ASBK returns to Phillip Island as the battle for Superbike honours intensifies

The 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) spotlight will fall on Phillip Island again this weekend (September 6-7), in what is shaping as a season-defining round for riders still harbouring title ambitions.

And nowhere are the stakes higher than in the flagship SW-Motech Superbike class, where defending four-time champion Josh Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati) has the chance to tighten the screws even further at his favourite ASBK hunting ground.

He leads the championship by 54pts over Yamaha Racing Team’s Mike Jones after five of eight rounds, and another commanding result at Phillip Island could just about pull the shutters down on his rivals in 2025 – psychologically if not mathematically.

The Phillip Island round will again be held in a condensed two-day format which proved to be massively popular with riders, teams and spectators in 2024.

For the SW-Motech Superbike, Kawasaki Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300 classes, September 6-7 will mark their second visit to Phillip Island in 2025, while the schedule will also feature the BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup and the Yamaha R3 BLU CRU Asia-Pacific Championship, which will venture to the grand prix circuit for the first time.

There will also be off-track activities to entertain the family, including ASBK Trade Alley and the chance to meet riders in a pitlane walk at 12:30pm on Sunday. ASBK’s resident stunt guru, Tjay Stuntz, will also showcase his bag of tricks across the weekend.

Round six of the Australian Superbike Championship is supported by the Victorian Government via its Significant Sporting Events Program.

Related:
Event program
Victorian Government backs ASBK Championship return to Phillip Island

SW-Motech Superbike
Thanks to an imposing record at Phillip Island, Waters is a short-priced favourite to continue his winning ways in the two 11-lap SW-Motech Superbike races.

However, if cracks start to appear in his composure, the likes of Jones, Anthony West (Addicted to Track Yamaha), Glenn Allerton (Superbike Advocates Racing Ducati), Cameron Dunker (MotoGo Yamaha), Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) and Jonathan Nahlous (Omega Racing Team Yamaha) will be ready to pounce.

The 20-rider field has also been bolstered by the return of three-time champion Troy Herfoss, who has replaced Max Stauffer at Yamaha Racing Team for the final three rounds of the season.

Stauffer remains in the championship on a privately entered Yamaha, while Herfoss has enjoyed one shakedown test on the YZF-R1M – but will approach his Phillip Island YRT debut in a typically methodical and composed fashion.

“I’m really enjoying what I’m doing in the US, but I still love racing a Superbike and when the opportunity came up to race with YRT at the final three rounds, we were able to put something together pretty quickly and make it happen,” Herfoss said. “Mike has proven that the bike is good, and the team have what it takes to be up the front. I’m looking forward to getting down to Phillip Island and testing myself in race conditions.”

Meanwhile, former Superbike number two Halliday (Stop and Seal) also heads to Phillip Island with plenty of intrigue as he makes his ASBK debut on a Ducati – enjoying his first competitive outing on the Panigale V4 R in a low-key state-based round at Sydney Motorsport Park two weeks ago.

Pearson is one rider who has the capacity to make solid inroads at Phillip Island after what at times has been a luckless campaign, including at Queensland Raceway’s round five when he was skittled by the sliding machine of Harrison Voight.

After eight wins from 11 races in 2025, Waters leads the championship on 261pts from Jones (207), West (191), Allerton (161), Dunker (150), Pearson (147), Stauffer (147) and Nahlous (142).

Kawasaki Supersport
Only 32pts separates the top three in Kawasaki Supersport – Stop and Seal teammates Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald (both Yamaha) and Olly Simpson (BCperformance Racing Team Kawasaki).

The juiciest part of that equation is the budding rivalry between Mahaffy and McDonald, with the latter having skipped a weekend due to European commitments otherwise the differential would have been much closer.

In the previous round at Morgan Park, back in June, McDonald made a decisive move with a ‘full monty’ – pole position and two wins compared to Mahaffy’s 3-2 scorecard.

Mahaffy leads McDonald by 26pts (186 to 160), followed by the ever-smiling Olly Simpson (154pts) and his Kawasaki teammate Hayden Nelson (130pts), and then Tom Bramich (Yamaha, 129pts). Other than Nelson, all the riders have won races in 2025.

Tom Edwards (Team BWR Yamaha) was brilliant in his Supersport return at Morgan Park and will be on the hunt for podiums again, while the mercurial Jake Farnsworth (Yamaha) can never be discounted. Marcus Hamod (Honda), Levi Russo (Motoschool Racing Team Yamaha), Josh Newman (Addicted to Track Yamaha) and Will Nassif (Omega Racing Team Yamaha) add to a stacked field of emerging circuit racing stars.

Meanwhile, the Supersport Next Gen Ducati Panigale V2s of Tom Toparis (Stop and Seal) and Luca Durning (DesmoSport Ducati) will also line up in the Supersport races.

Race and Road Supersport 300
What can be left to describe the Race and Road Supersport 300 Championship? It’s a flurry of fast-twitch activity from start to finish, especially at Phillip Island where slipstreaming really comes into the equation. Expect more of the same this weekend – with a chance of even more fireworks as the championship builds towards an exciting conclusion.

Six riders have won races in 2025, but for consistency one rider has stood above the others: 24-year-old Scott Nicholson. He leads by 47pts (229 to 182) over fellow Kawasaki rider Tara Morrison with a maximum of 128pts still up for grabs in the remaining rounds.

At Phillip Island in February, Morrison won a ground-breaking first race in the class, and her recent one-off ride in the Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship at Donington has certainly made her more determined than ever.

Jake Paige (Champion’s Ride Days Kawasaki) is third overall, 12pts behind Morrison, and with Yamaha duo Hudson Thompson and Jordy Simpson nipping at his heels.

A huge field of 36 riders will contest the Supersport 300 races.

BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup
Leading the chase is Chaz Williams, who recently added a maiden circuit racing title to his resume when he took out the FIM MiniGP 160cc class with a round to spare.

Second is Connor Lewis, who has really come into his own in the last couple of rounds by shrinking the gap to Williams to just 8pts.

Third overall is a battle between three, with just 4pts separating Rossi McAdam, Xavier Curmi and Hunter Charlett.

Purchase tickets to round six at Phillip Island here.