Tailem Bend ASBK Test Day One Wrap

Glenn Allerton topped the first ever ASBK timed session at The Bend Motorsports Park this morning but was bettered by Josh Waters in FP2. We covered all the action from the morning sessions in this earlier report, along with an onboard lap of the 4.95km ‘International Circuit’, which you can check out at this link here.

Glenn Allerton again rose to the top of charts in FP3 but this afternoon Troy Herfoss became the first man in the 56s when in the penultimate session of the day he put in a 1m56.957 only to be gazumped only seconds later by Wayne Maxwell who knocked the Penrite Honda man out of top spot with a 1m56.71.

Third quickest in that fourth session was Troy Bayliss while Josh Waters made it four different manufactuers in the top quartet.

The fifth and final session of the day got underway at 1715 and was a shortened 15-minute session due to time lost during the day.

Daniel Falzon was eager to end the first official day of testing on a high note and was quick out of the blocks with a 1m57.40, his fastest time of the day thus far. The South Australian is the only rider to have turned a wheel here before, when he recently conducted some speed limited laps for a photo shoot, but it was hardly any measure of advantage in today’s proceedings. Falzon then dropped in a 1m56.70 to go top on combined times with six-minutes remaining in this first day of testing at the new circuit.

While most riders had been on used tyres all day many broke out a new rear slick for this final session, the battle was now on for bragging rights after all!

Troy Herfoss then became the first man to put in a 1m55s lap around The Bend, a 1m55.920 to the Penrite Honda man with less than three-minutes remaining in the session.

In the dying seconds Troy Bayliss went oh so close to claiming day one bragging rights, a 1m55.951 close but no cigar for the three-time World Superbike Champ here today.

Of note today though is that Wayne Maxwell was not out in the final session. What odds are there on him coming out and doing the business to end up on top at the end of day two…?

Today was all about tyre wear, the degradation was dramatic and across the board. The sand and dust on the circuit combined with a lack of rubber down on the circuit has rendered the track virtual sandpaper.

Tailem Bend ASBK Test Day One Times

Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda 1:55.920
Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati 1:55.951
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha 1:56.701
Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Yamaha 1:56.712
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki 1:57.073
Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) BMW 1:57.740
Arthur SISSIS (SA) Suzuki 1:58.609
Matt WALTERS (NSW) Kawasaki 1:59.077
Ted COLLINS (VIC) BMW 1:59.336
Michael BLAIR (NSW) Yamaha 1:59.546
Mark CHIODO (VIC) Suzuki 1:59.556
William STRUGNELL (SA) Kawasaki 2:00.166
Mitch REES (NZ) Honda 2:00.573
Jay PRESEPIO (SA) Suzuki 2:00.822
Bryan STARING (WA) Kawasaki 2:00.933
Sam LAMBERT (NT) Kawasaki 2:01.164
Brendan MCINTYRE (NSW) Suzuki 2:01.442
Mathew HARDING (NSW) Kawasaki 2:02.597
Alex PHILLIS (VIC) Suzuki 2:02.635
Mitchell LEVY (NSW) Yamaha 2:02.738
Kyle BUCKLEY (QLD) Kawasaki 2:03.329
Simon GALLOWAY (NSW) Yamaha 2:04.150
Patrick LI (VIC) Yamaha 2:04.791
Adam CHRISTIE (SA) Suzuki 2:04.958
David BARKER (SA) Kawasaki 2:05.500
Nathan SPITERI (VIC) Suzuki 2:05.700
Scott MCGREGOR (VIC) Yamaha 2:05.728
Lucas VITALE (NSW) Kawasaki 2:06.110
Sloan FROST (NZ) Suzuki 2:06.413
Kieran HURRELL (SA) Honda 2:06.529
Phil CZAJ (VIC) Aprilia 2:06.825
Trent GIBSON (VIC) Suzuki 2:07.069
Evan BYLES (SA) Kawasaki 2:09.199
Ashley MANUEL (SA) Kawasaki 2:09.930
Mason COOTE (VIC) Kawasaki 2:10.090
Con KOKKORIS (NSW) Ducati 2:10.184
Donald OWEN (VIC) Suzuki 2:14.332

The Bend Motorsport Park - Tailem Bend - Corner Speeds - Track Map — The Bend Motorsport Park – Tailem Bend – Corner Speeds – Track Map

Supersport 600

Continuing on from his Wakefield Park domination was Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R6). The Factory Yamaha rider was devastatingly quick and looked like he was progressing well throughout the day.

Up in second was Halliday’s greatest title rival, Tom Toparis (Cube Racing, Kawasaki ZX-6R). These two have been battling it out in the early rounds of the season and results indicate this could be on again for Round 3 at The Bend. Toparis finished a further 0.648 off the fastest time.

Finishing in third position was the impressive Max Croker (Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R600). Croker was injured at Round 1 and it’s great to see him back towards the top of the times. Croker will need to find 1.563s to match the best lap time in his class so far.

Giuseppe Scarcella (Kawasaki BCperformance, ZX-6R) and Broc Pearson (Yamaha Motors Australia, Yamaha YZF-R6) completed the top five.

Superbike competitors were not the only ones experiencing massive tyre degradation issues, it was across the board in all classes. Here is a shot of Broc Pearson's tyre from Supersport 600 testing - Image by TBG — Superbike competitors were not the only ones experiencing massive tyre degradation issues, it was across the board in all classes. Here is a shot of Broc Pearson’s tyre from Supersport 600 testing – Image by TBG

Supersport 600 Tailem Bend Test Day One Times

Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:59.303
Tom TOPARIS (NSW) Kawasaki ZX6R 1:59.951
Max CROKER (NSW) Suzuki GSXR 2:00.866
Giuseppe SCARCELLA (NSW) Kawasaki ZX6R 2:01.062
Broc PEARSON (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:01.272
John HUNT (SA) Suzuki GSXR 2:03.219
Zac JOHNSON (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:03.474
Thomas BRYDEN (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:03.578
Damon REES (NZ) Honda CBR RR 2:03.825
Ty LYNCH (SA) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:04.135
Rhys BELLING (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:04.271
Dallas SKEER (SA) Suzuki GSXR 2:04.656
Scott NICHOLSON (VIC) Suzuki GSXR 2:05.060
Campbell RUSSELL (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:06.148
Jack PASSFIELD (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:06.801
Meri MALENA (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:16.021

Supersport 300

Olly Simpson was a name I was somewhat surprised to see on the timesheets today and the young local ended the day with his name on top of those timesheets. While at 20-years of age Olly is still very young, and has been away from competition in recent times, a few years ago he did spend a few years in Europe in both the Red Bull Rookies Cup and then Moto3, racking up extensive experience before returning to Australia after failing to muster the financial support required to continue to compete in Europe.

Tom Bramich was very close behind Simpson but really nothing separated the top six with Yanni Shaw, Tayla Relph, Oli Bayliss and Harry Khouri all having their hat firmly in the ring.