By Russell Colvin
Jam Jerrup’s Zack Johnson will this weekend kick off his 2021 Australian Supersport 300 Championship campaign at Winton Motor Raceway, just over 200 kilometres north-east of Melbourne’s CBD.
This weekend will be the second round of the championship, as the first round at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on the third weekend of February was postponed due to Victoria’s five-day ‘snap lockdown’.
The Australian Supersport 300 category, in essence, is the main feeder program which competes in the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), presented by Motul.
The 21-year-old – who works for his father Luke Johnson at Rebuilder and Prebuild Solutions, situated in Pakenham’s south east – will pilot a Kawasaki Ninja 400. This will be primarily backed by Rebuilder, which provides professional and complete building management services to the insurance sector and general public within south east Melbourne.
While Zack is feeling quietly confident ahead of this weekend’s curtain-raiser round, he’s keeping his cards close to his chest, knowing it’s going to be one hell of a fight come race time.
“My father, and two mechanics, Ryan Taylor and Chris Edmunds, have done an amazing job in preparing me a great motorcycle to go out there and get good results this year. The hours they have put in is next level and I can’t thank them enough for their efforts,” said Johnson, who has five round starts in total in the Australian Supersport 300 Championship.
“While we have a good motorcycle to go racing on, not for one second am I underestimating the level of competition I will be up against. You just have to look at the racing in the past and sometimes the top five to 10 riders can be covered by .400sec. So, I know come qualifying and the races, I’ll have to bring my ‘A’ game and give it everything I’ve got whilst on track if I want to get good results.”
One thing which Johnson does have up his sleeve, which he is hoping will play into his favour, is the fact that he has very good race craft. He honed his race craft while racing in the 2017 KTM Cup in Asia and then the following year in the Australian Supersport Championship, which saw him finishing fifth overall in the championship, including six top five finishes from 19 starts.
“With the Supersport 300 bikes being so even, race craft is paramount,” explained Johnson.
“Everything from when to push, when to try and make passes and even track position is crucial. While I might be a bit bigger than some of the other riders, which will more than likely hurt my drive out of corners, I believe my race craft will make up for that deficit. I’ll just have to ride smart and see how we go.”
With only one day spent on the newly-rebuilt Ninja 400, which was at Phillip Island in late January, track time this weekend will be vital to keep improving the overall setup of the bike, Johnson explained. This is why he is not expecting to set the world alight just yet.
“Realistically if we can walk away from this weekend with three top ten finishes, the team and I would be over the moon,” he said.
“However, I wouldn’t mind getting a few top five finishes, which would be a fantastic way to reward everyone and our sponsors.”
Three 20-minute practice sessions are scheduled for this Friday, while on Saturday, there will be two qualifying sessions to sort the grid out, then racing will commence on Saturday afternoon with race one and races two and three on Sunday.
