Troy Herfoss tops Q2 but Bayliss on pole position

2018 ASBK

Round Four – Hidden Valley

Supersport 300 Final Qualifying

The battle for pole position in the Supersport 300 category had been fought earlier this morning during QP1. That tussle had come down to two young riders, with two very famous dads. Oli Bayliss, youngest son of three-time Superbike World Champ Troy, and Seth Crump, son of three-time Speedway World Champ Jason. A fine pedigree running in both bloodlines.

Bayliss had his leathers on ahead of QP2 just in case he needed to fend off any challenge to his pole position but it was not required. Oli’s record breaking time from QP1, a 1m17.702 was good enough for him to sit on his laurels in the box.

Seth Crump did go out and put in some laps but did not post any fast times in this session, thus his second position on the grid secured by way of his 1m17.966 from this morning.

Olly Simpson was one to improve this afternoon though, the young South Australian notching a 1m18.471 to move ahead of Tom Bramich.

Supersport 300 Combined Qualifying Times

1. Oli Bayliss – Kawasaki 1m17.702
2. Seth Crump – KTM 1m17.966
3. Olly Simpson – Yamaha 1m18.471
4. Tom Bramich – Yamaha 1m18.483
5. Tayla Relph – Yamaha 1m18.895
6. Zac Levy – Yamaha 1m18.898
7. Hunter Ford – Yamaha 1m19.454
8. Locky Taylor – Yamaha 1m19.497
9. Harry Khouri – Yamaha 1m19.524
10. Ben Baker – Kawasaki 1m19.648
11. Callum O’Brien – Yamaha 1m19.659
12. Max Stauffer – Yamaha 1m19.684
13. Travis Hall – Yamaha 1m19.917
14. Laura Brown – Yamaha 1m20.181
15. Ben Bramich – KTM 1m20.429
16. Mitch Simpson – Yamaha 1m20.518
17. Zane Ford – Yamaha 1m21.044
18. Jack Cousens – Yamaha 1m22.099
19. Ryan Moscardini – Yamaha 1m25.412

Supersport 300 Race One

The opening 10-lap Supersport 300 race got underway late this afternoon and it was an absolute belter.

At the chequered flag nothing separated the top quartet, less than a tenth-of-a-second cover the entire top four at the line. The timing system credited Tom Bramich with the win, 0.013s ahead of Bayliss, and 0.065s ahead of Simpson while Crump cruelly missed the podium.

The new race lap record though went to Hunter Ford who put in a 1m18.478 on his way to finishing ninth. Ford and his team had to overcome a lot of machinery problems in the lead up to the race, thus a top ten finish and fastest lap of the race will please them no end.

Supersport 300 Race One Results

1. Tom Bramich
2. Oli Bayliss +0.013
3. Olly Simpson +0.065
4. Seth Crump +0.092
5. Zac Levy +0.390
6. Tayla Relph +0.565
7. Harry Khouri +0.715
8. Callum O’Brien +1.012
9. Hunter Ford +1.017
10. Max Stauffer +12.517

Supersport Final Qualifying

In the Kawasaki sponsored Supersport 600 category QP1 had primarily been a battle of two wills, Yamaha’s Cru Halliday, and Cube Racing Kawasaki’s young gun Tom Toparis. While both riders did go out this afternoon in QP2, neither put in a time close to what they achieved in the cooler morning temperatures. Halliday the quickest man in the heat with a 1m08.784 but nowhere near the 1m07.951 he recorded this morning.

In fact, only one rider in the whole field bettered their QP1 time this afternoon and that was local rider Graeme Smith, his 1m13.090 positioning him at the tail end of the 13-rider field.

Supersport Race One kicks off at 1000 Sunday morning while the second of the two 14-lap races is scheduled for 1255.

Supersport 600 Combined Qualifying Times

1. Cru Halliday – Yamaha 1m07.951
2. Tom Toparis – Kawasaki 1m08.059
3. Max Croker – Suzuki 1m08.703
4. Lachlan Epis – Kawasaki 1m08.986
5. Giuseppe Scarcella – Kawasaki 1m09.480
6. Damon Rees – Honda 1m09.641
7. Zac Johnson – Yamaha 1m10.011
8. Mick Hefferan – Kawasaki 1m10.082
9. Ty Lynch – Yamaha 1m10.348
10. Scott Nicholson – Suzuki 1m10.387
11. Dallas Skeer – Suzuki 1m10.525
12. Rhys Belling – Yamaha 1m10.656
13. Graeme Smith – Kawasaki 1m13.090

Superbike Final Qualifying

Conditions were significantly warmer than the morning session by the time Superbike final qualifying got underway at 1425 this afternoon at Hidden Valley.

