Jamie Stauffer does the ASBK double at P.I.
ASBK Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Superbikes Race One
Troy Herfoss took the early lead from Jamie Stauffer around the first of the 14-lap ASBK opener at Phillip Island today but as they crossed the stripe to mark the beginning of lap two Mike Jones powered past both Fireblade SP machines into the lead on the Cube Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R.
The newly crowned ASBK Champion held on to that lead throughout lap two. By the end of which that trio had more than three-seconds on fourth placed Daniel Falzon on the JD Racing YZF-R1.
Herfoss attempted to make a pass on Jones for the race lead with 11 laps to run but ran a little wide, allowing Jones straight back through, and Stauffer also saw his opening to demote Herfoss back to third place.
Mike Jones then got pushed from the race lead all the way back to third place as both Team Honda men steamed past. Jones has been suffering from an influenza type sickness late this week, leaving the very slightly built Queenslander feeling far from full strength. With nine laps to run he really started to lose touch with the Team Honda men but then seemed to regather himself before marching forward into contention once again.
Herfoss and Stauffer crossed the stripe side-by-side with eight laps to run. 0.002 of a second separating them according to the Computime beams. Jones was the fastest man on the circuit next time around to join that party and make it less than a quarter-of-a-second covering that leading triumvirate.
Around the back of the circuit on the next lap however Jones lost a lot of ground on the Honda men. His challenge for the win seemingly over with five laps to run, the gap to the Honda men was now out to almost two-seconds.
With four laps to run there was nothing separating the two Honda men. Jamie Stauffer was holding the slight edge over his younger teammate, who was perhaps biding his time for the final streak around turn 12 for the final run to the line.
There was still nothing between the two Honda men as they started the penultimate lap but Jones was now more than four-seconds adrift of the Fireblade pairing. Falzon was a further four-seconds behind in a safe fourth place, a three-second buffer over Ryan Hampton in fifth place.
As the Honda men commenced the final lap battle lapped traffic started to coming into play. Jamie perhaps marginally fared better as they sliced and diced their way through the backmarkers and took the chequered flag with almost half-a-second on his teammate. Incredibly, both Stauffer and Herfoss set their fastest laps of the race on their final 4445 metre circuit around the Phillip Island layout. Jamie’s final 1m33.347 the fastest lap of the race.
In Parc Ferme the reason for Jones’ lack of pace in the latter half of the race was clearly evident. The rear Pirelli had some chunks torn out of the side of it, the Cube Racing Team believed that the delay on the start line overheated the tyre outside of its correct temperate range, effectively cooking the rear slick. In contrast the same rubber on the Team Honda machines looked in great shape, and the fact that both men set their fastest lap of the race on their final lap clear evidence that there was no durability issues in their camp.
Daniel Falzon was the first of the Dunlop runners home in fourth place, 12-second behind the race victory. Ryan Hampton a further six-seconds down on Falzon. There was then over 70-seconds back to John Hunt in sixth place after the 14-lap duration.
ASBK Race One Results
- Jamie Stauffer
- Troy Herfoss 0.477
- Mike Jones 7.245
- Daniel Falzon 11.87
- Ryan Hampton 18.02
- John Hunt 73.864
- Phil Czaj 77.724
- Quentin Blazley 93.93
- David Barker 94.01
- Nathan Spiteri 94.29
ASBK Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Superbikes Race Two
Daniel Falzon scored the holeshot as the second and final 14-lap Superbike bout got underway at 1510 this afternoon under lcear skies at Phillip Island. Â The South Australian led the field around to turn four before Troy Herfoss slipped past the Yamaha to take the lead. Stauffer then pushed Falzon back to third place at MG Hairpin but then down the chute both Falzon and Mikes Jones slippped back past the Fireblade. Unfettered by all that tussing though was Troy Herfoss, the Goulburn 28-year-old had a full-second on the field by the end of the opening lap.
Ryan Hampton went down at turn four on lap two which put the New Zealander out of the running for second overall in the ASBK Championship. That #2 plate certain to go to Daniel Falzon as a result of the Kiwi BMW rider’s demise.
Mike Jones then declared his intention to try and run down Herfoss and challenge for the race lead. The Queenslander got the back down to just under a second with 11 laps to go. Jamie Stauffer then upped his pace to go with the Kawasaki man as the Dunlop shod YZF-R1 of Daniel Falzon started to lose touch with that leading trio.
Over the next few laps Jones and Stauffer started to pull a tenth out of Herfoss here and there. The gap got down to just under 8-tenths with nine laps to run but Herfoss responded on the next circuit to extend the buffer back out to 1.1-seconds.
Linden Magee’s shocker of a weekend continued when the Team Honda satellite rider ran off the circuit with eight laps to run and then retired. Magee finished the opening bout but was a lap down after also running off the circuit.
Stauffer put a challenge on Jones as the race broached the halfway mark but the Kawasaki ZX-10R 13km/h quicker down the chute that time around and simply blew back past on the entry into turn one. Stauffer made it stick at The Hayshed on the next lap though and looked likely to pull away but down the chute the next time Jones was 15km/h quicker and again the Queenslander took back that second place. Stauffer was not giving up the challenge however and moved back up to second place in turn two. This time around the back of the circuit Stauffer managed to build enough of a buffer over Jones to pull a full-second out of Jones by the time they got to the stripe so there would be no Kawasaki blowing past him into turn one this time around.
With no Kawasaki to contend with Stauffer was safe to put his head down and closed down Herfoss by more than half-a-second on lap ten, and did the same the next time around to be all over the back of Herfoss’ #28 Fireblade SP. A new fastest lap of the race with four laps to run, 1m33.370, and backed up the next time around with a 33.421, Stauffer looked determined to make it a double victory.
At the last lap board nothing separated the two Honda men, who now had a four-second buffer over Jones while Daniel Falzon was running in a very lonely fourth place 17-seconds behind the leaders.
Jamie Stauffer and Troy Herfoss swapped position throughout the final stages of the race but it was Jamie Stauffer who had his nose in front at the line to complete a sensational double victory.  Herfoss’ back tyre had nothing left to give on the left shoulder of the Pirelli rear slick, Stauffer’s also badly worn but nowhere near as badly as Herfoss’s rear, which had some ugly chunks missing out of the shoulder of the tyre when inspected in Parc Ferme.
ASBK Race Two Results
- Jamie Stauffer
- Troy Herfoss 0.12
- Mike Jones 4.75
- Daniel Falzon 19.54
- John Hunt 67.25
- Phil Czaj 67.53
- David Barker 76.92
ASBKÂ 2015Â Round Five Points
- Jamie Stauffer 50
- Troy Herfoss 41
- Mike Jones 36
- Daniel Falzon 34
- John Hunt 31
ASBKÂ 2015 Final Championship Standings
- Mike Jones 225
- Daniel Falzon 163
- Ryan Hampton 144
- Ben Henry 111
- Phil Czaj 99
