Saturday morning ASBK round up from The Bend

ASBK 2023
Round Seven – The Bend
Saturday

It was a bit of a broody overcast start to Saturday at Tailem Bend with an ever so slight chance of a light shower amidst a forecast temperature in the low-mid 20s. Sunday’s forecast is for a clearer and warmer day heating up towards a forecast maximum in the high 20s. For those staying around to test on Monday the temperature is expected to nudge 37-degrees!

Superbike practice on Friday saw the two title contenders dominate proceedings. Josh Waters was under Wayne Maxwell’s lap record while Troy Herfoss was just outside it.  Little separated that pair while Max Stauffer finished third quickest and leading Yamaha, a nice feather in the youngster’s cap and a further sign of the progress he has been making this season.

Troy Herfoss was quick out of the blocks in FP4, straight down to a 1m50.902. That was good enough to top the session until Cru Halliday went P1 with a 1m50.819 with seven-minutes remaining.

Herfoss then replied, more than six-tenths under through the first sector before losing a little in the next two sectors, but still crossing the stripe to go under the lap record and back on top with a 1m50.420. He was then under again at the first split on the next lap, quicker again through the second split to be two-tenths under, lost a little in the third sector but still lowered the benchmark further, a 1m50.275 the new target here at The Bend.  This speed was coming despite a few light spots of precipitation…

Josh Waters heads into this final round with a right hand that is still far from perfect. He is in much better shape than he was last time out at Phillip Island, but the condition of that hand will see him having to adapt further to that restricted movement. Waters started the Q1 session on his spare bike to shake that down before a brief run on his #1 bike to check a small change before heading back out to drop in a 1m50.693, that time good enough to push Halliday down to P3 at the final juncture.

Mike Jones fourth ahead of Max Stauffer, who couldn’t match the pace he displayed here yesterday when he was fastest Yamaha. A change in springs not quite working out for the youngster but he’s confident ahead of this afternoon.

Bryan Staring sixth ahead of Anthony West, Mark Chiodo and Glenn Allerton.

Allerton and his crew had been chasing some problems in the cooling system but now believe they have sorted the problem ahead of qualifying.

Broc Pearson and the DesmoSport Ducati squad had headed into this round with plenty of confidence on the back of not just recent results, but also some recent breakthroughs they have made in the electronic set-up of the bike.  However, they had been plagued by brake and then electronic issues on Friday which really held them back. They are still trying to get on top of things and as a result Pearson was tenth quickest this morning ahead of Ted Collins and Arthur Sissis, the latter of that trio really struggling to get comfortable on the Unitech Racing YZF-R1M.

Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 1440 this afternoon with Q1, followed by Q2 at 1515.

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Superbike FP4

Superbike Championship Points

Supersport

There is much interest in the Supersport category this weekend, where the title is also on the line come Sunday.  Kurri Kurri’s Cameron Dunker takes a 14-point lead into this final round but is up against a pair of South Australian locals in the fight for the title. Olly Simpson is ten years his senior and has three seasons of Red Bull Rookies experience under his belt.  Only two-points further behind is Simpson’s fellow croweater Ty Lynch.

Adding further spice to the Supersport mix is the return of international riders Tom Toparis, Harrison Voight, Archie McDonald and Harry Khouri to the fold after seasons spent in Europe. While Taiyo Aksu returns from racing in Japan this season to jump back into the Aussie Supersport mix.  Simpson topped proceedings on Friday ahead of Voight, Dunker and Toparis.

Harrison Voight went under the previous qualifying and race lap records on Saturday morning, the Queenslander’s 1m54.618 on his seventh lap of the session setting the Q1 benchmark. That was not his only 1m54.6 though, Voight also dropping in a 1m54.646 on his 12th and final lap of the session. Tom Toparis ran Voight close though, a 1m54.770 putting Voight on notice that he won’t have it all his own way this time out at The Bend. Simpson joined them in the 54s, a 1m54.825 while championship leader Cam Dunker still had some speed to find, his best a 1m55.507 good enough for fourth place in Q1 ahead of Ty Lynch.

Tom Toparis is doing as few laps as possible today and spending the time between sessions with his left hand/wrist in a bucket of ice water. The Goulburn rider broke his wrist in a few places only a month ago and has been spending plenty of time in a hyperbaric chamber in order to be able to race here this weekend.

Hayden Nelson crashed at turn nine late in the session which dented his progress, the Cube Racing Stop & Seal rider ranked ninth at the end of Q1.

Supersport Q1

New qualifying record for SS class
Previous: 1:54.672 by Broc PEARSON on a Yamaha YZF-R6 set on 04/12/21

Supersport Championship Points

Supersport 300

In the Supersport 300 ranks only two-points cover the top three: Henry Snell, Cameron Swain and Marcus Hamod. Brandon Demmery and Bodie Gawith are also still in the SS300 title hunt.

Swain topped proceedings on Saturday morning ahead of Jordy Simpson and Brodie Gawith.

Supersport 300 Q1

Supersport 300 Series Points

YMF R3 Cup

In the YMF R3 Cup Swain has a slender four-point lead over Gawith, who is one-point in front of Snell, with Demmery sitting in fourth ten-points off Swain, who is aiming to replicate Dunker’s feat from last year and take out both titles.

Swain has started out as he aims to continue, topping the Saturday morning qualifying session ahead of Gawith and Snell. They were a second off Carter Thompson’s lap record of 2m08.478 set here in 2021.

In the second qualifying session though Gawith did break into the 8s, a 2m08.756 to take pole position ahead of Swain, who despite improving to 2m09.235, failed to match the place of Gawith. Jordy Simpson rounds out the front row despite a hefty tumble late in the session.

Their first brief six-lap bout scheduled to get underway at 1710 this evening.

YMF R3 Cup Qualifying

YMF R3 Cup Series Points

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup

The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup is also on a knife-edge with three riders poised to take out the Cup. Mount Barker local, Archie Schmidt, holds a one-point lead over Bodie Paige, with New Zealander Hayden Fordyce – who led the series after the first round – coming back to the fore at the right time to be 10pts off Schmidt.

Bodie Paige and Valentino Knezovic were both under the lap record on Saturday morning to top proceedings ahead of Hunter Corney and Archie Schmidt.

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup Q1

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup Series Points

SureFlight Superbike Masters Series Points