The first two rounds of the 2026 ASBK Australian Superbike Championship are in the books, and it’s been a really solid start for the Addicted to Track team. Between Phillip Island and Sydney Motorsport Park, we’ve seen podium finishes, some big steps forward in pace, and plenty of opportunities for our 2026 rider line-up to show what they are capable of. The conditions have thrown a bit of everything at us early, but the team has adapted well to the challenges and there’s been a good feeling building as we head into the mid-point of the shorter 2026 season.


SUPERBIKE

#33 Jack Favelle opened his season with real momentum at Phillip Island, immediately putting himself inside the top ten and qualifying P7 with a 1:31.4, nearly a second faster than his pace there last year. The opening races didn’t quite fall his way, with grip issues and mixed conditions making it hard to get into a rhythm, but he stayed in the fight and banked consistent results. He achieved his best result for the weekend in Race Three, settling into a strong pace in the 31s and closing in on the lead group to finish P8. In his own words, the bike felt solid and he feels he unlocked a new level at the island.


Favelle backed up his Phillip Island form with a solid performance in Sydney for Round Two, consistently running inside the top ten and qualifying P8, and reportedly feeling good despite the intense and ever-changing Sydney weather. Race Four showed his fight, recovering from an early mistake that dropped him to P14 and charging back through to P7 while setting a new PB of 1:29.7. He followed it up with a P10 in Race Five, continuing to bank points in a highly competitive field. It’s not quite the result he was hoping for this round, but the pace is there and he’s hungrier than ever to turn that into stronger finishes as the season goes on. We're excited to be a part of his continued growth.


#19 Richard Markham-Barrett joined the team as a guest rider in Sydney, stepping up from the OZBEARS championship into the national Superbike field. He showed promising pace early, including a strong P11 in a wet FP2 session, before qualifying P19 in mixed conditions. An unfortunate mechanical issue as he hit the grid ruled him out of Race Four, but he returned for the final race, battling back up to P20 after falling to the rear of the field in the opening stages. It was a valuable outing for Markham-Barrett regardless of the paper results, and great to have him representing the team at ASBK level.

SUPERSPORT 600

It's been a stand-out season for us so far in the Supersport 600 category, with our newest recruit #48 Valentino Knezovic leaping straight into the title fight in a most impressive start to his rookie year.


It was anything but a perfect start at Phillip Island, after a qualifying crash put Knezovic in P12 on the grid (combined with the next-gen class), but he didn’t let that define the weekend. He came out firing in the races, putting together two strong podium finishes with P2 and P3, showing great pace and race craft while pushing through fatigue and tyre wear late in Race Two. The wet Race Three was a new challenge, but he grew into it as the race went on, working his way forward and just missing out on another top result to finish P5. To come away second overall in the championship after that a crash at the start of the weekend is a huge result, and a clear sign of what he’s capable of.


We were most excited to have Italian #21 Roberto Tamburini join us for a guest ride at Round One, a relationship that we hope to continue when the championship enters the official '26/'27 Summer season. Tamburini made an immediate impact, topping the times in practice and qualifying first in class to lock in a front row start for the weekend's three races. He carried that pace straight into Saturday, taking back-to-back wins in Race One and Race Two, including an outright victory in Race Two against the combined field. The wet Race Three on Sunday threw up a new challenge. Despite being no stranger to Phillip Island, it was his first time riding the circuit in the rain, but he handled it well to round out the weekend with another podium in P3. Three races, three podiums, and an overall round win for Tamburini made for a dream weekend.


As Round Two kicked off in Sydney, the spotlight was back on Knezovic who was right on the pace, sitting near the top of the timesheets in both practice sessions before qualifying in P2. Lining up from P4 on the shared grid, he backed it up with two strong and consistent rides, finishing P2 in both races and staying right in the fight at the front. He leaves Sydney maintaining P2 in the championship standings.

SUPERSPORT 300 & R3 CUP

Our youngest rider #83 Alvin Wu continues his journey on the R3 with us this year, and his first two rounds of the season have allowed plenty of opportunities to work on building pace and race craft. At Phillip Island, he came away with finishes of P21, P17 and P16 in the Supersport 300 class, with his best result coming in the wet, which has been a key strength for Wu. When conditions got slippery, he looked more than comfortable and was able to make ground, finishing just 0.085 off the rider ahead in Race Three.


Sydney's Round Two was a busy one, running in both Supersport 300 and the R3 Cup, and dealing with constantly changing conditions, red flags and a tight schedule. In Supersport 300, he was right in the fight with the group around him, including a race where he crossed the line just 0.001 off P19. The bigger takeaway though was lap time, breaking into the 1:46s for the first time for a new PB. In the R3 Cup, he kept things moving forward across the weekend, going from P15 in Race One to P12 and P13 in the later races, getting closer to the next group each time out. We're proud of the progress Wu is making and look forward to seeing him take more steps forward in both his on-track performance and professional development as the season continues.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors for their continued support: Motorex Australia, bLUcRU, ShopYamaha, Pirelli, Queensland Raceway, Northstar Yamaha, EK Chains, Moto Master, Hel Performance Australia, Motomuck, Evans Coolant, Vandemon Exhaust Systems, Füsport, Ricondi Motorcycle Apparel, Race and Road, SP Tools, Aly-Tek Racing Components, StoreAll Self Storage, YHI Power, the crew from Pit Lane Studio, and Coach 49 Rider Development.


Preparations are well underway for Round Three at The Bend on May 1st-3rd, with a successful few days of testing already completed at In South Australia earlier this month.


Written by Taylor Hoeymakers and Rebecca Bowdidge.

Images by Pit Lane Studio.