Troy Herfoss smashes Morgan Park lap record to top Friday Practice
Crankt Protein Honda SP2 Fireblade rider records first ever 1m-12s lap of Morgan Park
Yamaha Motor Finance ASBK 2017 – Round Five – Morgan Park – Friday Practice Report
By Trevor Hedge – Images by TBG and Half Light
Cru Halliday had topped morning practice and that 1m13.734 was good enough to keep him on top of the combined timesheets after FP2. The #65 Yamaha did not even take to the track in the second session as some light rain before the session had made the track surface very greasy.
New Zealander Sloan Frost was the only rider to head out in the early parts of the FP2 session but as the session progressed many others joined him on the drying track. At the end of FP2 it was Josh Waters quickest with a 1m14.491 ahead of Herfoss on 1m15.042 while Frost rounded out the top three with a 1m15.044.
The final 30-minute session got underway at 1600 on a dry track with neglibile wind, a track temperature hovering around 18-degrees and an ambient of 14-degrees.
Josh Waters was quick out of the blocks with a 1m13.877 on the new GSX-R1000 while FP1 pacesetter Halliday quickly followed with a 1m13.927, two-tenths outside of his FP1 marker. Maxwell then crossed the stripe for a 1m13.810 to go quickest in the session with 20-minutes still remaining.
Corey Turner is continuing his stunning adaption to the DesmoSport Ducati. The booming big twin is certainly not the easiest bike to master but the 19-year-old is proving up to the task. A 1m13.510 shot the Bendigo raised teenager to the top of the charts as the session broached the halfway point.
Corey Turner
“Today we have mainly been focusing on doing race runs, while the other riders are looking towards a fast lap,” Turner commented this afternoon. “The team and I looking more towards the race, so tomorrow we will keeping focusing on that keeping pushing towards to getting a good race set-up for Sunday.”
Troy Bayliss is satisfied with the progress of his young charge
“We did the ASBK test here at Morgan Park Raceway a few weeks ago and things went pretty good for the DesmoSport Ducati team and Corey,” reflected Bayliss. “Today, it has been a pretty good day as Corey ended up sixth fastest and I’m sure he still has a bit more left in for qualifying and the two races on Sunday. It’s still early days, but everything is looking good for the rest of the weekend.”
Turner’s time at the top was short lived however as Waters then lowered the bar again to 1m13.338, getting ever so close to the 1m13.205 Wayne Maxwell set during testing here two weeks ago.
Maxwell himself quickly followed up with a 1m13.34 but then with 12-minutes remaining in the session Cru Halliday topped them both with a 1m13.148 on his tenth lap of the 12-turn 2.1km Morgan Park circuit before returning to the pits.
Daniel Falzon then put in his best lap of the day to push Turner down to fifth but then Herfoss demoted them both another position after putting in a 1m13.382 on his seventh lap of the session. On his next time around the reigning champion then put in the first ever 1m12s lap of Morgan Park to confirm his pace with a 1m12.943 on the new SP2 Fireblade on his eighth lap of the session.
Halliday exited pitlane with nine-minutes remaining only to come in again five minutes later.
Wayne Maxwell and Josh Waters joined the track with seven minutes left in the session. Waters matched Halliday’s 1m31.148 on his 14th lap of the session but with 90-seconds to go it was still Herfoss atop the charts.
Then in the final dying seconds of the session Michael Blair crashed spectacularly at turn three which brought out the red flag and ended the session. Blair managed to walk away but it will be an expensive repair bill for the likeable privateer with a new YZF-R1 well bashed up.
So there we have it, after laying seemingly low all day Herfoss let rip with that 1m12.943 to win the day. Things are tight at the top though with Halliday and Waters only two-tenths behind the Honda man while Maxwell is also certainly in that hunt at the top.
Daniel Falzon, Corey Turner and Robbie Bugden need to find something a little more to join that leading quartet but there is still plenty of time for them to find that progress forward.
Beau Beaton was eighth quickest ahead of a banged up Glenn Allerton while Bryan Staring rounded out the top ten.
