2026

Night shift: Penrite ASBK heads to the bright lights of Sydney

By MA Media 0

It’s a truly unique event on the Penrite ASBK Superbike Championship presented by Pirelli (ASBK) calendar – the Night Race at Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP) when the nation’s circuit racing stars fight for glory under 138 massive light towers.

Sydney will host round two of the 2026 ASBK Championship on March 27-28 (Friday and Saturday) in a jam-packed two-day schedule featuring not only the six classes under the ASBK umbrella – SW-Motech Superbike, Kawasaki Supersport/Supersport Next Gen, Race and Road Supersport 300, BLU CRU R3 Cup and the BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup – but also round one of the 2026 Yamaha R3 BLU CRU Asia Pacific Championship featuring nine Aussie riders.

The ASBK Superbike, Supersport/Supersport Next Gen and Superport 300 classes have already competed at Phillip Island in February, and the racing was gripping as much as it was eye-opening – especially in Superbike where the new breed such as Harrison Voight, Jacob Roulstone, Cameron Dunker and Jonathan Nahlous traded blows with veterans like defending champion Josh Waters, Anthony West, Glenn Allerton and Mike Jones.

Overall, the ledger fell in favour of the ‘new gen’ at Phillip Island after three dramatic races, but with more heat and hustle set to be applied at SMSP it will again come down to fine margins.

The SMSP on-track action begins at 11:45am on Friday and 2:30pm on Saturday, before day gives way to night and the giant light towers are switched on. Racing concludes just after 10pm on both days.

The round also includes a massive pitlane walk during the dinner break on Saturday, free for all ticket holders, while ASBK’s stunt guru Tjay Stuntz will be wowing the crowds with his full repertoire of tricks, and spectators can also check out the latest in products and accessories at the ASBK Trade Alley.

If you’re not able to be trackside for the action, make sure you tune in from home or wherever you may be! The broadcast times are:

Saturday 28th March
15:15 – 18:00 AEDT – Livestream Session 1 (ASBK Platforms)
19:00 – 22:00 AEDT – Viceland, SBS on Demand, Stan Sport, Sky Sport NZ
22:00 – 22:30 AEDT – Livestream Session 2 (ASBK Platforms)
15:15 – 22:30 AEDT – FIM-MOTO.TV stream

Sunday 29th March
13:00 – 16:00 AEDT – SBS Replay of Saturday night’s broadcast

Related:

Voight (#29) leads the SW-Motech Superbike field at Phillip Island

SW-Motech Superbike
For the first time since 2023, five-time Australian Superbike champion Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati) will not be leading the championship ahead of round two at SMSP.

It’s unfamiliar territory, but Waters will have fond memories of the 2025 SMSP round where his SW-Motech Superbike execution was flawless with two runaway victories.

It was a blueprint that worked a treat – clear off and then manage the gap – but Phillip Island has already made it clear the defending champion will be managing far more pressure points in 2026.

And that starts with his teammate Voight, who leads the championship on 68pts from Roulstone (Motocity Honda, 62pts), Dunker (Blue Marlin Pools Racing Yamaha, 56pts), Waters (50pts), Nahlous (Yamaha Racing Team, 47pts) and West (DesmoSport Ducati, 45pts).

While Voight has competed as a wildcard in previous seasons, 2026 is the first year he will contest the championship full-time – and he celebrated that new status with two impressive wins at Phillip Island, while Roulstone won the other after a stirring last-lap charge from third to first.

Former Moto3 rider Roulstone is a rookie in the purest form, while Nahlous is star turn, too, which means that ASBK is well and truly going through a generational change – but it remains to be seen if that amounts to a changing of the guard with seasoned veterans like Waters, Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) and West still mightily competitive. Allerton (Superbike Advocates Racing Ducati) also continues to keep the younger riders honest.

Nahlous will be hard to beat at SMSP. The new kid in the Yamaha Racing Team has come to grips with his fresh environment very quickly and established a new outright lap record at SMSP only a few weeks ago.

