Tom Toparis has concluded the official Supersport FIM World Supersport Championship in a positive seventeenth place overall, which saw the test come to a close today at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 17-year-old Goulburn star says that he is happy with how the two days of testing have gone for himself and the Cube Racing team.
However, while Toparis did walk away happy enough, the mode was slightly hampered after he hit the deck in the final session this afternoon.
Toparis came into the fast sweeping left hand turn twelve corner which leads onto the main straight and had a bit of breeze which upset the bike a bit which resulted him in losing the frontend, with no warning at all.
“It’s just a pity about the crash we had in the final session this afternoon, as it set us back a bit in that session,” Toparis told the Goulburn Post.
“The crash itself but will not set me back mentally, as I know what happened and why it happened.”
Overall, without showing on the time sheets, Toparis and his Queensland based team have made some pretty big steps today, which bodes well for the weekend.
Toparis posted his fastest lap time of the test in this morning’s third session, which was a 1min35.490. This time was a personal best for Toparis, which he labelled as “good”, considering the wind.
“The wind in the first session wasn’t too bad, but in the second session was a bit worse. Not a lot of other riders went faster,” explained Toparis.
Another positive note for the day was the fact that yesterday saw Toparis struggling in the second sector of the 4.445km circuit layout, but today he found a bit more time, which has given him confident heading into the curtain raiser round of the championship.
“To end the test in seventeenth place is not too bad, as I know we have more pace in the bike still to come. We would have gone out at the end of the last session, if I didn’t crash on new tyres and we would have improved our times I believe.”
Depending on the weather this weekend, Toparis believes he will be able to produce mid to high 34’s, easily and that is what he wants to race at.
Toparis also compared the World Supersport spec bike to the Australian Supersport bike and said; “The World Supersport spec bike is completely different to the Australian Supersport spec bike, so the actual setup of the bike is not even similar. All the little things, like tyres are the same as what we run in the ASBK, as I thought they would be different, but they are the same as what we run here in the Australian championship.”
Next time Toparis will be out on track will be for the first Free Practice session on Thursday afternoon for the Australian Supersport Championship, which kicks off at 2:25pm AEDT.
Troy Herfoss was the best Aussie performer in the World Superbike (WorldSBK) category, which saw him finishing the two day test in sixteenth place overall. The former Goulburn resident guided his Penrite Honda Racing Team machine to a 1min32.297, which he posted in the final session today.
“Today we have had a day which was trouble free, in regards to the running of the bike, but most of all, two very productive sessions,” explained Herfoss.
“We have managed to find a solution to any of the issues which we have had. In saying that, it would have been good to make the most of the good conditions we had this morning, but we had a process which we were working through to make sure we covered all areas in terms of setup wise.”
Herfoss also added that he was happy for his Victorian based team, as they have been working so hard.
“It’s been stressful, so it’s nice to end the test on a positive note for the team and all of our team sponsors. We can now regroup and turn our attention to the round this weekend.”
Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell was nineteenth fastest overall aboard his Yamaha YZF-R1M machine after he stopped the clock with a 1min32.651 in the first session today, while his new teammate for 2018, Daniel Falzon finished up in twenty-first place on the time sheets with a 1min32.828, which was also posted in this morning’s session.