Wayne Maxwell tops opening practice at Wakefield Park

Wayne Maxwell tops opening practice at Wakefield

ASBK hits Goulburn this weekend for the second round of the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship and competitors were on circuit this morning for the opening practice sessions of the race weekend.

Supersport 300

Supersport 300 riders were first out on the circuit this morning and it was Hunter Ford topping proceedings ahead of fellow YZF-R3 rider Zac Levy.  Oli Bayliss was third quickest and leading Kawasaki ahead of Jarred Brook on the KTM.

Billy Van Eerde is missing from the field this weekend as he is overseas contesting the opening round of the Asia Talent Cup.

Supersport 300 FP1

1. Hunter Ford – Yamaha – 69.397
2. Zac Levy – Yamaha – 69.436
3. Oli Bayliss – Kawasaki – 69.821
4. Jarred Brook – KTM – 70.476
5. Harry Khouri – Yamaha 70.589
6. Locky Taylor – Yamaha 70.771
7. Corey Briffa – KTM 71.455
8. Troy Ryan – Yamaha 71.517
9. Tayla Relph – Yamaha 71.544
10. Seth Crump – KTM 71.645
11. Ben Bramich – KTM 71.706
12. Callum O’Brien – Yamaha 71.767
13. Tom Bramich – Yamaha 72.030
14. Peter Nerlich – Kawasaki 72.372
15. Travis Hall – Kawasaki 72.902

Supersport 600

Supersport competitors hit the circuit at 0945 this morning and it was Cru Halliday that topped the opening 600cc session ahead of local lad Tom Toparis.

That pair the only riders under the 60-second barrier, and also both under the Supersport lap record.  The race lap record of 60.158 was set by Rick Olson back in 2013 while the qualifying record of 60.450 was set by Aaron Morris, also on Yamaha, in 2015.

Supersport FP1

1. Cru Halliday – Yamaha 59.581
2. Tom Toparis – Kawasaki 59.992
3. Lachlan Epis – Kawasaki 60.945
4. Damon Rees – Honda 61.529
5. Jordan Carlsson – Yamaha 62.014
6. Jack Passfield – Yamaha 62.101
7. Giuseppe Scarcella – Kawasaki 62.347
8. Cambridge Olivier – Yamaha 62.486
9. Thomas Bryden – Yamaha 62.514
10. Nic Liminton – Yamaha 62.561

Superbike

Josh Waters heads into Round 2 with 59 points, tied with Troy Herfoss, with both a single point behind current leader Bryan Staring.

This morning at Wakefield Park it was the Yamaha duo of Wayne Maxwell and birthday boy Daniel Falzon topping the charts. Falzon turned 24-years-old today and is looking to celebrate this weekend in fine style.

Third quickest was local hero and recent dominator of Wakefield Park ASBK rounds Troy Herfoss.’

Penrite Honda Racing team manager Shaun Clarke

“Things are heading in the right direction and the track has changed some more since last year, being a little bit bumpier again,” Clarke explained. “We’ve been working on the K-Tech Suspension to see what we can extract on top of the base-settings, so by the end of the test we found some positive options. Troy was basically on lap record pace, so with the track going away and his times being where they were, we’re really confident going into round two. As long as we approach the race weekends in the right manner, I believe we will gain strength as the season goes on. Wakefield Park is a track that Troy is very good at, being from Goulburn and racing in front of his family and friends. In saying that though, it’s not the only track that we expect to be competitive at and we’re really looking forward to taking what we’ve learned to every track on the calendar this year.”

Fourth quickest was Josh Waters, who this weekend will be competing without the help of long term Suzuki crew chief Phil Tainton. The PTR boss has family commitments with a wedding this weekend thus it has become a full family affair in the Suzuki garage for Wakefield Park where alongside normal spanner swinging sidekick Brodie Waters, is also the youngest of the Waters trio Nick.

Josh Waters

“Wakefield Park is a tight & bumpy race track with plenty of hard braking area’s along with a critical final corner onto the straight meaning we have to be on point with a balanced bike set up to be up the front this weekend. After testing last week, I’m confident that we’re heading in the right direction and I’m looking forward to getting to the track again on Friday and picking up where we left off and hopefully be back on the podium on Sunday afternoon” an upbeat Josh Waters said.

Troy Bayliss was fifth on the DesmoSport Ducati ahead of NextGen BMW’s Glenn Allerton while the fastest Kawasaki rider was round one winner Bryan Staring.

