Yamaha Motor Finance ASBK 2017 – Round Two – Wakefield Park
Troy Herfoss quickest – Glenn Allerton out with badly broken arm
Robbie Bugden set the pace in the opening 30-minute practice session this morning on a drying and dusty, and therefore slippery, Wakefield Park circuit. No riders managing to get under the magic minute mark in the morning session.
FP2 saw Wayne Maxwell set the pace with a 58.40 ahead of local star, and defending ASBK Champion, Troy Herfoss. Round one dominator Daniel Falzon was third quickest in the second session.
The big news from FP2 was Glenn Allerton being ruled out of proceedings for the weekend. The 36-year-old went down heavily at the final turn, breaking his arm in the process.
The Sydneysider was immediately taken to Goulburn Hospital to be fully stabilised and assessed. The verdict is that his upper arm is broken in two places, and he will require a rod to be inserted in order to stabilise the break and speed recovery. Allerton could not only be out of this round, but may not even be fit for round three at Winton late next month.
Look back at the races from 2016! – Race One Report – Race Two Report
The final Superbike practice session for the day got underway just before 1600, in windy conditions under foreboding skies, and rain threatening on the horizon. The session was red-flagged five minutes into the session when Will Davidson went down at turn six. A short break in proceedings followed before riders exited pitlane once again at 1604.
Davidson was one of a number of fallers today. Allerton’s heavy fall in FP2 ruled him out of the weekend but other high profile Superbike runners to taste the Wakefield Park tarmac included FP1 pacesetter Robbie Bugden, who went down after trying a different Dunlop front hoop, that was obviously not to his liking!
With ten minutes left in the session both Herfoss and Maxwell were the first men into the 57s, a 57.917 to Herfoss, narrowly eclipsing Maxwell’s 57.921. That is how the rankings stayed at the top of the timesheets when the session wrapped up.
That 57.917 is still quite some way from Herfoss’ 57.350 he set here last year, but conditions were far from perfect today and the circuit is still to clean up. But, if the weather forecast is to be believed, it could be the fastest time we see here this weekend…
Wayne Maxwell
“Today was obviously challenging at the start with the wet weather and the mist coming in. We had a bit of a ride around to get used to the tyres, to try and find a setting which would be suitable to run here at Wakefield Park.
“We are still learning. Every session we are improving and learning more about the tyre. We will just have to keep learning as we go. Hopefully we can get a bit more dry time before Sunday. Unfortunately the weather forecast doesn’t look like that for tomorrow, which means we might have to qualify in the rain., so we’ll have to try and come up with something.
“Hopefully we will have enough time tomorrow to find that. It should work out. The guys on my side of the garage and Kev [Marshall] are all working hard to try and find something. We make an improvement on the front, then the back becomes an issue. You make an improvement, then the front becomes an issue. So it’s all about just trying to find the balance on the Yamaha YZF-R1M. We have to make sure the bike has good braking stability here for the bumpy entry for the brakes and also turning for the top part of the circuit. They are the balances we are trying to find. Hopefully we can do that and come up with a good race package for Sunday.”
Cru Halliday was third quickest today on 58.302, ahead of Suzuki’s Josh Waters and Crankt Protein Honda’s Bryan Staring.
Daniel Falzon ended the day sixth quickest in front of Robbie Bugden, Kyle Buckley and Beau Beaton while rounding out the top ten was Glenn Allerton, despite spending FP3 in Goulburn Hospital with a broken arm.
Weather could play a big part in proceedings this weekend. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, and conditions are also looking a little dicey on Sunday.
First qualifying is scheduled for 1110 Saturday morning, where the 25-strong Superbike field will have a 30-minute session to get their best time on the board. The second and final 30-minute qualifying session is then slated to get underway at 1500.
Sunday’s opening 20-lap race will get underway at noon, ahead of the second bout at 1505.
In massive news for the reinvigorated, and Yamaha Motor Finance sponsored, Australian Superbike Championship, SBS Television will air live coverage from Wakefield Park starting at 1400 Sunday afternoon and concluding at 1600. Race action will also be livestreamed throughout the day.