First Qualifying gets underway at 1105 tomorrow followed by QP2 at 1510. The first of the two 16-lap races is scheduled for 1130 on Sunday followed by the second and final bout at 1350.
Yamaha Motor Insurance Superbike – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m12.943
- Cru Halliday – Yamaha 1m13.148
- Josh Waters – Suzuki 1m13.148
- Wayne Maxwell – Yamaha 1m13.296
- Daniel Falzon – Yamaha 1m13.404
- Corey Turner – Ducati 1m13.510
- Robbie Bugden – Kawasaki 1m13.608
- Beau Beaton – Ducati 1m14.299
- Glenn Allerton – Yamaha 1m14.549
- Bryan Staring – Honda 1m14.588
- Alex Phillis – Yamaha 1m14.799
- Michael Blair – Yamaha 1m14.993
- Sloan Frost – Suzuki 1m15.044
- Matt Walters – Kawasaki 1m15.705
- Lachlan Epis – Honda 1m16.438
- Mitch Levy – Yamaha 1m16.477
- Troy Guenther – BMW 1m16.873
- Ryan Yanko – Ducati 1m16.981
- Adam Senior – Yamaha 1m17.692
- Ashley Fleming – Aprilia 1m20.999
Yamaha Motor Insurance Australian Superbike Championship Points Standings
- Troy Herfoss 170
- Robbie Bugden 157
- Daniel Falzon 155
- Wayne Maxwell 148
- Josh Waters 135
- Bryan Staring 131
- Cru Halliday 110
- Corey Turner 81
- Beau Beaton 79
- Mitch Levy 78
- Matt Walters 75
- Troy Guenther 74
- Kyle Buckley 68
- Michael Blair 65
- Josh Hook 58
- Callum Spriggs 39
- Glenn Allerton 35
- Adam Senior 33
- Aaiden Coote 33
- Alex Phillis 32
Motul Supersport
Mark Chiodo (Repsol Gas Racing, Triumph 675 R) soared to the top, with the fastest time of the day in class. Practice Three was declared after 24 minutes, due to a red flag.
The field of Motul Supersport riders wasted no time to take to the track for the purpose of posting lap times and collecting race data. Chiodo was the rider of the day on his Triumph Daytona in Practice Three, lapping the raceway with a 1:15.815. The lap time beating the previous record set by Tom Toparis (Cube Racing, Kawasaki ZX6R) at the Official ASBK Test two weeks prior.
Chiodo finished ahead of Kiwi rider Damon Rees (Tony Rees Motorcycles, Honda CB600RR). Rees suffered an unfortunate fall in the final practice session, which in turn caused a red flag and had the session declared early. Rees was a tenth off Chiodo’s best time with a 1:15.924.
The third fastest would be ASBK mainstay, Chris Quinn (Coopers HXR Yamaha YZF-R6) to complete the top three. Quinn’s fastest lap was a 1:16.301. Finishing in fourth was Nic Liminton with a lap time of 1:16.374.
Current Supersport class Championship leader, Ted Collins (NextGen Motorsports, Suzuki GSX-R600) completed the top five with a 1:16.602, a significant gap to the front. Despite a lack of pace on Friday, Collins will no doubt be one of the favorites for Sunday’s racing.
Chiodo looks a likely force to be reckoned with for tomorrow’s qualifying sessions. It will be fascinating to see whether he can translate Friday’s pace into a pole position tomorrow.
Practice Two was heavily affected by a passing shower, causing riders to have to switch to wet weather tyres.
Qualifying One (Q1) for the Motul Supersport Championship is scheduled for 1005 local time on Saturday, with Q2 due to take place at 1340.
The Supersport category has 19 entrants this weekend.
