News

Australian gun riders with wild cards for the opening round of Superbike and Supersport World Championships at Phillip Island’s Swann round on February 22nd, have hit the seaside circuit two weeks ago to continue their preparations.

Superbike rider, Melbourne’s Jed Metcher aboard the Kawasaki, was joined on the 4.445 km track by supersport pair Sam Lambert (Triumph) and Aiden Wagner (Yamaha). The same rider will return to the track before the round for an official test on February 16-17.

Lambert may be absent from that test – and the opening round itself – after he crashed at the high-speed Turn 12 on Wednesday morning, and was taken to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne with concussion and a broken collarbone. In contrast Wagner, the reigning Australasian supersport champion, was delighted with the progress he made, although conditions were difficult with a stiff 30km/h head wind on Gardner Straight keeping times down for all the riders on track.

"We found a really good direction, and I'm confident I've settled on a chassis package to get the job done," said Wagner, who also competed in the 2014 Moto2 race at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. "At the test, I used a higher-spec engine than we use in Australia, but I'll be saving for world supersport-spec one for the actual race weekend. The head wind was really strong, and I was only managing about 240km/h down the main straight compared to 260km/h normally."

Wagner is shaping as Australia's top supersport wildcard, and in the Superbike ranks it's Metcher, who has just come off a stellar individual performance for Australia three weeks ago in the International Challenge at the Island Classic historic meeting.

Metcher spent little time reacclimatising to his ZX-10R at Phillip Island from the Katana he rode the previous weekend. 

“We’ve tested lots of options. Our tyre life was good, particularly with the new swing arm,” said Metcher. “We still have to get a good base setting with the new components, and that will be our focus at the final pre-season test.   We’re still hoping for top ten, but we have a lot of work to do first.”