Harrison Voit captures 2026 ASBK crown as Holiday takes R1 win

Round Five – QLD Raceway – Saturday
SW-Motec Superbike Race One

Images by RbMotoLens

Sunday’s first of two SW-Motec Superbike races at Queensland Raceway had the potential to decide the 2026 Australian Superbike Championship even before the final race of the season arrived.

Harrison Voight came into Sunday with a 24-point lead over McMartin Racing teammate and defending champion Josh Waters after his perfect Morgan Park weekend, where the Queenslander won pole and both races to put the title fight firmly in his favour.

With only one race remaining after the opening 16-lap bout at Queensland Raceway, Voit’s race one equation was quite clear. If he can leave the race with more than 25 points on Waters, the title will be beyond his reach before the afternoon’s conclusion. In practical terms, this means Voit would have to overtake Waters by at least two points in race one to crown himself champion.

The grid makes it easy to say. Crews Halliday claimed pole position on Saturday with a 1m06.858, just 0.013 off Mike Jones’ Queensland Raceway qualifying lap record, while Jones and Yamaha Racing Team young gun Jonathan Nahlaus completed the front row.

Behind them sat a full second row of Ducati, headed by Glenn Allerton, with Voight fifth and Waters sixth. This pitted the two heroes of the championship together at the end of row two, and ensured that there would be more than the usual opening-lap pressure in the race until Turn 1.

Waters’s task was simple, but not easy. He had to beat Voit, and preferably by several places, to keep meaningful pressure on the young Queenslander heading into race two. Voit, meanwhile, didn’t need to win, but he couldn’t let Waters take a bigger share from the 24-point buffer he built in the previous round.

There was a lot at stake in the title fight too. Cameron Dunker arrived at Queensland Raceway third in the championship with 146 points, but after qualifying in 11th place Dunker faced a difficult opening race to defend that position. Halliday, at 135, Allerton at 130, Jones at 129 and Nahlos at 125, were all so close that the fight for third place in the championship was made one of the major subplots of the day.

Halliday’s pole position put him in prime position to translate Friday and Saturday’s momentum into Sunday’s result, while Queensland Raceway specialist Jones stood beside him to continue the Yamaha Racing Team’s strong home-track form.

One rider who did not even start was John Litras, who suffered another engine failure during the morning warm-up, taking him out of the race before it even started. This left 14 starters for the day’s opening Superbike event.

jones catches the holeshot

When the lights went out it was Mike Jones who made the holeshot ahead of Glenn Allerton and Crews Holliday. Jones was remarkably fast working his way to the front during the opening two turns, before the Ducati guys started to claw back a bit of their advantage down the dragstrip towards Turn 3.

At the end of the opening lap Allerton was in second place, Holiday was third, Waters was fourth, Voit was fifth and Nahlaus was sixth. The championship heroes were immediately in the same fight, and Waters knew he had to put Voit behind him if he wanted to drag the title fight into the afternoon.

That didn’t last long. Voit was ahead of Waters by the end of lap two, then set a new Superbike race lap record on lap three, 1m07.093 which bettered Josh Waters’ 2025 benchmark of 1m07.265. At that point, less than a second covered Jones, Allerton, Halliday, Voight and Waters, while Nahlaus was still close enough to make it into the six-rider lead group.

Holliday and Voit move on

A spectacular run out of Turn 5 allowed Halliday to get the better of Allerton and move up to second by lap five. Voit made a big move on Allerton to take the third lap later, allowing the veteran to go wide and take no prisoners as he continued to push to the front.

Further forward, Jones continued to dominate, but Holiday was now looking for an opportunity to get his way. Voit was reeling in that pair, and the top three started to pull away slightly from Allerton, who had his hands full with Waters and Nahlus.

Holliday moved to the inside of Jones on the final double to right, and Voit then went through the door opened by Holliday, pushing Jones back to third. The exchange momentarily slowed the pace at the front and brought Waters, Allerton and Nahlaus back into the podium conversation.

By lap eight, Halliday led Voit, Jones, Waters, Allerton and Nahlaus and the race began to reach its decisive phase.

Voight rides with title in mind

After four laps of running, Holiday led Voit by only four-tenths, while Jones was eight-tenths behind in third. Waters was fourth behind Allerton and Nahlaus.

Voight had put himself in position to win a championship. He did not need to win the race to secure the title, and with Waters running fourth, the McMartin Racing rider only needed to keep things organized and maintain enough of a gap to ensure the championship was not taken away from him in race two.

At the last lap board, Holiday led Voit by almost half a second, and at the checkered flag that gap remained almost the same. Halliday took the win, but second place for Voit was enough to secure the 2026 SW-Motec Australian Superbike Championship with the race still to run.

Race control confirmed the championship moments after the flag, Voit reached 218 points, 27 points clear of Waters, and therefore out of reach with only 25 points remaining in the final race of the season.

Jones finished the podium 1.797 seconds behind Halliday and 0.380 seconds behind Waters, who finished fourth and dropped the number one plate to his young team-mate. Allerton was fifth, ahead of Nahlaus in second place.

Dunker faced a tough race to finish seventh ahead of Jack Favell and Anthony West, while Ollie Simpson rounded out the top ten ahead of Josh Newman. Morgan MacLaren-Wood, Ty Lynch and Luca Durning completed the finishers, with Durning a lap down.

The title may be decided now, but the battle for third place in the championship will remain open until the final race. Halliday’s win and pole point took him up to 161 points, just one point ahead of Dunker, while Jones and Allerton are still in the game on 147 and 146 respectively.

SW-Motec Superbike Race One Results

SW-Motec Superbike Championship Points

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2026 asbk calendar

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