Carter Thompson takes first win in World Supersport 300

After achieving a podium on his debut in the World Supersport 300 Championship (WorldSSP300) last year, Australia’s Carter Thompson recently secured his first win in the category, making history in the process.

The victory, in Race 1 of the Emilia-Romagna round at Misano in June, was the first for an Aussie in WorldSSP300 since the category started in 2017.

Thompson had completed a handful of WorldSSP300 rounds last year as a fill-in rider before landing a full-time ride with the successful Belgian team, MTM Kawasaki, this season. The 17-year-old from NSW came to Round 4 at Misano in seventh place in the championship, with a best race finish of fourth from the previous three rounds.

After a poor Free Practice session, where he was only 17th fastest, Thompson rebounded to be tenth fastest in Superpole, meaning he would start Race 1 from the fourth row of the grid.

In a typically frantic WorldSSP300 encounter, Thompson improved to be in fourth place at the end of the first lap; part of a group of nine riders covered by less than a second. As Thompson’s position in this group changed lap after lap, so did that of the other riders, but the Aussie was in contention for a podium at the very least, aided by recording the race’s fastest lap on lap 5.

On the last lap, Thompson was as low as sixth, but improved his position before sweeping around the outside of race leader, David Salvador (Team Prodina XCI), with a handful of corners remaining. He held this advantage to take his first win in WorldSSP300, which was also the first for an Australian rider.

“It's incredible to get my first win of the season,” Thompson said of the history-making win. “I had a little bit extra speed in me and was just sitting in the group to manage the race.

“It's always difficult to try and separate yourself from the group, so on the final lap I just pushed as hard as I could and hoped to open a gap.”

The win, aided by a fifth-place in Race 2 at Misano, moved Thompson from seventh to fifth in the championship.