Supersport and Supersport 300 turn it on at One Raceway
Round seven of the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at One Raceway was an absolute beauty, with the compact layout placing a premium on race smarts, lightning starts and millimetre precision – and where even the smallest mistakes were costly.
Two classes which walked that tightrope were Kawasaki Supersport and Race and Road Supersport 300, so let’s take a look at what transpired across the weekend – including the early crowning of Scott Nicholson in Supersport 300.
Related:
Congrats Scott Nicholson: 2025 Race and Road Supersport 300 champion!
Kawasaki Supersport
It was 2024 all over again at One Raceway, as Stop and Seal teammates Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald shared victories and second places in Kawasaki Supersport, with the latter winning overall courtesy of his bonus point for pole position on Saturday.
Olly Simpson (BCperformance Kawasaki, 4-3) was third overall, which means the championship will go down to the wire at The Bend from November 7-9 with Mahaffy leading on 265pts from McDonald (241) and Simpson (234).
Meanwhile, the Supersport Next Gen class was again held in conjunction with Kawasaki Supersport, with Goulburn’s very own hard-charger Tom Toparis (Stop and Seal Ducati) easily accounting for Luca Durning (DesmoSport Ducati) in both races as well as finishing 2-3 amongst all the runners.
In race one, an early bingle for Hayden Nelson (BCperformance Kawasaki) – who would also go down (and remount) in race two in a dirty day for the 2024 One Raceway double podium finisher – brought out the red flag, and in the 15-lap restart McDonald got the perfect jump from pole before the back-end of his Yamaha skipped out a few corners later and he ran of the circuit, rejoining in 17th.
He immediately began carving his way back through the pack, with a new lap record of 1:00.155 on lap five an indication of his haste.
McDonald’s early error opened the door for Mahaffy, and he seized his opportunity by hitting the lead and checking out, with Toparis second from McDonald, Tom Edwards (Team BWR Yamaha), Simpson, Marcus Hamod (Motocity Honda), Tom Bramich (Apex Yamaha) and Mitch Simpson (Yamaha).
Jake Farnsworth (Worth Race Developments Yamaha) and Will Nassif (Yamaha) were among the three DNFs after the former crashed and Nassif was caught up as collateral damage.
Jack Mahaffy takes a 24-point lead into the final round
Race two saw three leaders – Toparis (laps 1-5), Mahaffy (6-7) and McDonald (8-16) – as the trio turned it an intra-team scrimmage.
McDonald held out Mahaffy by 0.214 seconds in a tense final lap, with Toparis third from Simpson, Hamod, Edwards, Farnsworth and Bramich.
Bramich (184pts) moved onto fourth in the standings at the expense of Nelson (172) at One Raceway, while Farnsworth (162) is sixth.
McDonald on his way to victory in Kawasaki Supersport race two
Race and Road Supersport 300
Nicholson (Kawasaki) is the 2025 champion, building an insurmountable lead at One Raceway after his 7-4-4 finishes and a new lap record of 1:05.710.
He now joins the likes of current Moto2 pilot and Dunker as recent Supersport 300 winners, in a season where his consistency has set him apart from the rest of the field: 13 podiums in 18 races, including five wins.
“The hard work behind the scenes to get here has been enormous, including mum and dad who have supported me throughout my career and put in so much effort,” said an elated Nicholson, who’s also studying for a commerce degree.
“My partner and brothers also join me at all the race meetings, so everyone puts in a tonne of work.”
Nicholson (340pts) now heads to The Bend with the weight lifted off his shoulders. He’s ahead of Jake Paige (Kawasaki, 260pts), Jordy Simpson (Yamaha, 243pts), Tara Morrison (Kawasaki, 233pts) and Tyler King (Kawasaki, 228pts).
Paige (2-1-1) was the overall winner at One Raceway ahead of teammate Riley Nauta (1-2-3) and Valentino Knezovic (Yamaha, 3-3-5), while Hudson Thompson (Yamaha) also finished on the podium with his second in race three.
Nauta’s victory in race one went against the normal Supersport 300 grain, with his margin over Paige a whopping 3.497 seconds. Normal service was then resumed in races two and three with Page winning those by a combined 0.287 seconds.
