Team Suzuki’s 2009 Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters has defended his younger brothers after a dramatic Australian Supersport round at Symmons Plains in Tasmania yesterday.

The 24-year-old, who is on track to become Australia’s next international Superbike export, watched on yesterday as brothers Brodie and Nicholas were involved in a pair of incidents during the two 20-lap races at the tight and technical circuit that produced notoriously close racing.

Race one saw 18-year-old Brodie, who is teammates with Josh as part of Suzuki Australia’s factory effort, collect 17-year-old Sunstate Racing-supported privateer brother Nick at the Hairpin on the opening lap, forcing him out of the race.

The second race was the most controversial of the incidents as an aggressive last lap pass by Nick on Yamaha Racing Team veteran Kevin Curtain in the final double left-hand turn saw the former World Supersport runner-up’s race finish in the gravel.

Afterwards, a frustrated Curtain confronted Nick following the race podium ceremonies, initially approaching brother Brodie about the crash. Curtain believed the pair touched, while Nick denied feeling contact in the pass.

“Seeing a veteran of the sport act the way that he did wasn’t right,” Symmons Plains Superbike race one winner Josh Waters told MotoOnline this morning. “From what I saw, Kev couldn’t match Nick’s pace into that turn lap after lap.

“Kev tried to go into that corner faster and crashed – he wasn’t hit. It wasn’t like in 2006 when there were other boys that crashed and took eachother out. Nick made the final turn and he didn’t even run wide.

“I couldn’t work it out afterwards that Kev didn’t even know who Nick was. He came in and started going off at Brodie after the race. Surely he would know who Nick is?

“If any of the moves weren’t right in my eyes, Kev was putting them on Nick lap after lap, moving over on him in a straight line. I didn’t think that was on, but it was racing.”

Yamaha lodged a protest following the turn of events, however it’s now believed that the results will remain as is, with Nick Waters keeping his race two podium placing in third.

“I guess if the steward saw that the incident was bad then he would have put him out [of the final results],” Josh added. “They had the footage available and watched it, plus they spoke to the marshal.

“If Nick hit him then he would have been out, but he didn’t hit him. He’s an honest hard working kid and he told me he didn’t hit Kev. From what I saw, he didn’t hit him even though I wasn’t on the bike.”

Commenting on the unintentional collision between his brothers in the opening Supersport affair of the weekend, Josh said it was a simple racing error that was unfortunate for the Mildura-based brothers.

“Everyone’s saying the boys were loose in race one, but it was Brodie who took Nick out on the first lap after he caught a false neutral,” Josh explained. “He took down his own brother, which is his own younger brother. If you start going on about that stuff as though it was on purpose then you’d have to be off with the fairies.

“Brodie’s even paying for Nicholas’ repairs – that’s how bad he feels. He went in afterwards to say sorry and started helping fix the bike. It’s not like he was out there to take him out. They’re both extremely young and both are trying their hardest out there.”

Middle brother Brodie remained unscathed in race two, bouncing back to take victory and seal second overall for the round after a tight dual with AARK Racing Triumph’s round winner and new title leader Christan Casella.

Click here to see what Curtain and Nick Waters had to say about the incident yesterday afternoon.