At times, Round Three of the 2026 Australian Superbike Championship at The Bend Motorsport Park felt more like survival than racing, with mixed conditions, wet qualifying sessions, crashes, and constantly changing grip levels keeping the entire Addicted to Track team on their toes throughout the weekend. Despite the challenges, the team showed their resilience over the course of the weekend, highlighted by a milestone maiden Supersport 600 victory for #48 Valentino Knezovic, a determined comeback for #33 Jack Favelle, and a hard-fought weekend of valuable experience for #83 Alvin Wu.


SUPERBIKE

#33 Jack Favelle faced a particularly challenging weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park. Friday on the YZF-R1 started well, consistently improving his pace during practice while continuing to close the gap to the front runners across each session. Conditions took a dramatic turn on Saturday afternoon, however, with two wet qualifying sessions catching many riders out across the field. Unfortunately, Favelle became one of several casualties of the slippery conditions, taking a reasonably minor slide in Q1, before crashing out of proceedings at T1 during Q2. Unable to set an improved lap time in the second session, Favelle was left to start the weekend’s races from P10 on the grid.


Sunday proved to be another physically demanding day for Favelle after being caught up in some drama during the opening stages of Race Six, dropping him back to P12 early before fighting his way back for a P9 finish. Still feeling battered and bruised after the weekend’s crashes, Favelle dug deep in Race Seven to bring home another P9 finish. While the conditions made for a demanding round, he felt good about his race pace as the weekend progressed and leaves The Bend sitting P9 in the championship standings, a great result all things considered.

SUPERSPORT 600

#48 Valentino Knezovic delivered a standout performance this round, continuing the strong momentum we have been building together throughout the 2026 season. Friday’s practice sessions saw Knezovic steadily improve in every outing as the team worked through setup changes and continued refining the YZF-R6 package ahead of qualifying. Saturday brought difficult mixed weather conditions, but he adapted brilliantly, securing P2 in qualifying with a 1:57.011 and lining up from P6 on the combined Next-Gen and Supersport 600 grid for Sunday’s races.


He converted that pace into a milestone result in Race Six, recovering from a shaky start to join the battle at the front before securing his maiden Supersport 600 win, and setting the fastest lap of the race against both Supersport and Next-Gen riders. Race Seven brought early drama as an unexpected shower hit the venue as riders took to the grid, and saw Knezovic crash during the warm-up lap. The team immediately went to work repairing the bike, successfully getting him back onto the grid in time to race, although he was forced to start from the rear of the field following the delayed pit exit. Despite the setback, Knezovic once again delivered an impressive ride through difficult and uncertain conditions, charging forward through the field to secure an outstanding P2 in class by the chequered flag. With two more podium finishes for the season under his belt, he leaves the round sitting P2 in the championship and firmly in the Supersport title fight.

SUPERSPORT 300

For #83 Alvin Wu, Round Three proved to be a difficult and bruising weekend filled with setbacks and crashes. Despite the challenges, Alvin continued showing his determination every time he returned to the circuit, continuing to build valuable experience in the highly competitive Supersport 300 category.


After improving across practice, Wu suffered crashes in both qualifying sessions on Saturday, but still managed to secure P18 on the grid for the weekend’s races. Wu got away to a strong launch on the wet track in Race Seven, before a crash at T1 ended his race early. He regrouped well on Sunday morning and finished Race Eight in P18. Unfortunately, his final race of the weekend also ended prematurely following an unfortunate crash at T10 early in the race. While the results didn’t reflect the effort across the round, the weekend still provided valuable learning opportunities under some of the toughest conditions the championship has seen so far this season.

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.


A maiden Supersport 600 victory, multiple comeback rides, improving pace across the board, and the resolve shown by the entire crew under pressure all provided strong reminders of what this team is capable of as we now shift our focus toward Round Four at Morgan Park at the end of May.


Written by Taylor Hoeymakers and Rebecca Bowdidge.

Images by Pit Lane Studio.