2018 ASBK

Round Five – Morgan Park

A warm and pleasant morning greeted competitors at Morgan Park this morning amongst a very dry and barren backdrop. This area of Queensland has only received half the rainfall at this point of year as had fell last year, thus when the wind started to get up in the afternoon layers of fine dust started to creep across various parts of the circuit.

ASBK TBG Rnd Morgan Park Maxwell TBG — Wayne Maxwell – Morgan Park – TBG Image

Before that wind got up YRT’s Wayne Maxwell had set the morning pace in FP1. The Victorian’s 1m31.711 good enough to top the initial session ahead of Penrite Honda’s Troy Herfoss by a slender three-hundredths of a second.

Troy Bayliss was the only other man in the 1m13s this morning but when riders hit the circuit at 1350 for FP2 everyone’s times quickly started to tumble.

ASBK TBG Rnd Morgan Park Troy Bayliss TBG — Troy Bayliss – TBG Image

Superbike FP1 Results

Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R1M 1:13.711
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP 1:13.745
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati 1299 FE 1:13.915
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-RR 1:14.136
Matt WALTERS (NSW) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:14.842
Bryan STARING (WA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:15.130
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha YZF-R1M 1:15.260
Alex PHILLIS (VIC) Suzuki GSX-RR 1:15.390
Ted COLLINS (VIC) BMW S RR 1:15.518
Kyle BUCKLEY (QLD) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:15.981
Arthur SISSIS (SA) Honda CBR RR SP 1:16.177
Corey TURNER (QLD) Honda CBR RR SP 1:16.258
Mitchell PAYNTER (QLD) Suzuki GSX-RR 1:16.277
Mark CHIODO (VIC) Suzuki GSX-RR 1:16.590
Ryan YANKO (QLD) Ducati Panigale 1:17.034

Superbike FP2

The track temperature for the morning session had registered 31.8-degrees but by FP2 the tarmac temp’ had only crept up to 34-degrees. The ambient was much warmer and the sun stronger, but the increased wind was preventing the track from really hotting up.

Josh Waters dipped into the 1m13s, followed by Troy Bayliss. The Ducati man the first rider to better Maxwell’s time from FP1, a 1m35.545.

ASBK TBG Rnd Morgan Park Josh Waters TBG — Josh Waters – TBG Image

Seconds later Herfoss dropped in a 1m13.128 while Kawasaki men Bryan Staring and Kyle Buckley dropped a second off their morning times to start progressing up the order.

That 1m13.128 benchmark by Herfoss held right through the last 20-minutes of the session and the chequered flag. Herfoss did the least amount of laps amongst the top 20 riders, as he fell on his sixth circuit after going a tenth under his benchmark at the first split. The Penrite Honda quite heavily damaged and leaving the crew some work to do ahead of this afternoon’s third and final 30-minute session session which is scheduled to wrap up just after 1630 this afternoon. Herfoss is uninjured.