Motul Supersport – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Mark Chiodo – Triumph 1m15.815
- Damon Rees – Honda 1m15.924
- Chris Quinn – Yamaha 1m16.301
- Nic Liminton – Yamaha 1m16.374
- Ted Collins – Suzuki 1m16.602
- Sam Condon – Yamaha 1m16.722
- Tom Toparis – Kawasaki 1m16.722
- Sam Muldoon – Kawasaki 1m16.849
- Mason Coote – Yamaha 1m17.808
- Cambridge Olivier – Yamaha 1m17.822
- Jordan Carlsson – Yamaha 1m18.272
- Brian Houghton – Honda 1m18.431
- Lincoln Gilding – Yamaha 1m18.439
- Aidan Hayes – Kawasaki 1m18.602
- Rhys Belling – Yamaha 1m18.695
- Mick Hefferan – Kawasaki 1m19.712
- Ryan Sellen – Kawasaki 1m19.805
- Stephanie Redman – Yamaha 1m20.202
- Patrick Li – Kawasaki 1m22.668
Hi-Tec Batteries Supersport 300
Reid Battye topped the Supersport 300 category for the day ahead of Billy Van Eerde and Oli Bayliss while Lachalan Epis rounded out that leading quartet. A massive 40-rider field will contest the trio of nine-lap races this weekend.
Hi-Tec Batteries Supersport 300 – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Reid Battye – Kawasaki 1m24.603
- Billy Van Eerde – KTM 1m24.774
- Oli Bayliss – Kawasaki 1m24.815
- Lachlan Epis – Kawasaki 1m24.854
- Yanni Shaw – Kawasaki 1m25.029
- Locky Taylor – Yamaha 1m25.176
- Broc Pearson – Yamaha 1m25.227
- Jack Mahaffy – Yamaha 1m25.253
- Max Croker – KTM 1m25.363
- Tom Bramich – Yamaha 1m25.623
- Corey Briffa – Yamaha 1m25.627
- Zac Levy – Yamaha 1m26.328
- Hunter Ford – Yamaha 1m26.804
- Tom Edwards – Yamaha 1m26.862
- Seth Crump – KTM 1m26.877
- Brandon Demmery – Yamaha 1m27.012
- Jarred Brook – KTM 1m27.290
- Tayla Relph – Yamaha 1m27.463
- Rogan Chandler – Yamaha 1m27.517
- Bronson Pickett – Kawasaki 1m28.461
- Mitch Kuhne – Yamaha 1m28.496
- Ross Beames – Yamaha 1m28.616
- Laura Brown – Kawasaki 1m28.721
- Joel Kelso – Yamaha 1m28.799
- Drew Sells – Kawasaki 1m28.863
- Ben Bramich – Yamaha 1m28.874
- Warwick Nowland – Kawasaki 1m28.987
- Boyd Hocking – Yamaha 1m29.242
- Zane Ford – Kawasaki 1m29.467
- Sharni Pinfold – Yamaha 1m29.949
GP Juniors Cup – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Joel Kelso 1m41.314
- John Lytras 1m41.511
- Max Stauffer 1m41.793
- Ned Faulkhead 1m42.450
- Harry Khouri 1m42.485
- Tristan Adamson 1m42.570
- Zak Pettendy 1m46.360
- Zylas Bunting1m346.360
- Rhys Williams 1m49.453
- Hunter Penhallurick 1m53.168
Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup
Corey Briffa topped the 15-rider strong Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup
Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Corey Briffa 1m24.671
- Broc Pearson 1m25.070
- Jack Mahaffy 1m25.390
- Locky Taylor 1m25.515
- Tommy Edwards 1m25.971
- Hunter Ford 1m26.216
- Tayla Relph 1m27.158
- Mitch Kuhne 1m28.687
- Ross Beames 1m29.119
- Boyd Hocking 1m29.235
- Ben Bramich 1m29.240
- Sharni Pinfold 1m29.775
- Troy Ryan 1m32.050
- Jonah Sita 1m33.324
- Matt O’Connell 1m34.933
- Ryan Dadd 1m35.033
Club Challenge – Friday Combined Practice Times
- Leigh Holmes – Kawasaki ZXR400 1m24.235
- Mark Torrance – Honda CBR250RR 1m33.209
- Elliott Whieldon – Honda VFR400 1m33.376
- Sarah Fairbrother – Honda CBR250RR 1m33.631
- Gary Dickson – Honda CBR250RR 1m33.690
- Michael Frost – Honda VFR400 1m35.043
