ASBK Supersport Qualifying
With Chris Plumridge
Oli Bayliss will start from pole position for Round 1 of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship in the Motorsports TV Supersport class, but all the paddock is talking about a potential injury to 2019 champion Tom Toparis.
Tom Toparis – Image Robert Murdoch
Toparis crashed his Benro Racing Yamaha at Turn 10 only a few minutes into the session. He was immediately attended to by medics due to a possible lower leg injury. Toparis is scheduled to leave for Europe in less than a week to contest the European rounds of the World Supersport Championship. Early indications are that nothing is broken but Toparis will be subject to medical clearance tomorrow morning before he is confirmed to race.
Tom Toparis – Image Robert Murdoch
Supersport Qualifying
With the sun coming out at Phillip Island the Supersport riders had a very different experience to the one they had in the morning, and it would be up to who could adapt the best as to who would be on the front row tomorrow.
Tom Toparis unsurprisingly set the early pace on his Benro Yamaha (1:36.962), but Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing Yamaha) was right behind on 1:37.698.
Ty Lynch crashed two-and-a-half minutes in at Turn 8, but then with ten-minutes to go Toparis went down at Turn 10.
This was huge news for the rest of the Supersport field who had been in Toparis’ thrall for the whole of 2019 – save for one race at The Bend. Toparis was on a flyer, too: three-tenths up at the first split.
While the medical team attended to Toparis, Bayliss made his move, knocking the mark down to 1:36.893 to claim provisional pole.
Jack Passfield continued his recent run of form for third (1:37.558), with Nic Liminton fourth (1:37.694). At the chequered flag Passfield lowered his time to a 1:37.242 and Liminton a 37.282, but otherwise that’s how they stayed.
Max Stauffer (GTR Motostars Yamaha) impressed during his first-ever Supersport qualifying in fifth (1:37.616), with Jack Hyde sixth.
Tom Edwards (Bikebiz Yamaha) will start from eighth, Broc Pearson (Yamaha) will start from ninth, while Ted Collins (JC Motorsports) will start from 11th on his return to the Supersport class from Superbike.
Australian Supersport 600 Qualifying
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap | Speed |
| 1 | Oli BAYLISS | YZF-R6 | 1m36.893 | 255 |
| 2 | Tom TOPARIS | ZX6R | +0.069 | 257 |
| 3 | Jack PASSFIELD | YZF-R6 | +0.349 | 257 |
| 4 | Nic LIMINTON | YZF-R6 | +0.389 | 255 |
| 5 | Max STAUFFER | YZF-R6 | +0.923 | 261 |
| 6 | Jack HYDE | YZF-R6 | +1.208 | 263 |
| 7 | Rhys BELLING | YZF-R6 | +1.311 | 258 |
| 8 | Tom EDWARDS | YZF-R6 | +1.461 | 254 |
| 9 | Broc PEARSON | YZF-R6 | +1.528 | 259 |
| 10 | Aidan HAYES | YZF-R6 | +1.590 | 258 |
| 11 | Ted COLLINS | GSXR | +1.836 | 257 |
| 12 | Luke MITCHELL | YZF-R6 | +2.152 | 259 |
| 13 | Dallas SKEER | GSXR | +2.340 | 257 |
| 14 | Brodie MALOUF | YZF-R6 | +2.619 | 262 |
| 15 | Chris QUINN | YZF-R6 | +2.725 | 255 |
| 16 | Ryan TAYLOR | YZF-R6 | +3.249 | 255 |
| 17 | Mitch KUHNE | YZF-R6 | +4.473 | 257 |
| 18 | Patrick LI | YZF-R6 | +4.712 | 257 |
| 19 | Darren McGRATH | YZF-R6 | +5.652 | 247 |
| 20 | Reid BATTYE | YZF-R6 | +5.834 | 252 |
| 21 | Andrew EDSER | YZF-R6 | +6.911 | 252 |
| 22 | Stephany KAPILAWI-J | YZF-R6 | +7.783 | 251 |
| NC | Ty LYNCH | YZF-R6 | -1:36.893 | / |
Source: MCNews.com.au