Gloucester’s Troy Ryan has competed in the first round of the Australian Superbikes (ASBK) at Phillip Island from February 22 to 25.
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The round was held over four days as it was combined with the World Superbikes Series.
Troy is competing in two classes this year the R3 Cup and the 300cc Production, competing on Yamaha YZF-R3 321cc super sport motorbikes.
Thursday was the first day of free practice and riding is held in two 30 minute sessions,. It was all about getting a feel for both bikes, testing their setup and getting them race ready.
Friday, day two, also involved free practice sessions for each class at only 15 minutes each, followed by two 15 minute qualifying sessions for each class.
Troy was very happy with how he went during the free practice despite the wet weather and he felt comfortable and happy with the bike setup.
Qualifying was tough with the changing weather conditions and only having one 15 minute qualifying session for each class.
Related reading: Troy rides in the superbike series
At the start of the Supersport 300 session, the weather was unpredictable as it looked like it was going to rain.
We decided to go out with a dry set up and try to put in a good qualifying time early before it rained.
Unfortunately on his second lap he was trying to put in a hot one but ran off the track and lost a lot of time getting back on the circuit. By this time the rain had just started and he ended up in 21st place on the starting grid.
The R3 cup was a dry session and he struggled to get some clear track to put in a good time and qualified in 13th on the grid.
Saturday held four races, two for each class and Sunday had two races, one in each class.
Troy had some great battles in each of his races where he had to work hard for his position.
Completing the first round Troy is 13th place for the Yamaha R3 cup and 19th place in the Supersport 300. It’s not quite where he wanted to be but it is a long season and with some solid training he will improve. Troy is now focusing on round two to be held March 16 to 18 at Wakefield Park Raceway, Goulburn NSW.