ASBK 2024
Round One – Phillip Island
ASBK Superbike Qualifying
It was a very early start for the ASBK paddock this morning at Phillip Island. The Superbike class had their one and only qualifying scheduled to start at the unholy time of 0805. The words on everyone’s lips this morning were. ‘cold-tearing’. The early hour, after what had been a pleasantly cool night here at Phillip Island, combined to present challenges to competitors.
With ASBK having three races this weekend, one more than at a normal round, they do have one extra tyre in their allocation. Generally, front runners are loathe to do more laps than absolutely necessary for a good grid position at a normal round. However, with the expectation in the air that the cold tarmac would tear the tyres up terribly, most were expected to be even more conservative than normal. But that is not how it turned out…
Cru Halliday set a new fastest-ever ASBK lap of Phillip Island at 1m30.890 in FP2 yesterday, and Josh Waters was also under the qualifying lap record he set here last year at 1m31.100.
First out of pit-lane this morning, on a track that was barely nudging 20-degrees, was Western Australian privateer Adam Senior, followed by Tim Large and Ted Collins. The first fast lap that came in was a 1m31.298 by Mike Jones, who then immediately returned to the pits.
Max Stauffer went down at turn four while pushing for a time, he was well under Jones at the first split. That could be costly for the youngster if he were not able to make it back to the pits and get back out again as he will be starting from dead last. Arthur Sissis then went down at turn ten. The two low-speed corners, as riders switch back to the right-hand side of the tyre, catching people out in these cold conditions.
Troy Herfoss was on a quick one… Half-a-second quicker than Jones through the second and third splits… And Boom! New fastest ever ASBK lap of Phillip Island, a 1m30.451 to the Herf on the DesmoSport Ducati. He then returned to the pits.
Harrison Voight moved up to third with 20-minutes remaining in the session. Anthony West was fourth, Broc Pearson fifth, and Ted Collins sixth.
Friday pacesetter Cru Halliday was one of the last riders to join the fray, following Bryan Staring out of pit-lane with just under 20-minutes left in the session. Then after Glenn Allerton exited the only rider still to complete a lap at this stage was, Josh Waters….
Halliday and Staring went sixth and seventh, respectively, after their first flying lap. Cru up to P2 on his next lap off a 1m31.189. Staring up to fifth, pushing West down to sixth, and Pearson to seventh. Young rookie Cam Dunker was eighth.
Then, at exactly the halfway mark of the session, Josh Waters exited the pits….
Quicker than Herfoss at the first split by just under a tenth, but then two-tenths behind through the second sector, nearly four-tenths behind by the third, but gained some ground back through the final sector, crossing the stripe to record a 1m30.628…
Next time around, 0.240s under at first split, 0.055s under at second split, +0.094s at the third split, would his final sector be another cracker…? Yes it was! A 1m30.379s to the McMartin Racing man, displacing Herf’ from the top of the time-sheets by 0.072s.
With ten-minutes remaining in the session the top four were all in the pits. Just exiting was Harrison Voight, aiming to improve his fifth place standing. Not far behind him was Troy Herfoss…. The defending champ looking to return fire at Waters!
Anthony West jumped up to fourth with a 1m31.269. Max Stauffer was back on circuit and looking to move forward from the back of the grid after that early tumble. Immediately up to ninth on his first flying lap, pushing his young team-mate back to tenth. Arthur Sissis then pushed Dunker further back to 11th.
With seven-minutes to run Josh Waters was back on track.
Broc Pearson then moved up to third, a 1m31.084 pushing Halliday back to the second row. Both YRT men were still in the pits. At this stage of proceedings, it was a Ducati 1-2-3.
Neither Waters or Herfoss had improved on their earlier markers.
Cru Halliday was back on track with only a couple of minutes remaining, Mike Jones also now on track.
