Yamaha Superbike rider Daniel Falzon flies straight through to Q2 as women make mark on International Motofest

South Australian Yamaha Superbike rider Daniel Falzon won a battle of the minds at The Bend Motorsport Park on Friday as women continue to make their mark on the sport.

South Australian Yamaha Superbike rider Daniel Falzon at The Bend on Friday. Picture: Andrew Gosling

In confusing conditions dominated by strong, cold winds South Australian Yamaha Superbike rider Daniel Falzon won a battle of the minds at The Bend Motorsport Park on Friday.

Falzon did one “out lap” followed by one “flying lap” in the final practice before Saturday’s qualifying and first race. He then retired to the pits for the rest of the 30min session.

His time of 1min52.769 was good enough to push the Yamaha Racing Team rider straight through to Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session for Round Three of the Australian Superbike Championship.

This left eight riders of the 25-strong grid to battle over the remaining places available

for Q2.

Desmosport Ducati rider Mike Jones, racing at The Bend for the first time, also was fastest on his first flying lap but stayed out to complete another six. He finished second on the time sheets.

Wayne Maxwell, Team Suzuki’s new 2019 signing, only went out on track halfway through the session but finished third fastest. Behind him in lap times were Kawasaki’s Bryan Staring, Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters, defending champion Honda’s Troy Herfoss, Falzon’s Yamaha team-mate Cru Halliday, Honda’s Mark Chiodo and NextGen BMW’s Glenn Allerton.

The top three riders from Saturday’s Q1 will join Falzon and these eight riders to determine the first four rows of the grid for this weekend’s three Superbike races.

Late on Friday, Staring continued his battle with fellow Aussie Broc Parkes in final qualifying for the Asia Road Racing Championship’s new Superbike class. Parkes beat Staring to pole by just 0.5sec to head the grid for the first race this afternoon.

Avalon Biddle, Shelby Turner, Tayla Relph and Katarna Robinson at The Bend on Friday. Picture: FRANK HODAK

Women are involved in all the forms of racing on show at this weekend’s Bend International MotoFest.

On Friday four of them took time out to compare notes. Avalon Biddle has just made history by winning the competitive New Zealand 600cc Supersport class.

The Kiwi has switched to the Supersport class of the Australian Superbike Championship and The Bend is her first outing in Australia this season.

Biddle first raced in Australia as a 14-year-old in 2007 before pursuing an international career. In 2015 she became the winner of the inaugural FIM Women’s European Cup.

“It’s cool to see so many women competing in motorcycle racing now,” she said. “It’s my first time at The Bend and first time on the Yamaha and the top four riders in Supersport are really quick. It will be awesome for me to get a top-six finish this weekend.”

Shelby Turner is racing this weekend on the KTM supermotard motorcycle that three-times World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss usually rides in dirt-track events.

Turner has raced in the ASBK 300cc Supersport class, motocross and supermotard.

“It’s unreal to be offered the supermotard ride,” she said. “I’m still in shock. It’s going to be the first time I’ve raced under lights but Troy has told me to pack my ‘fast boots’ and go for it.”

The MotoFest’s supermotard event is a round of the Australian championship. It concludes Saturday on The Bend’s Stadium circuit, a layout with part-dirt, part-tarmac and several jumps.

Tayla Relph, competing in the Supersport 300 championship on a Kawasaki, had a huge season last year.

She crashed heavily at the first Supersport 300 round at Phillip Island, with a brake disc tearing her leg apart. Relph returned to the series final to get on the podium. Then she was named Queensland motorcycle sportswoman of the year, judged across all disciplines of the sport.

“Motorcycling Australia (the sport’s governing body) is doing a great job of promoting the role of females in our sport,” she said.

“My advice to women wanting to compete is to believe in yourself and your ability as it can be a bit scary to race for the first time.”

Katarna Robinson is just 12 years old but racing a KTM 85 in the MotoStars series is giving her a path to the main game.

The series, created by ex-MotoGP racer Damian Cudlin, mirrors similar European championships considered feeder-classes to MotoGP and World Superbikes.

“As a seven-year-old, I thought ‘I can to that’,” she said as she prepared for the start of two evenings of racing at The Bend.

Day three of the four-day International MotoFest starts at 8am on Saturday, finishing at 10pm.

It is an ASBK-ARRC double-header with a round of the Australian Supermoto Championship run under lights.