Swann Australasian FX Superbike Championship 2015 – Round Two – Mallala
AFX-SBK Race One Report – By Trevor Hedge
Riders were greeted with a brisk but beautifully clear and sunny morning at Mallala Motorsports Park this morning as the first of two race days of Swann Australasian FX Superbike Championship action got underway at the 2.6km South Australian circuit.
Glenn Allerton was the fastest man in morning warm-up while Yamaha teammate Wayne Maxwell and the Team Honda squad were content to miss the 10-minute session and save their precious tyres. Allerton topped Friday practice, but a fall in qualifying put paid to his run at pole, that honour going to YRT teammate and defending FX-ASC Champion Wayne Maxwell.
When the lights went out to signal the start of race one it was Troy Herfoss that quickly shot to the front of the pack, immediately pulling away from Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton, a 67.02 from Herfoss on his first flying lap signalling his intent. Jamie Stauffer was in fourth place at the end of lap one with a few bike lengths over Cru Halliday and leading Kawasaki rider Matt Walters in sixth place.
Wayne Maxwell was keen to ensure Herfoss could not escape and his 66.75 on lap three reduced the gap to Herfoss to 8-tenths of a second. It already looked as though the battle for the win was going going to be a Herfoss versus Maxwell war while Allerton, Stauffer and Halliday would be left to fight over the final step on the rostrum.  Stauffer got the better of that Yamaha duo on lap five to move up into third place.
Herfoss was kicked out of the seat out of the final turn on lap five, signalling the limit of grip from the rear Dunlop and giving Maxwell a sniff of victory. Herfoss’ scare saw Maxwell gain three-tenths over the Goulburn based 28-year-old over the course of the following lap. Maxwell then sneaked another tenth on lap seven to reduce the gap down to four-tenths. The differing strengths of the Honda and Yamaha on clear display to all onlookers as the pair telescoped together or drifted apart at the same points on the track every lap.  The Yamaha’s horsepower advantage clearly evident, and Maxwell also very good under brakes at the Northern Hairpin.  It was at that corner that Herfoss made a big mistake with four laps to go, running off the track, eventually rejoining in fourth place with mud all over his tyres costing him plenty of speed.
With Herfoss out of the battle for the win, Maxwell had a huge four-second advantage over Jamie Stauffer, who in turn had almost four-seconds over third placed Halliday. Â As a result Maxwell backed off the pace to preserve his tyres and cruised to an easy win.
Herfoss salvaged some pride with a great final lap to overcome Cru Halliday for third place and join his Honda teammate on the podium.  Halliday was essentially crashed after losing the front on the final lap, only his footpeg bracket digging and pushing the bike back up saving the race for the 26-year old, Halliday’s throttle hand was shaken off the bars and as he got back under control Herfoss managed to close and then pass, as when Halliday picked the throttle back up he was in the wrong gear. Glenn Allerton finished in sixth position with some gremlins affecting his pace on the new YZF-R1M.
Supersport Race One – Mallala 2015
Earlier in the morning the opening Supersport nine-lap stanza had seen a great early battle between Brayden Elliott and Michael Blair as pole-sitter Troy Guenther and Callum Spriggs built up speed. As the race wore on though it started to look as none of those riders had the measure of Michael Blair, who quickly moved into the 69s and started pulling away from his pursuers.
Eventually Elliott and Guenther also dipped into the 69s but the fastest man on the track with four laps to run was Kyle Buckley, the Supersport debutante putting in a 69.71 from sixth place. Teammate Paul Young then lowered the marker further, the two pushing each other hard in that battle for sixth place, Young’s 69.545 coming on lap six. An impressive showing from Young as he missed Friday practice due to work commitments.
Troy Guenther then put in a 69.384 on the penultimate lap to close up on second placed Brayden Elliott. Michael Blair still had half-a-second on Elliott and held that gap until the chequered flag while Guenther could not quite get close enough to challenge Elliott for the second place and had to settle for the final step on the rostrum.
Callum Spriggs took fourth place in his return from injury ahead of Luke Mitchell, Kyle Buckley and Paul Young. Mitch Levy scored eighth ahead of Jay Presepio and Brad Swallow.
Pro Twins / Nakedbike / Formula Xtreme C&D Race One – Mallala 2015
James Arnold scored the holeshot in the combined Pro Twins / Nakedbike category and Angus Reekie fell at turn five while giving chase on the opening lap. Another few riders went down at the esses which caused organisers to bring out the red flag and signal a full restart to the eight lap opening bout. Â Beau Beaton had started from the back of the grid after throwing the 1600cc Vincent down the road during Friday practice and missing the qualifying session as a result.
At the re-start James Arnold again got away cleanly and went on to a ten-second win unchallenged all the way.
FX Ninja 300 Cup Race One
Luke Burgess romped away to a clear win over Ben White and Paul Young in the opening Ninja 300 race of the weekend.
Formula Oz Race One – Mallala 2015
Paul Byrne led Ben Henry through turn one for the first time as Jason Ivkovic and Adam Christie gave chase. Â Henry was determined to stick with Byrne but that determination got the better of him on lap two when the Cube Racing Kawasaki rider ran off the circuit at the Northern Hairpin, rejoining the race in eighth position.
Henry’s mistake allowed Byrne to cruise to an easy victory on the very trick, and fast, LTR Honda Fireblade.
Adam Christie taking a clear second place on a BMW S 1000 RR ahead of Ben Henry, who had managed to claw his way back up to a third place finish after that early mistake pushed him back to eighth.  Mitch Paynter (Kawasaki) got the better of Jason Ivkovic (Suzuki) for fourth place while Liam Wilkinson took sixth place on a very special RSV4 Aprilia.
eFXCÂ Race One – Mallala 2015
Danny Pottage took victory in the five-lap eFXC race one ahead of Jason Morris and Danny Ripperton.
