Troy Herfoss sets Friday pace at Winton

Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship 2017
Round Three – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28-30

Troy Herfoss sets Friday pace at Winton

FP3 got underway just after 1615 this morning, with a track temperature just over 20-degrees, and am ambient temperature hovering around 15-degrees. Conditions may be a tad warmer come Sunday, but forecast conditions are very similar to what riders experienced at the 3.0km Central Victorian circuit this afternoon, thus times today should be a good indication towards likely race pace come Sunday, when the flag drops at 1110 for the first of two 16-lap races, the second of which is scheduled to get underway at 1440 on Sunday afternoon. 

Daniel Falzon topped morning practice at Winton Motor Raceway but defending champion Troy Herfoss started to show hand on FP2, lowering the marker to a 1m20.531, only a tenth of the outright Superbike lap record he set around the 3km central Victorian circuit here late last year. 

Daniel Falzon

“Today was an up and down day. We had some really good results, which came in the first and third session, and even setting fast times on our race tyre, which the JD Racing team and I are pleased about. Finishing second for the day is a fantastic result for us. In saying that, we do have a little bit more to go as I know there is still more in the Yamaha YZF-R1 and myself. We’ll push for mid-twenties tomorrow and I believe that will make it a really good battle for pole position. I did unfortunately have a small crash in the second session. At the last turn I lost the rear, which was a bit strange. I honestly can’t explain what exactly happened. So, we didn’t change anything for the next session. We just went out there with a different Pirelli tyre, one which wasn’t quite as worn, and everything was all good. I think I just pushed a little too hard for the tyre wear that we had at the time…”

Herfoss was happy enough with that time to just test a few things on the Crankt Protein Honda in the final session, in which he only put in  1m21.131. That earlier 1m20.531 from FP2 easily good enough to top the day. 

See Below for onboard video from Herfoss’ 1m20.405 set in 2016

[youtube id=”kgO5T1oLK8A” width=”100%” height=”400″]

Wayne Maxwell sneaked under the 1m21s barrier in FP2, a 1m20.968 to the #47 Yamaha Racing Team man, while FP1 pacesetter Daniel Falzon was the only other rider in the 1m20s, a 1m20.987 for the JD Racing Yamaha man.

Wayne Maxwell

“We have worked through a lot of things today on the Yamaha YZF-R1M, trying to get a better feel for the corner entry, just to be able to maintain the nimbleness of the Yamaha. We did that and I’m pretty happy with the outcome. The Yamaha Racing Team and I did some longer runs, and as I said I’m very happy at the moment where we are with the bike. Although, it’s so hard to know we’re we are really at, as there are no numbers on the tyres as yet so we don’t know who was running soft rubber or not. So tomorrow when there is a capped amount and everyone has to do a lap, we’ll see what we can do. However I believe we are thereabouts and we are in a good position heading into tomorrow.  We have made massive inroads from when we started the test a few weeks ago to where we are now. At the test I could do one fast lap. However now I am getting more consistent and I believe that will be the key come Sunday.”

Both of those riders improved marginally this afternoon, Falzon down to 1m20.831 to take second place from Maxwell who put in a 1m20.907, but was usurped out of third place by Josh Waters, the Suzuki man getting down to a 1m20.894 this afternoon, while Cru Halliday took fifth overall for the day. 

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Another big improver was Josh Hook, who joins the Racer’s Edge Performance squad for this round on the Ducati Panigale R. Hook expects to complete the season with the squad, alongside regular incumbent Beau Beaton, however Beaton will miss the Winton round due to other commitments.

Hook improved markedly this afternoon as he got his head around the big booming Ducati and finished the day eighth on the charts, just behind Robbie Bugden and Bryan Staring.

Alex Phillis punted the Apex Civil Construction Yamaha to ninth for the day while Callum Spriggs rounded out the top ten.

Superbike QP1 is scheduled to get underway at 1115 on Saturday ahead of QP2 at 1500. 

YMI Superbike Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Herfoss 1m20.531
2. Falzon 1m20.831
3. Waters 1m20.894
4. Maxwell 1m20.907
5. Halliday 1m21.155
6. Staring 1m21.204
7. Bugden 1m21.506
8. Hook 1m22.158
9. Phillis 1m22.214
10. Spriggs 1m22.275
11. Blair 1m22.650
12. Guenther 1m22.671
13. Buckley 1m23.018
14. Frost 1m23.116
15. Turner 1m23.636
16. Walters 1m23.923
17. Levy 1m24.405
18. Senior 1m25.079
19. McIntyre 1m25.453
20. Baker 1m26.212
21. Spiteri 1m26.769
22. Barton 1m27.163
23. Fleming 1m29.647
24. McMurray 1m29.788

ASBK 2017 Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Daniel Falzon 106
2. Troy Herfoss 93
3. Robert Bugden 89
4. Wayne Maxwell 74
5. Bryan Staring 69
6. Beau Beaton 60
7. Josh Waters 58
8. Cru Halliday 48
9. Kyle Buckley 47
10. Michael Blair 44

Motul Supersport Friday Combined Practice Times

Ted Collins is on fire at Winton today, the NextGen Motorsports Suzuki rider dominated the Motul Supersport category all day to finish with a fantastic 1m23.764 this afternoon to decimate the competition.  

