Massive Learning Experience For Kiwis In Australia

FEBRUARY 23, 2025: It was a daunting assignment, but three Kiwi teenagers rose to the challenge at the weekend and each left Australia with reputations enhanced.

Silverdale’s Tyler King, Lower Hutt’s Nixon Frost and Whangarei’s Alvin Wu were under no illusion that they would be sternly tested when they tackled the Supersport 300 class across the Tasman Sea at the weekend.

They had travelled to contest a two-in-one event, the combined opening round of the Australian Superbike Championships (ASBK) and round one World Superbike Championships (WSBK) at Phillip Island, near Melbourne, the intrepid trio of Kiwis contesting the three Supersport 300 class races that came under the ASBK umbrella.

While not as much an international race the calibre of the WSBK, it still involved world class riders from both Australia and New Zealand and each of the Kiwi trio acquitted themselves well against the more than 40 riders who showed up to race this class.

While in Australia, the 18-year-old King battled under the Wet4U (fibreglass race fairings manufacturer) team banner, 14-year-old Frost rode for the ESG (Evolution Sports Group) team and 15-year-old Wu was supported by the Addicted To Track race team.

For King, his initial arrival at Phillip Island at the weekend was the first time he’d ever seen the circuit, so it was a particularly steep learning curve for him, and it cost him almost immediately with the young man crashing on the third lap of the only practice session he’d get.

He did manage to qualify and during the first race, in which he managed to finish a solid 16th out of 41 starters, he identified a few issues with his bike’s set-up for the track.

Suspension tweaks were made and, in race two, he came through almost the entire field after a bad start and set the fastest time of any rider on the track. Even the commentators sounded confused, remarking that there “must be something wrong” with the timing mechanism.

He had to accept seventh at a congested finish to the race as a gaggle of riders came up alongside him over the final few metres.

Unfortunately for King, he finished only 39th in the final race and was not classified, an inauspicious conclusion to what had still obviously been a great learning experience for him.

Frost, the young son of two-time former New Zealand superbike champion Sloan Frost, had qualified to start on row nine and passed a handful of riders to end up in 16th position, his lap times just 200th of a second behind the leaders, showing that Nixon Frost did indeed have the speed to win.

He managed an even better start in race two and moved up to seventh, but he ended up 15th in a bunch of bikes that crossed the line together.

Then disaster for Frost as he crashed his bike heading into turn one on lap three.

The 180-kmph crash would normally have destroyed the bike, but, to the teen’s credit, he ran to his fallen machine, picked it up and still managed to finish the race, claiming 38th place at the end.

It was also a steep learning curve for Wu, the Northlander not quite able to match the pace of the obviously extremely talented field.

He finished 34th, 36th and 34th over the three races.

Wu remarked that he was “just extremely grateful to be out there in a competition at this level” and was “really happy” to add this to his experience.

Proud parent Sloan Frost said all the boys had gained enormously from the Australian campaign.

“Simple mistakes cost them all in the end, but we were all here for the experience and we certainly gained plenty of that,” he said.

“The boys ticked a lot of boxes. The race craft they learned was unreal. When starting way back in the field, these guys were always going to run into trouble, but they all had a great weekend and will return home happy and safe.”

King is currently running 6th in the Supersport 600 class, is 5th in the Supersport 300 class and is also running second in the Superlites class after two of four rounds in the annual New Zealand Superbike Championships after racing at Levels International Raceway, near Timaru, just over a week ago.

Another multi-class “ironman”, Frost is ranked 8th in the Supersport 300 class and he is also provisionally leading the Supersport 150 class after two rounds in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Wu, also challenging in two separate categories in New Zealand, is positioned 19th in the Supersport 300 class and 5th in the Supersport 150 class.

The next round of the New Zealand Superbike Championships series is set for Hampton Downs, north of Hamilton, on the weekend of March 8-9 and perhaps what they each learned at Phillip Island will help to elevate them in that separate domestic contest.

Credit: Words by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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