Josh Waters was looking pensive as brother Brodie worked on his GSX-R ahead of the second 30-minute qualifying session. A change to a new ECU has really upset the Ecstar Suzuki applecart and the defending champion. It is fair to say that Q2 was going to be more important for Josh than for any of the others riders.

Troy Herfoss was the first Superbike rider to exit pit-lane this afternoon. The Penrite Honda man put in five reasonably quick laps before returning to his box. Herfoss was back out late in the session to top QP2 with a 1m05.871. Not good enough to knock TB out of top spot, but certainly good enough to let the Ducati man know he was not going to have it all his own way tomorrow.

Wayne Maxwell had been a little off the pace in QP1, an unfamiliar P6 for the #47 Yamaha in the morning session. A 1m06.544 early in QP2 almost besting his 1m06.541 from QP1. Later in the session though Maxwell found a little more improvement, a 1m06.249 moving him past teammate Falzon and up to fourth position. Just after that happened Falzon went down for the second time today, a crash at turn five.

Glenn Allerton was one of the last riders to join the track in QP2. The NextGen BMW man going out just before the halfway point of the 30-minute session and putting in some fairly quick laps, but not quick enough to better his QP1 time.

Josh Waters bettered his QP1 time halfway through the QP2 session before returning to his box. A 1m06.845 was only a tiny improvement though, but good enough to move him one further spot up the grid, past young teammate Mark Chiodo to take eighth place on combined times. That did not last for long though as Chiodo dropped in a 1m06.802 to again push Waters back to ninth. Chiodo then went faster again on his next lap, a 1m06.640 to strengthen his claim on that eighth position. Waters then put in a 1m06.466 to leapfrog over both Chiodo and Maxwell, up to a provisional second row. Maxwell improved though to again push Waters back to the third row but minutes later Waters showed more progress, a 1m06.300 moving the Suzuki back up to fifth position on the charts, demoting Daniel Falzon to sixth and pushing Jamie Stauffer back to the third row.

Troy Bayliss joined the track with ten minutes remaining in the session and immediately reeled off a few fast laps to underline his pace. His best time in QP2 a 1m06.228, good enough for P2 in the final qualifying session but more than half-a-second off his record breaking time from this morning.

Bryan Staring put in some fast laps this afternoon. The leading Dunlop runner is certainly in with a great chance of top results here this weekend and, apparently, tyre longevity is not a concern at all for the BCperformance man. The Western Australian was third quickest in QP2, and will start from the outside of the front row when YMI Superbike Race One gets underway at 1105 tomorrow morning.  The second of the 18-lap contests is slated for 1335.

That pole position earns Troy Bayliss another championship point, the Ducati man fifth in the championship points standings but now only half-a-point behind Waters, and six-points behind third placed Falzon.  Troy Herfoss leads the series by 19.5-points over Wayne Maxwell, who in turn has 17-points over Falzon.

Superbike Combined Qualifying Times

1. Troy Bayliss – Ducati 1m05.601 (Q1)
2. Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m05.871
3. Bryan Staring – Kawasaki 1m06.088 (Q1)
4. Wayne Maxwell – Yamaha 1m06.249
5. Josh Waters – Suzuki 1m06.300
6. Daniel Falzon – Yamaha 1m06.376 (Q1)
7. Jamie Stauffer – Ducati 1m06.429 (Q1)
8. Glenn Allerton – BMW 1m06.603 (Q1)
9. Mark Chiodo – Suzuki 1m06.640
10. Matt Walters – Kawasaki 1m06.857
11. Arthur Sissis – Suzuki 1m06.895 (Q1)
12. Glenn Scott – Kawasaki 1m07.059 (Q1)
13. Kyle Buckley – Kawasaki 1m07.355 (Q1)
14. Lachlan Epis – Kawasaki 1m07.399 (Q1)
15. Mitch Rees – Honda 1m07.545
16. Alex Phillis – Suzuki 1m07.663
17. Mitch Levy – Yamaha 1m07.717 (Q1)
18. Sloan Frost – Suzuki 1m08.041 (Q1)
19. Sam Lambert – Kawasaki 1m08.198 (Q1)
20. Ben Stronach – Yamaha 1m08.257
21. Ted Collins – BMW 1m08.369 (Q1)
22. Brad Swallow – Kawasaki 1m08.784
23. Heath Griffin – Ducati 1m09.903 (Q1)
24. Phil Czaj – Aprilia 1m09.941
25. Adam Senior – Yamaha 1m10.084
26. Evan Byles – Kawasaki 1m11.061 Q1