Erstwhile World Supersport Championship leader Broc Parkes gave up any hope of holding onto his advantage when he crashed out on only the second lap of the encounter on home soil at Phillip Island.
After a good start, the Australian was looking good for another podium finish to go with his race win from Qatar last weekend as he ran with fellow countrymen Andrew Pitt and Josh Brookes and the latter's Stiggy Motorsport team-mate Robbin Harms, but lost the front of his Yamaha heading into the downhill MG corner.
Although he remounted to try and score some points, Parkes was forced to stop after returning to the pits to check his machine over, and was at a loss to explain the accident.
"I had just got into the lead and was keen to stay there, just racing the clock," he said, confident of repeating his Qatar success, "The pace was not strong in the first lap so that's why I decided to go out in front.
"Entering the MG corner on the second lap everything just felt normal, like every other lap, until the front went away from me. Maybe the tyre wasn't quite warm on the right side. I tried to continue but the handlebar was too bent and, by the time I got back to the pits, the race was over for me."
Parkes' mantle was taken up by team-mate Fabien Foret, the Frenchman determined to prove a point after running out of fuel while apparently on course for victory in Doha. Having been caught up in the chasing group in the early stages at Phillip Island, the feisty Frenchman eventually managed to break free and the closed the gap to the leading trio.
Within 19 laps he had gone from sixth to the lead, but the ever-changing order in the final couple of laps demoted the Yamaha rider back to fourth, where he finished 0.780secs from winner, but having been caught by both Jonathan Rea and Garry McCoy, who made the leading group one of six riders covered by only 1.228secs.