The next best was Chris Quinn, but the Coopers Yamaha rider was eight-tenths adrift of Collins, his 1m24.554 good enough though for second place ahead of Sam Lambert and Mark Chiodo.

But on current form that trio, nor fifth placed Sam Condon are going to be in the same race come Sunday as young Ted Collins.

Motul Supersport Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Collins 1m23.764
2. Quinn 1m24.554
3. Lambert 1m24.580
4. Chiodo 1m24.601
5. Condon 1m24.834
6. Liminton 1m24.918
7. Coote 1m25.101
8. Toparis 1m25.174
9. Olivier 1m25.552
10. Muldoon 1m25.777
11. Taylor 1m25.963
12. Pruiti 1m26.481
13. Rees 1m26.548
14. Carlsson 1m26.880
15. Li 1m27.076
16. Wilson 1m27.479
17. Mitchell 1m27.600
18. Gilding 1m27.610
19. Rhodes 1m27.776
20. Broadbent 1m28.084

ASBK 2017 Motul Supersport Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Ted Collins 86
2. Mason Coote 85
3. Sam Condon 70.5
4. Jordan Carlsson 66.5
5. Tom Toparis 65
6. Mark Chiodo 54.5
7. Nic Liminton 50
8. Lincoln Gilding 43
9. Ben Burke 41.5
10. Ryan Taylor 41

Supersport 300 Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Bayliss 1m33.020 / Kawasaki
2. Battye 1m33.730 / Kawasaki
3. Nicholson 1m33.935 / Kawasaki
4. Croker 1m34.084 / KTM
5. Shaw 1m34.779 / Kawasaki
6. Mahaffy 1m34.872 / Yamaha
7. Bramich 1m34.997 / Yamaha
8. Sells 1m35.028 / Kawasaki
9. Edwards 1m35.038 / Yamaha
10. Demmery 1m35.291 / Yamaha
11. Lynch 1m35.413 / Yamaha
12. Bramich 1m36.008 / Yamaha
13. Briffa 1m36.508 / Yamaha
14. Ford 1m36.557 / Yamaha
15. Taylor R 1m36.759 / Yamaha
16. Passfield 1m37.105 / Yamaha
17. Hocking 1m37.194 / Yamaha
18. Thomas 1m37.207 / Yamaha
19. Van Eerde 1m37.758 / KTM
20. Taylor L 1m37.829 / Yamaha
21. O’Brien 1m38.686 / KTM
22. Brook 1m39.250 / KTM
23. Farrell 1m40.556 / Kawasaki
24. Pickett 1m40.678 / Kawasaki
25. Dobie 1m41.505 / Yamaha

Supersport 300 – Over 300cc – Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Billy Van Eerde 95.5
2. Zac Levy 91
3. Brandon Demmery 89
4. Jack Passfield 80
5. Tom Bramich 79.5
6. Hunter Ford 76.5
7. Ty Lynch 76
8. Corey Briffa 74.5
9. Jack Mahaffy 69
10. Max Croker 66

Supersport 300 – Up to 300cc – Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Reid Battye 127.5
2. Scott Nicholson 94
3. Oli Bayliss 91
4. Yanni Shaw 84
5. Drew Sells 80.5
6. Laura Brown 79
7. Tom Edwards 70
8. Bronson Joel Pickett 57
9. Grace Poutch 41.5
10. Zack Johnson 41

Yamaha R3 Cup Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Edwards 1m34.796
2. Mahaffy 1m35.216
3. Ford 1m35.332
4. Briffa 1m35.912
5. Bramich 1m36.249
6. Thomas 1m36.479
7. Passfield 1m36.795
8. Hocking 1m37.030
9. Taylor 1m37.264
10. Hannan 1m38.091

Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Jack Passfield 67
2. Tom Edwards 63
3. Corey Briffa 51
4. Boyd Hocking 48
5. Dan Thomas 43
6. Tayla Relph 42
7. Ben Bramich 40
8. Jonathan Henderson 34
9. Hunter Ford 28
10. Jack Mahaffy 26

GP Juniors Cup Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Baker 1m48.204
2. Kelso 1m49.243
3. Lytras 1m49.901
4. Edwards 1m50.815
5. Cousens 1m51.447
6. Stauffer 1m52.399
7. Khouri 1m57.902
8. Power 1m58.215
9. Oughtred 2m01.626

GP Juniors Cup Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)

1. Tommy EDWARDS (NSW) 70
2. Joel KELSO (NT) 63
3. John LYTRAS (QLD) 56
4. Max STAUFFER (NSW) 50
5. Ben BAKER (NSW) 48
6. Luke POWER (VIC) 42
7. Jack COUSENS (VIC) 41
8. Harry KHOURI (NSW) 31

Sidecar Friday Combined Practice Times – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28, 2017

1. Joyce / Blackman 1m35.959
2. Collins / De Angelis 1m38.702
3. Boughen / O’Kane 1m38.820
4. Goodale / Goodale 1m41.756
5. McKinnon / Cummings 1m41.944
6. Brown / Sheldrick 1m43.773
7. Alton / Clancy 1m50.608
8. McLeod / Matthews 1m50.611
9. Reynolds / Treacey 1m53.520

ASBK Live

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