Other riders who will be in the SMSP mix include circuit specialist, Cru Halliday (Stop and Seal Ducati), Jack Favelle (Addicted to Track Yamaha), Marcus Hamod (Motocity Honda) and Josh Newman (Superbike Advocates Racing Ducati). Halliday, then aboard a Yamaha, was third in race two last year, behind Waters and Jones.

Twenty-three riders will contest the two 13-lap races at SMSP.

Top three in the SW-Motech Superbike standings: (L to R) Roulstone, Voight and Dunker

Kawasaki Supersport and Supersport Next Gen
Again, it will be two championships in one with Kawasaki Supersport and Kawasaki Supersport Next Gen on the track together at SMSP.

Evergreen Italian Roberto Tamburini (Addicted to Track Yamaha) was a wildcard at Phillip Island and took the honours in Supersport with pole, two wins and a third.

That’s the season done for Tamburini, however, and he’ll soon fall down the standings as riders like Valentino Knezovic (Addicted to Track Yamaha), Scott Nicholson (Team BWR Yamaha), Will Nassif (Gow Moto Yamaha) and Sydneysider Jake Farnsworth (Worth Racing Yamaha) get to work.

And keep an eye on class rookies Ghage Plowman (Yamaha) and Marianos Nikolis (MotoGo Yamaha), who will be more prepared for battle after Phillip Island, as well as Josh Soderland (Yamaha) and Sam Pezzetta (Yamaha).

Former World Supersport rider, Thailand’s Anupab Sarmoon, will also compete in Sydney for MotoGo Yamaha.

In Next Gen, it’s going to be an entertaining multi-cylinder show as the BCperformance Kawasaki ZX-R6s of Tom Edwards and Hayden Nelson line up against Tom Toparis (Stop and Seal) and Olly Simpson (DesmoSport) on their Ducati V2s and the three-cylinder Triumph Street Triple 765 RS of class debutante – but experienced local and BSB rider – Jacob Hatch.

That’s a major reason why the Supersport Next Gen class was introduced: to allow a wider variety of manufacturers and models to compete in the ASBK Championship.

Race and Road Supersport 300 and BLU CRU R3 Cup
Three different winners at the opening round of Race and Road Supersport 300 confirmed the unpredictability of this exciting feeder class.

New Zealander Tyler King (Kawasaki) claimed his first win in the class, Tara Morrison (Kawasaki) stunned everyone with her runaway win in the wet final race, and Riley Nauta came up trumps on his Champions Ride Days Kawasaki – but such is the nature of the class there is no certainty that they will taste victory in Sydney as there are plenty more lining up to be in the spotlight.

For one, West Aussie rookie Orlando Peovitis (Kawasaki) claimed pole position at Phillip Island and went remarkably close to scoring his first podium after graduating from the BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup.

The elder statesman of the class, Jake Senior (Blue Marlin Pools Racing Yamaha), will be another contender alongside his young teammate Phoenix O’Brien (Yamaha).

And let’s not forget Jordy Simpson (Yamaha), who sits second in the standings behind King.

The best form guide to follow is that there are 26 riders in the class and any of them could end up with a podium!

The BLU CRU R3 Cup is for riders on the fleet-footed Yamaha YZF-R3. SMSP is round one, so too early for a form guide, but O’Brien and Senior would have to be early favourites for a win alongside the experienced and ever-smiling Simpson.

BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup
The eighth season of BLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup competition kicks off at SMSP, with the 2026 roster including 11 rookies out of 17 riders.

They will again be provided with everything they need to develop skills, race craft, confidence and professionalism: identical Yamaha YZF-R15s, LS2 helmets, Ricondi riding gear and bespoke coaching led by former 500 GP race winner Garry McCoy.

As usual, it will be helter-skelter racing as the riders in the grassroots academy go about learning and honing their craft. Hang on for the ride!