Copyright 2003, www.mcnews.com.au, used with permission:

By Trevor Hedge
www.mcnews.com.au

Final qualifying to decide the grid for tomorrow’s opening round of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship was played out under increasingly overcast conditions today at South Australia’s Mallala Motorsport Park.

This is the opening round of five for the national road racing series which this year also visits Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

Kevin Curtain continued the form that has seen him win four national championships across three different classes by taking pole in both the premier categories, Superbike and Supersport.

The 36-year-old was a late starter at 27, but in recent years he has had no trouble in showing the youngsters which way to go around Australia’s racetracks. Curtain piloted his Nikon Yamaha R1 around the 2.6 kilometre Mallala circuit in 68.16 seconds to take the Superbike pole ahead of reigning Australian Champion Shawn Giles (Suzuki).

Curtain then went under his existing Supersport lap record to take pole in that class also. Second on the grid was his young Nikon Yamaha teammate Brendan Clarke.

Kevin Curtain then capitalized on that Supersport pole position to take the first win for the season ahead of reigning Australian Supersport Champion Shannon Johnson (Honda). Ex-500cc GP competitor Brendan Clarke held down second position for most of the race before being relegated to third place by Johnson in the closing laps.

The final two Supersport races are scheduled for Sunday along with three races for the premier Superbike category. Curtain is well backed to take the Superbike honors at this first round; Mallala is a track that favours his nimble Yamaha R1 over the more powerful Suzukis of Shawn Giles and Craig Coxhell.

The action concludes on Sunday with a full schedule of races.

Superbike Grid
1. Kevin Curtain 1:08.1
2. Shawn Giles 1:08.4
3. Daniel Stauffer 1:08.5
4. Shannon Johnson 1:08.6
5. Craig Coxhell 1:08.8
6. Stephen Tozer 1:09.0
7. Kirk McCarthy 1:09.1
8. Nick Barton 1:09.5
9. Robert Bugden 1:09.7
10. Scott Charlton 1:09.8

SuperSport Grid
1. Kevin Curtain 1:09.8
2. Brendan Clarke 1:10.1
3. Russell Holland 1:10.1
4. Shannon Johnson 1:10.2
5. Shaun Geronomi 1:10.4
6. Reece Bancell 1:10.7
7. Josh Brookes 1:10.8
8. Michael Brenton 1:11.0
9. Glen Allerton 1:11.2
10. Mark Aitchison 1:11.2

SuperSport Race 1 Result

1. Kevin Curtain
2. Shannon Johnson
3. Brendan Clarke
4. Glen Allerton
5. Russell Holland
6. Josh Brookes
7. Judd Greedy
8. Reece Bancell
9. Shaun Geronomi
10. Michael Clunie


Remainder of races to be held Sunday including another two Supersport races and a total of three Superbike races.