Staring clinches opening Superbike win and moves into P2 on points

ASBK 2022
Round Six – Phillip Island

Alpinestars Superbike Race One

The rain had stayed away for an exciting qualifying session on Saturday morning but unfortunately rain had arrived prior to the start of the opening Alpinestars Superbike bout of the weekend.

That qualifying session had witnessed a fantastic new lap record for pole position by Josh Waters, and a breakthrough for Daniel Falzon partly thanks to a new traction control table put together by his brother overnight that helped Daniel to what was by far his best ever lap of Phillip Island. The look on his face told the story…

Defending champion Wayne Maxwell rounded out the front row ahead of Bryan Staring and championship leader Mike Jones.

Anthony West was another rider to have made a breakthrough this weekend. After some extremely challenging times with MotoGO Yamaha it seemed he now had a bike underneath him that could show some of his potential.

Troy Herfoss headed the third row alongside Cru Halliday and Glenn Allerton while Arthur Sissis would start from tenth and Superbike debutante Senna Agius 11th.

They formed up on the grid on a wet but drying track. Sketchy conditions where a fine line between aggression and preservation needed to be trod, pole-sitter Josh Waters has less on the line than many on the grid that are competing for championship glory. We are getting down to the business end of the season and this weekend is going to be pivotal…

They’re away…

Daniel Falzon got a great run off the line, the Yamaha hooking up and the South Australian leading into turn one but coming out the other side in front of him was Wayne Maxwell… Maxwell though then went down at the exit of Southern Loop, the rear coming around on the Boost Mobile Ducati… Talk about pivotal….

Troy Herfoss then shot through to the lead in front of Bryan Staring and Josh Waters. Glenn Allerton fourth late on the opening lap, Anthony West fifth while Daniel Falzon had been shuffled back to sixth ahead of Jed Metcher and Arthur Sissis.

Glenn Allerton was looking aggressive… That leading quartet were almost four-wide heading into turn one to start lap three, Herfoss leading from Allerton, Waters and Staring while Anthony West tried to catch onto the back of that group. Mike Jones was way down in 13th place at this juncture.

Bryan Staring was taking a wide entry into turn 12 and in these damp conditions that seemed to work in his favour, big time. Staring had nearly taken the lead last time down the chute but this time he did exactly that, slingshotting onto the straight from that wide line and blasting into the lead by almost half-a-second!

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With Maxwell out of the race, if Bryan Staring could bring home 25-points he would move past Maxwell on the championship points table, and with that of course the bragging rights as lead Ducati…

Glenn Allerton looked determined to prevent that from happening though as the BMW rider chased Staring hard. The gap between the two as they approached half-race distance was starting to reduce. But Waters then doubled down with a new fastest lap of the race to push his way past Allerton.

The grip had looked to have gone away from Herfoss’ Penrite Honda and he started to lose positions. Arthur Sissis moving up to that fourth place with just over five laps to run.  Sissies was 1.8-seconds behind the race leader, could he do it…?

Up front Bryan Staring continued to lead from Waters and Allerton. That was until Allerton slotted up the inside of Waters for second place with just over four laps remaining. Sissis was now only a few bike lengths behind that trio…

With three laps to run they started to negotiate lapped traffic and Staring had increased his advantage over Allerton and Waters. Staring looking to really have an advantage in the way he negotiated turn 12 that then paid larger dividends down the main straight.

With a lap and a half to run Staring now had over a second over Allerton, and by the last lap board that had blown out to almost 1.5-seconds… Allerton second, Waters third. Sissis had appeared to run out of tyre and could not work his way any further forward. Jed Metcher had moved up to fifth while Senna Agius was showing a cool head to keep his tyres together to be in sixth place as they started the final lap.

Staring the clear victor!

Glenn Allerton claimed second place with a significant advantage over Josh Waters who rounded out the race one podium.

Bryan Staring also moved into second place in the championship standings with that victory.

Arthur Sissis fourth ahead of Jed Metcher, who was a further 13-seconds behind the South Australian.

Senna Agius sixth ahead of Broc Pearson and early race leader Troy Herfoss.

Daniel Falzon’s promise failed to materialise in the difficult conditions, he crossed the line in ninth place, just ahead of Mike Jones, Cru Halliday and Anthony West.

While the disappointment of tenth place will not be easy to swallow for Jones, he can take comfort in the fact that his 29-point lead over Wayne Maxwell is now a larger 39-point lead in the championship.

With that victory Bryan Staring moved into second place in the championship by a single point over Wayne Maxwell.

Glenn Allerton’s second place moved him closer to fourth placed Troy Herfoss on the points table.

The fourth place for Arthur Sissis saw him move past Cru Halliday into sixth place in the championship standings.

The second Australian Superbike race will take place at 0950 on Sunday morning before the third and final bout at 1340.

Alpinestars Superbike Race One Results

Alpinestars Superbike Championship Points

Live Broadcast Information

On Sunday, both SBS and Stan Sport will air a highlights package from 1300-1500 that will show the opening two Australian Superbike and Supersport races in replay, before then airing the final Superbike encounter of the weekend live.  We believe that the Supersport 300 category will not get TV air-time.

Phillip Island WSBK/ASBK Round Schedule