9.

Missing from the Supersport 300 and R3 Cup races at Morgan Park was leading light Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha), who injured his hand in qualifying and took no further part in proceedings.

Superbike Masters

As expected, former Superbike ace Beau Beaton (Ducati 851) took the Superbike Masters races at Morgan Park by the scruff of the neck, wining all three in a canter.

Ben Burke (Honda VFR750, 3-3-2) and Corey Glock (Honda RC30, 4-2-3) were second and third overall, while Josh Mathers (Yamaha FZR1000) was clearly the second fastest rider before his machine expired at the tail end of race two – his weekend prematurely over.

Can Beaton go through the season undefeated? He’s building an irresistible case, and we’ll get the definitive answer at The Bend in November.