Maxwell had left Darwin with a 22-point deficit but despite poor starts, the 34-year-old left Queensland with a five-point series lead over defending champion Troy Herfoss. The YRT man carries that advantage into Sydney Motorsports Park this weekend.
Wayne Maxwell
“The Yamaha has always been a really strong runner at Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP), but in saying that, so have the other guys. It will be another really difficult battle. We can’t really go off the performance of the 2016 ASBK season as by this stage Troy (Herfoss) had already won Winton and Morgan Park and this year the tables have been turned, so it’s not as cut and dry as working off previous year’s results. We have to keep working hard and improve our game to stay on top. Together with Yamaha, we are constantly learning and adapting. The races are pretty long and racing is very frantic. Round 5 was very exciting and fast paced and I am sure that Round 6 at Sydney will provide the same level of action. Hopefully we can pull away from the round with another win and take the championship down to the wire at my home track at Phillip Island for the final round of 2017!”
One rider that has come of age over the previous couple of rounds has been Corey Turner. He rode brilliantly in Darwin on his Yamaha YZF-R1, finishing fourth for the round with 32-points. The Bendigo (VIC), raised teenager was then drafted into the DesmoSport Ducati fold for Morgan Park and rewarded the squad with a 33-point haul, narrowly missing out on the overall podium. Turned had carded second place in the opening Superbike bout but a mistake in the second encounter saw him crash out of a likely podium result, Turner managed to remount and salvage some points, crossing the ling in eighth. Tuner has taken the past three successive ‘Rookie of the Round’ awards and hopes to continue make an impact and become the Shark Helmets Rookie of the Year.
Corey Turner
“I think I surprised myself a little bit with the second place in race one, but I do think it was coming. The DesmoSport Ducati boys worked really hard all weekend and in the first race everything came together and I was able to grab my first racing podium in ASBK. The test went well last week at Eastern Creek, but it was actually only the second time I’ve ridden the circuit, so I haven’t done many laps there at all, but it is a great circuit. In the laps that I have done, I do like it and I think it’s a track that suits my style. I’m not really sure what to expect this weekend, but we’ll see where we end up.“
Troy Herfoss has been racking up the points all year but has hardly been dominant. At his home round at Wakefield Park the 30-year-old came from the back of the grid to win the opening bout and was in the lead when the red flag was produced in race two. However the results were then taken from the previous lap, demoting Herfoss to second place, losing him five-points in the process. Exactly the gap between himself and series leader Wayne Maxwell ahead of this weekend’s penultimate round of the seven-round series. The news that Team Manager Paul Free was closing up shop at the end of the season was likely playing on his mind at Morgan Park, but with that announcement now officially confirmed, the team are focussed on bringing home another title and going out with a bang.
