Goulburn motorcycle racer Tom Toparis has sampled his first taste on what it is like to be on track with the best World Supersport riders in the world at the official two day Supersport FIM World Championship test at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit today.
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The 17-year-old finished the day in nineteenth position overall in the combined times, after he stopped the clock with a 1min36.318 in the second session this afternoon.
Toparis did manage to finish in front of five World Championship full time riders, on what was a hard day at the office due to the wind.
“Today was indescribable just how windy it was, but it didn’t really affect what we were trying to do, as today was all about ironing out little problems with the different parts fitted the World Supersport machine,” explained Toparis.
Tomorrows forecast at the 'Island' is meant to be not as windy, which will allow Toparis and the Queensland based team to work more on the bike setup.
When asked what was the World Supersport spec machine was like to ride, in comparison to the Australian Supersport Kawasaki ZX6R machine, Toparis explained that the bike was so much different to the bike which he has been riding in the ASBK series.
"The World Championship ZX6R is better in places and it’s also worse in places. It’s obviously faster, but off the bottom is where it’s losing out a little bit compared to some of the other riders."
Today saw Toparis doing lap times all on his own, without riding with anyone other riders on the circuit. Tomorrow he’ll get out and try and ride with some other riders and learn somethings off them. The only thing Toparis is hoping for but, is just better track conditions than today, which will enable him to do a respectable lap time.
“It’s all about joining the dots and making the whole thing come together. This is why the team and I do test days like these to figure out the problems before we go racing. I’m sure we will be able to sort it out before the round anyway.”
Toparis did add it was just a little bit off putting, as the other guys are still going so fast.
"There is still plenty of time until we go racing. The Cube Racing team are on the job. Hopefully by Friday we will be on track for a good time," concluded Toparis.
Meanwhile, in the Superbike class, Victorians Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team) was the best of the Aussie wildcards, finishing in sixteenth place overall with a time of 1min33.180. Former Goulburn resident, Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing Team) was twentieth, one place ahead of Maxwell’s younger teammate, Daniel Falzon.
Testing resumes today, with the World Superbike category out on track first, which gets underway at 9:10am AEDT.