Michael Blair was eighth quickest ahead of Matt Walters while Jamie Stauffer made his return to ASBK competition in style to round out the top ten on the Craig McMartin Racing Ducati Panigale R.

Superbike FP1 Times

1. Wayne Maxwell – Yamaha 58.090
2. Daniel Falzon – Yamaha 58.133
3. Troy Herfoss – Honda 58.185
4. Josh Waters – Suzuki 58.335
5. Troy Bayliss – Ducati 58.525
6. Glenn Allerton – BMW 58.624
7. Bryan Staring – Kawasaki 58.818
8. Michael Blair – Yamaha 59.008
9. Matt Walters – Kawasaki 59.272
10. Jamie Stauffer – Ducati 59.440
11. Brad Swallow – Kawasaki 59.710
12. Kyle Buckley – Kawasaki 59.722
13. Alex Phillis – Suzuki 59.788
14. Callum Spriggs – Kawasaki 59.964
15. Mitch Levy – Yamaha 60.224
16. Ted Collins – BMW 60.462
17. Arthur Sissis – Suzuki 60.507
18. Mark Chiodo – Suzuki 60.640
19. Matt Harding – Kawasaki 61.111
20. Brendan McIntyre – Suzuki 61.313
21. Corey Turner – Suzuki 61.701
22. Adam Senior – Yamaha 61.791
23. Lucas Vitale – Kawasaki 62.475
24. Hamish McMurray – Kawasaki 64.193
25. Phil Czaj – Aprilia 65.313

Wakefield Park Lap Records

• Superbike Race – 57.54 – Wayne Maxwell – Yamaha – 2016
• Superbike QP/FP – 57.350 – Troy Herfoss – Honda – 2016
• Supersport Race – 60.158 – Rick Olson – Yamaha – 2013
• Superpole QP/FP – 60.450 – Aaron Morris – Yamaha – 2015
• Yamaha R3 Cup Race – 69.509 – Hunter Ford – Yamaha – 2016
• Yamaha R3 Cup QP/FP – Jack Mahaffy – 68.316 – Yamaha

2018 ASBK Round 2 Schedule – Wakefield Park

ASBK Championship Points Standings

1. Bryan Staring 60
2. Josh Waters 59
3. Troy Herfoss 59
4. Troy Bayliss 51
5. Daniel Falzon 47
6. Wayne Maxwell 43
7. Michael Blair 41
8. Matt Walters 37
9. Aaron Morris 37
10. Alex Phillis 31
11. Glenn Allerton 25
12. Mark Chiodo 21
13. Mitch Rees 20
14. Aaiden Coote 18
15. Corey Turner 17
16. Ted Collins 15
17. Mitch Levy 11
18. Kyle Buckley 11
19. Mike Jones 9
20. Callum Spriggs 8

Australian Supersport Standings

1. Tom TOPARIS (QLD) 75
2. Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) 60
3. Broc PEARSON (QLD) 50
4. Damon REES (NZ) 44
5. Zackary JOHNSON (VIC) 42
6. Rhys BELLING (VIC) 38
7. Nic LIMINTON (SA) 36
8. Aidan HAYES (QLD) 32
9. Giuseppe SCARCELLA (NSW) 31
10. Scott NICHOLSON (VIC) 31
11. Dallas SKEER (SA) 29
12. Brendan CLARKE (QLD) 28
13. Luke MITCHELL (NSW) 25
14. Matt BARTON (VIC) 24
15. Thomas BRYDEN (NSW) 18
16. Max CROKER (NSW) 18
17. Jack PASSFIELD (NSW) 16
18. Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) 15
19. Scott CHAPMAN (NSW) 10
20. Steve HASLAM (NSW) 3

2018 ASBK Calendar

• Round 2- Wakefield Park Raceway, Goulburn NSW March 16 – 18
• Round 3- The Bend Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend, SA April 19 – 22
• Round 4- Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin NT June 28 – 1 July
• Round 5- Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick QLD August 17 – 19
• Round 6- Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, VIC September 7 – 9
• Round 7- Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC October 12 – 14

ASBK Goes Live

ASBK recently announced its live coverage package for the 2018 season and fans will have three different options to watch this weekend’s racing on SBS, Fox Sports and livestream on Sunday March 18. With so much at stake, fan’s will have to tune in to watch the thrilling racing ASBK has to offer.

SBS Australia 1:00pm – 3:00pm AEDT
FOX Sports Australia Channel 501 1:00pm – 4:00pm AEDT
ASBK.com.au Livestream from 9:30am AEDT