Stauffer hits the ground running –Â By Russell Colvin
Team Honda Racing’s Jamie Stauffer has hit the ground running at Phillip Island for the Phillip Island Championship/ASBK Series opener.
Stauffer stopped the clock with a 1min33.609, more than half-a-second faster than teammate Josh Hook and the same gap again back to Troy Herfoss who made it a Honda one-two-three.
Jamie Stauffer – “It wasn’t that good really,” said the man who finished a narrow runner-up to Wayne Maxwell in the Swann ASC series in 2014. “I did not feel comfy out there. We have made a few changes to the Honda CBR1000RR SP to what we tested the other week here.”
Stauffer’s time slightly slower compared to the 1min33.2 he managed during recent tests.
Hooky was pleased to swing his leg over the bike again, “I was feeling not so bad out there today. We have a few different things in mind to try with the bike to move forward.”
The big talking point however today was the traffic, which resembled a Monday morning Punt Road in Melbourne. Even for Hook this was a problem. “There is a lot of traffic out there and there is a lot of slow guys that do make it hard to put a time together.”
So how much of a positive was the test for Hook and the Honda team which they did after the Island Classic? “Yeah the test was a good one as we had a lot to try. We got that sorted which gave us a direction for this weekend.”
While Hook did post the second fastest lap time, he did taste a bit of the Phillip Island tarmac after he tucked the front end.
Herfoss, 28, found that there was not a lot of grip out on the 4.455km circuit today, front or rear.. “We had a bit of rain last night, that could have been why there was little grip out there,” said Herfoss. “I’m looking forward to getting out on the track after the World Superbikes and Supersport guys have been out there and laying some runner down there, which should improve the grip levels.”
Herfoss has not really been that dominant at the island, and he has openly admitted that the track is a hard one for him. “I’m looking forward to making some progress this weekend and try leave here with a couple of wins if we can.”
In fourth position and the first Kawasaki rider was Bikebiz/Ipone/Swann Insurance Racing’s Sean Condon. Condon stopped the clocks with a 1min34.954 on his third lap out of a total of fifteen. “We had a positive day today,” said Condon. “We went relatively quick considering we are still trying to set the new bike up and after making a few changes after FP1 we are looking forward to tomorrow’s free practice two.”
Completing the top five was South Australians Daniel Falzon who will this weekend make his debut outing the Superbike class. Still waiting for the arrival of the new YZF-R1 he will campaign in season 2015 Falzon is instead riding a ZX-10R this weekend
Sixth place went to New Zealand’s Sloan Frost who is riding for Next Gen Motorsports. Frost posted a 1min35.722, which was .133sec faster than Queensland rider, Mike Jones who makes his first hit out with the Australian Outdoor Living/Cube Racing Team this weekend.
LMR (Linden Magee Racing)’s Linden Magee was eighth, while Phil Lovett (Cessnock Motorcycles) and Frost’s teammate Ryan Hampton rounded out the top ten.
Chas Hern was just outside the top ten aboard the EBR RX machine.
Young gun Michael Blair (Blair Build/Yamaha/Campbell’s Hardware) went the fastest in the Supersport class. Blair lapped the island with a 1min37.990, however he regarded the session as not his best. “We still have a few seconds to go so a bit of tweaking for tomorrow and it should be a good weekend,” said the likeable fella.
Blair was .386 faster than Callum Spriggs (Allsite Concrete Cutting), with Paul Young, who is back in the saddle in the SA Kawasaki/BC Preformance team in third place with a 1min39.163.
New South Welshman Ken Burns was fourth on his GJ Gardner Homes/Moto National Suzuki GSX-R 600, and another Suzuki piloted man, Brayden Elliott was in fifth.
In the Australian Moto3/125CC GP, it was no real surprise to see Olly Simpson topping the time sheets with a 1min42.866! Simpson, who is back by Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit was 3.675sec faster than Matty Barton (E.T.S Race Fuels/NZI) on his Honda NSF 250 R. Tayla Relph (Unit Clothing/Fibre Zone Composites) was in third when she posted a 1min46.814.
Jack Mahaffy was the pace setter in the junior class on his ASAP Auto Electronics Honda RS 85. A massive 6.710sec was the different between him and Dallas Skeer (Ron Angel Classic Racing/Penrite Oils). The fastes of the J4 class was Dylan Whiteside.
Action gets underway at 8:20am Friday morning with a 20min free practise session for the Moto3/125cc class which is followed by the Australian Supersport which kicks off at 8:45. Australiam Superbikes will then have their hit out again at 9:05, before the world action gets going with the World Supersport making their first session at 10am.
