Mike Jones came out swinging in practice for round seven of the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at One Raceway in Goulburn.
The Queenslander set a new best lap around the 2.32km circuit on his Yamaha Racing Team YZF-R1M as he sets out to deny arch-rival Josh Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati) the chance to clinch the SW-Motech Superbike title with a round to spare.
The gap between the pair is currently 69pts with four races remaining at One Raceway and The Bend – and Jones has made all the right moves to start bridging the gap with his enterprising Friday form, topping the timesheets ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Anthony West (Addicted to Track) and Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) in extremely windy conditions.
The Kawasaki Supersport, Race and Road Supersport 300 and BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup classes also completed three practice sessions today, while the Yamaha BLU CRU Asia Pacific riders also began their campaign with five Aussies among the 19-rider roster.
Qualifying will be held on Saturday for all classes, along with the opening races in the Oceania Junior Cup, Supersport 300 and Asia-Pacific classes.
The entertainment at One Raceway across the weekend will also include the popular ASBK pillion rides, as well as a massive pitlane walk during the lunch break on Sunday.
practice resultls
- SW-MOTECH SUPERBIKE
Despite cameos from a few riders at the top of the practice standings, the speed and guile of Jones and West ultimately saw them return to the pointy end of the timesheets across the three sessions.
Jones stopped the clock at 58.696 for his new best lap, eclipsing his own 58.838 from 12 months ago as he continues an affinity with a circuit where he has finished on the podium in seven of the last 14 Superbike races.
Meanwhile, West uncorked a 58.810, while Pearson (59.131) found a late burst of speed to pip the impressive Jack Favelle (Addicted to Track Yamaha, 59.198).
Cameron Dunker (MotoGo Yamaha, 59.363), Waters (59.624), Troy Herfoss (Yamaha Racing Team, 59.658) and Cru Halliday (Stop and Seal Ducati, 59.795) completed the top eight.
Meanwhile, the hard luck story of the day was Jonathan Nahous, who crashed near the end of FP2 and severely damaged the Honda he was competing on for the first time.
Nahlous still ended the day ninth fastest ahead of Glenn Allerton (Superbike Advocates Racing Ducati), who’s a former race winner at One Raceway alongside Herfoss, Pearson and Jones.
Final practice is at 10:30am on Saturday before qualifying begins at 2:35pm.
- KAWASAKI SUPERSPORT
Archie McDonald (Stop and Seal) only required two of the three practice sessions to set the fastest Friday time – and certainly not a huge surprise as he currently holds the lap record around One Raceway.
McDonald’s best lap was 1:01.383 as he finished ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Jake Farnsworth (1:01.462), Hayden Nelson (BCperformance Kawasaki, 1:01.520), Jack Mahaffy (Stop and Seal Yamaha, 1:01.660), Olly Simpson (BCperformance Kawasaki, 1:01.724) and Tommy Edwards (Team BWR Yamaha, 1:02.058).
Mahaffy leads the championship by 21pts from Simpson, with McDonald a further 4ps back in third.
In the Supersport Nex Gen sub-class, Tom Toparis (Stop and Seal Ducati, 1:01.533) was fastest, and fourth overall on track amongst all the riders.
Next up for the 19 riders is the start of qualifying at 9:25am on Saturday.
- RACE AND ROAD SUPERSPORT 300
Scott Nicholson (Kawasaki) has made all the right early moves in his bid to wrap up the Race and Road Supersport 300 championship early at One Raceway, easily setting the benchmark in practice while main rival Tara Morrison (Kawasaki) was well back in 17th.
Still early days, of course, especially in a class where the balance of power can shift in the blink of an eye once the racing begins.
Nicholson stopped the clocks at 1:06.773, just shy of the current lap record of 1:06.536 set in 2024 – and in brutal conditions which weren’t conducive to all-out attack.
Jai Russo (Yamaha), Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha), Riley Nauta (Kawasaki), Mitch Simpson (Yamaha) and Tyler King (Kawasaki) filled positions 2-6 in the 31-rider field.
Nicholson currently leads the championship by 67pts (292 to 225) over Morrison.
- BLU CRU OCEANIA JUNIOR CUP
A searching day at the office for the pint-sized fleet of Yamaha YZF-R15s in the blustery conditions, and it was Hunter Charlett who made the best of it with a 1:16.804.
Charlett, currently fourth in the OJC standings, finished the day ahead of Rossi McAdam, Thomas Cameron, championship leader Connor Lewis and Orlando Peovitis.
Qualifying for the stars of tomorrow begins at 9am on Saturday, where lap times ae expected to tumble in calmer conditions.
For more information on the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul:
