 Josh Hook wins SBK opener at Phillip Island MotoGP
Josh Hook has continued his blemish-free Superbike campaign in the 2014 Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, claiming an easy win in today’s race one.
Hook won the eight-lapper by over eight seconds, but his cause was assisted when Honda teammate Wayne Maxwell crashed out of second spot on lap six, which also forced another Honda pilot, Jamie Stauffer, to take evasive action.
At that stage, the trio were separated by less than a second, but even if Maxwell and Stauffer had stayed out of trouble Hook would have still been a hard man to beat.
Hook’s pace was underscored by his fastest lap of the race – a 1:32.863, just short of Maxwell’s 1:32.316 circuit benchmark.
Stauffer was shuffled back to fourth after the lap six shenanigans, but he soon clawed his way back behind Glenn Allerton (BMW) and Troy Herfoss (Honda), with a battle raging until the chequered flag.
Allerton made good use of his BMW’s exceptional top speed to finish in second, from Herfoss, Stauffer, top Prostock finisher Sean Condon (Kawasaki) and Mike Jones (Kawasaki). Maxwell resumed after his crash, but limped straight back to the pits.
This weekend’s Superbike races are counting towards the inaugural Phillip Island Championship, which began in February as an undercard to the World Superbike round. Stauffer still leads the Phillip Island title, even though Hook has now won two of the three races.
The next outing for the Superbike riders is at 0855 on Saturday.
Daniel Falzon won the opening Supersport tussle after concerted battles with Callum Spriggs and Aaron Morris. Spriggs led many times early on but faded as the laps wore on leaving Morris to be Falzon’s only challenger but it was the South Australian who had nose in front at the line to take the win.
Supersport machines are on track next at 0815 Saturday morning for the second of their three bouts of the weekend.
Phillip Island Championship – Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
- Australian Superbike / ProStock race times:  Friday 5.05pm (8 laps); Saturday 8.55am (8 laps) ; Sunday 9.40am  (8 laps)
- Australian Supersport race times:  Friday 5.35pm (8 laps); Saturday 8.15am (8 laps) ; Sunday 9.05am  (8 laps)
