Maxwell and Herfoss the early pacesetters at Winton

ASBK 2021 Winton FP1

Pirelli Superbike

An absolutely magic morning here at Winton Motor Raceway with the ambient temperature climbing past 25-degrees when the Superbikes hit the track for FP1 at 1045 this morning. Track temperatures were also rising, nudging 35-degrees, but we can expect the surface to get much warmer than that as the day progresses. 

Troy Herfoss made his intentions clear right from the off with a 1m20.3 on his first flying lap, more than a second off what he managed during testing here early last week but only a few-tenths away from the official qualifying lap record set by Mike Jones on the 1299 Ducati here in 2019.

The Penrite Honda man then slowed on the following lap as he negotiated traffic and tried to find some clean air, while still doing a 1m20.9 mind you, before dropping in a 1m20.5 and then returning to the pits a couple of laps later. 

Ten minutes into the session Herfoss was still the only rider to have dipped into the 1m20 bracket, second quickest was Wayne Maxwell, more than a second behind Herfoss.

Halfway through the 30-minute session Maxwell started to wind up and put in a 1m20.736 then backed it up with a 1m20.519.

Mark Chiodo crashed at turn 11 with ten-minutes remaining in the session. 

Cru Halliday was the third rider to drop into the 1m20 bracket, a 1m20.998 for the YRT rider. 

A couple of minutes later Glenn Allerton set a 1m21.073 then followed it up with a 1m21.160 on the next lap. 

With five-minutes left on the shot clock Maxwell set a new morning benchmark of 1m20.143 then immediately backed it up with a 1m19.864. 

Herfoss returned fire with a 1m20.243 then improved to a 1m19.919 before the chequered flag came out. 

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Mike Jones dropped in a 1m20.431 before the flag to move up to P3. 

Aiden Wagner finished FP1 in P6 ahead of Lachlan Epis and Arthur Sissis. 

Bryan Staring was the quickest of the Kawasaki rider in P9 while Matt Walters rounded out the top ten. With Staring and Josh Waters still effectively shaking down new bikes I expect to see them make a lot of improvements as the weekend progresses. 

Jed Metcher was P11, 2.3-seconds behind Maxwell’s morning benchmark, but ahead of Mark Chiodo, Oli Bayliss, Josh Waters and Luke Jhonston. 

The gaps being shown here in practice this morning might not get that much closer as the day progresses as most riders are unlikely to match the one-lap pace of Herfoss, Maxwell and Jones. Glenn Allerton might find enough gains to get close but many of the other top runners have significant gains to make if they are to challenge for a front row position.

Come the 16-lap races though things are expect to be much tighter than the practice times might suggest as the Dunlop runners are confident of having competitive race pace and some might even elect to do the race distances on their softest option. 

The second 30-minute Superbike practice session is scheduled to start at 1330 before the third and final hit-out at 1545. 

Superbike FP1

Motorsports TV Supersport

Broc Pearson was quickest out of the blocks this morning in Supersport but things were pretty tight at the top with Ty Lynch matching Pearson’s 1m23.7 and the likes of Tom Edwards, Luke Power and Max Stauffer all within four-tenths of that morning marker. 

Supersport FP1

Supersport 300

13-year-old Carter Thompson showed the way in Supersport 300 in the morning session ahead of Peter Nerlich, Tom Drane and Joseph Marinello amongst the horde of kids graduating from the Oceania Junior Cup ranks in 2021. 

Supersport 300 FP1

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup

Not content with dominating the Supersport 300 charts Carter Thompson also blitzed the R3 Cup field in morning practice. Carter and the likes of Tom Drane, Ben Baker, Reece Oughtred and many others are doing double duty across both the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup. 

Yamaha R3 FP1

Horsell Sidecars

Queensland’s Turner brothers were 4.5-seconds quicker than the next best in the Horsell backed Sidecar field at Winton Raceway this morning. 

Sidecars FP1

Oceania Junior Cup FP1

2021 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar

Round 2 | Winton Motor Raceway | 12th-14th March Schedule