Mike Jones finished off the 2025 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in impressive fashion, taking the overall win at the final round of the championship at The Bend Motorsport Park, in South Australia.
The conditions were cool and windy all weekend, but the on-track action was hot, as Jones wanted to close out the season on a winning note and lock down second in the Superbike championship.He started the weekend with a rare fall during Friday’s practice sessions when he hit something on the track and went down. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured and was able to get back out there later that day and continue to fine tune his Yamaha R1M for the final weekend of racing.
He laid down a hot lap in qualifying that was good enough for P2 on the grid and was well positioned for the two races on Sunday.
Race one and the lights went out with Jones getting a great jump but was swamped by the in the first turn and relegated back to fourth. He quickly moved his way to third and the pace was well and truly on with the front four riders all doing their opening flying lap, under lap record race pace.
As a result, the lead pack broke away and the fighting for positions started. Jones moved past Jonathon Nahlous and onto the rear tyre of Cru Halliday in second, only for Halliday to fall in turn one and then Nahlous to fight his way back past Jones.
At the halfway point, Waters, led Nahlous and Jones and never more than a second separated the trio. The race was intense, and all three riders were on the limit, but no one able to get a wheel on the other and that’s how the finished at race end.
With a quick turnaround for race two, it wasn’t long before the Superbike riders were back on the grid and ready to go for the final race of the season. The race was off to an electric start, only to grind to halt on lap two when a rider had a motor let go and oil was on the track. The clean-up crew immediately got to work, and we were back underway for a nine-lap sprint to the end.
This time Jones was in no mood for messing around and after stalking race leader, Nahlous in the opening laps, he made his move with five laps to go and shot into the lead.
From there he never looked back and took the race win ahead of Nahlous and Waters in third. Jones shared the points with Waters but gets awarded the round win as his 3-1 beats a 1-3 on countback and making it back-to-back round victories to close out the season for Jones and the Yamaha Racing Team.
“It wasn’t all smooth sailing this weekend we hard to work hard for our results,” Jones said on the podium. “The fall on Friday and just finding the sweet spot to be on the pace took a little longer than usual but we got there by qualifying and then it was up to me to make it happen in the races.
“But happy to get the round win and finish the season on such a good note. The team worked hard as always and while we didn’t win the championship this year, we gave it a good crack and can be proud of the efforts we put in.
“Congratulations to Josh Waters and the McMartin team on this championship win and a great season for them,” Jones signs off.
It was a day of challenges Troy Herfoss as he just couldn’t gel with the bike and The Bend circuit. With limited time on the bike, getting it where he needed it to be proved difficult, but he kept working with the team to make it work.
He finished with the 7-9 results and eighth for the day and not where he wanted to finish the final round of the championship but enjoyed his time with YRT.
“They are a great group of guys, and it’s been a fun few rounds working with them. It was all put together very quickly so I thank them for making the effort to get me out on track for the final few rounds and chance to ride the bike,” Herfoss said.
With the 2026 season starting in late February, there is little down time before the new year starts. And after two years of finishing runner up in the championship, a big effort in the off season is required to improve in 2026.
“Thank you to all our staff and team partners for their continued support,” comments team owner, John Redding. “Despite not winning the championship and facing some adversity this year, we were still able to win multiple races and rounds and claim second in the championship.
“We can also confirm we have Mike Jones back on board for the next two season with YRT and look forward to continuing our successful relationship with him through until the end of the 2027 championship,” Redding ends.
ASBK Results
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ASBK Results
The Bend
Superbike
1st Mike Jones – 43 (Yamaha Racing Team)
2nd Josh Waters – 43
3rd Jonathon Nahlous – 40
4th Ant West - 43
5th Cameron Dunker - 31
6th Glenn Allerton - 28
7th Max Stauffer - 27
8th Troy Herfoss – 26 (Yamaha Racing Team)
9th John Lytras - 23
10th Ty Lynch - 21
ASBK Championship Standings – Final
1st Josh Waters - 381
2nd Mike Jones – 331 (Yamaha)
3rd Ant West – 303 (Yamaha)
4th Cameron Dunker – 246 (Yamaha)
5th Glenn Allerton - 241
6th Jonathon Nahlous - 239
7th Broc Pearson- 228
8th Max Stauffer – 186 (Yamaha)
9th John Lytras – 185 (Yamaha)
10th Jack Favelle – 165 (Yamaha)