Jones was on a good lap as the chequered flag came out… Under at the third sector! Can he carry that speed through the final turns….? Not quite. Jones lost almost half-a-second through that final sequence, compared to the Ducati men. Still, there was now a Yamaha on the front row, Jones up to P3.
1. Josh Waters 1m30.379
2. Troy Herfoss 1m30.451
3. Mike Jones 1m30.819
Halliday just missing the front row, his final lap a 1m30.857 to head row two. Also on row two Broc Pearson and Anthony West.
Tyres were examined after the qualifying session and Pirelli subsequently chose to remove the standard SC0 and SCX from the tyre allocation for the races. Only the SA1126 compound will be permitted for Pirelli riders for the 12-lap race distances.
Superbike Qualifying
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Josh WATERS | Ducati | 1m30.379 |
| 2 | Troy HERFOSS | Ducati | +0.072 |
| 3 | Mike JONES | Yamaha | +0.440 |
| 4 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | +0.478 |
| 5 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati | +0.705 |
| 6 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha | +0.890 |
| 7 | Harrison VOIGHT | Ducati | +0.920 |
| 8 | Bryan STARING | Yamaha | +1.011 |
| 9 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha | +1.623 |
| 10 | Arthur SISSIS | Yamaha | +1.736 |
| 11 | Cameron DUNKERÂ | Yamaha | +2.043 |
| 12 | Ted COLLINS | BMW | +2.125 |
| 13 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW | +2.255 |
| 14 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia | +4.339 |
| 15 | John LYTRAS | Yamaha | +4.980 |
| 16 | Paris HARDWICK | Kawasaki | +5.069 |
| 17 | Ryan YANKO | Ducati | +5.328 |
| 18 | Tim LARGE | Yamaha | +5.605 |
| 19 | Declan CARBERRY | BMW | +6.727 |
| 20 | Josh SODERLAND | Yamaha | +7.215 |
| 21 | Adam SENIOR | Yamaha | +7.553 |
| 22 | Michael KEMP | Yamaha | +8.174 |
Phillip Island ASBK/WSBK Schedule
| Time | Class | Event |
| Saturday 24th February 2024 | ||
| 0705 | Timekeeping -Track System Test | Test |
| 0725 | FIM Medical Inspection /// FIM Track Inspection | Â |
| 0805 | Australian Superbike | Q |
| 0850 | Australian Supersport 300 | R2 |
| 0925 | Australian Supersport | R1 |
| 1000 | WorldSBK | FP |
| 1030 | WorldSSP | WUP |
| 1100 | Pit Walk 1 & Course Car Rides | |
| 1200 | Australian Superbike | R1 |
| 1300 | WorldSBK | Superpole |
| 1335 | Australian Supersport | R2 |
| 1430 | WorldSSP | R1 |
| 1505 | ASBK Pillion Rides | |
| 1600 | WorldSBK | R1 |
| Sunday 25th February 2024 | ||
| 0800 | Timekeeping -Track System Test | Test |
| 0830 | FIM Medical Inspection /// FIM Track Inspection | Â |
| 0910 | Australian Supersport 300 | R3 |
| 0945 | Australian Superbike | R2 |
| 1030 | WorldSBK | WUP |
| 1050 | WorldSSP | WUP |
| 1125 | Australian Supersport | R3 |
| 1155 | Pit Walk 2 & Course Car Rides | |
| 1300 | WorldSBK | SPRace |
| 1340 | Australian Superbike | R3 |
| 1430 | WorldSSP | R2 |
| 1505 | ASBK Pillion Rides | |
| 1600 | WorldSBK | R2 |
2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
- Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25
- Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Mar 22-23
- Round 3: Queensland Raceway, QLD Apr 26-28
- Round 4: Morgan Park Raceway, QLD Jul 12-14
- Round 5: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC Sept 7-8
- Round 6: One Raceway, NSW Oct 4-6
- Round 7: The Bend Motorsports Park, SA Nov 8-10