Superbike Friday Combined Times
- Troy Herfoss 57.917 / Honda
- Wayne Maxwell 57.921 / Yamaha
- Cru Halliday 58.302 / Yamaha
- Josh Waters 58.380 / Suzuki
- Bryan Staring 58.551 / Honda
- Daniel Falzon 58.615 / Yamaha
- Robert Bugden 58.867 / Kawasaki
- Beau Beaton 58.913 / Ducati
- Kyle Buckley 59.141 / Kawasaki
- Glenn Allerton 59.260 / Yamaha
- Matt Walters 59.541 / Kawasaki
- Callum Spriggs 59.595 / Ducati
- Michael Blair 59.699 / Yamaha
- Mitch Levy 59.750 / Yamaha
- Josh Hook 60.077 / Kawasaki
- Corey Turner 60.323 / Yamaha
- Troy Guenther 60.497 / BMW
- Brendan McIntyre 61.066 / Suzuki
- Aaiden Coote 61.236 / Kawasaki
- Will Davidson 61.268 / Yamaha
- Adam Senior 1m01.269 / Yamaha
- Jack Baker 1m01.392 / Kawasaki
- Ashley Fleming 1m03.303 / Aprilia
- Nathan Spiteri 1m03.465 / Kawasaki
- Hamish McMurray 1m04.378 / Kawasaki
Motul Supersport
In Supersport, it was Sydney West Riders (Yamaha YZF-R6), Cambridge Olivier who posted a fastest lap of 1m01.110s on his circulation during the greasy 15-minute session, placing him .146 of a second in front of New South Welshman, Chris Quinn (Coopers HXR Yamaha YZF-R6) – now second in the Motul Supersport (SSP) category after Friday’s practice by the narrowest of margins.
In a show of just how close the SSP battle will be over the duration of this weekend’s racing, and speaking to the notoriety the ASBK now enjoys, Kiwi Damon Rees on his Tony Rees Motorcycles Honda (CBR- RR) was hot on the leader’s heels with an incredible best of 1:0345 in practice session three.
All eyes were on Goulburn local lad, Tommy Toparis (Cube Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R) who ended up in fourth after combined practice times were collated. Toparis also found the track to be slippery and treacherous during the first practice session. The Cube Racing Team rider managed fourth place in the Third Practice session of the Motul Supersport category with a 1:01.485 lap time.
“The first session was wet and greasy but drying at the same time, we got a few laps in the wet, in case it does rain for the race. The second practice session was solid and my times were pretty good. We just have a few things we have to sort out, hopefully I can qualify well and reset for the races.” Toparis stated.
Championship leader Mason Coote (YZF-R6) won Round One at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, finished 12th at the conclusion of day one.
Qualifying one (Q1) of the 2017 Motul Australian Supersport Championship is scheduled for 9:50am local time on Saturday, with Q2 due to take place at 1:55pm.
Supersport 600 Friday Combined Times
- Cambridge Olivier 1m01.110 / Yamaha
- Chris Quinn 1m01.256 / Yamaha
- Damon Rees 1m01.345 / Honda
- Tom Toparis 1m01.485 / Kawasaki
- Mark Chiodo 1m01.624 / Triumph
- Nic Liminton 1m01.633 / Yamaha
- Sam Condon 1m01.779 / Yamaha
- Jordan Carlsson 1m01.827 / Yamaha
- Giuseppe Scarcella 1m01.835 / Kawasaki
- Ted Collins 1m02.121 / Suzuki
- Sam Muldoon 1m02.584 / Kawasaki
- Mason Coote 1m02.718 / Yamaha
- Jimmy Broadbent 1m03.119 / Kawasaki
- Hayden Spinks 1m03.383 / Kawasaki
- Brian Houghton 1m03.405 / Honda
Supersport 300 Friday Combined Times
- Jack Mahaffy 1m08.822 / Yamaha
- Drew Sells 1m08.829 / Kawasaki
- Brandon Demmery 1m08.920 / Yamaha
- Corey Briffa 1m09.068 / Yamaha
- Oli Bayliss 1m09.174 / Kawasaki
- Yanni Shaw 1m09.234 / Kawasaki
- Ty Lynch 1m09.297 / Yamaha
- Tom Edwards 1m09.395 / Yamaha
- Reid Battye 1m09.427 / Kawasaki
- Hunter Ford 1m09.439 / Yamaha
- Jack Passfield 1m09.861 / Yamaha
- Billy Van Eerde 1m10.096 / KTM
- Scott Nicholson 1m10.315 / Kawasaki
- Laura Brown 1m10.326 / Kawasaki
- Jarred Brook 1m11.276 / KTM
- Tom Bramich 1m11.815 / Yamaha
- Boyd Hocking 1m11.958 / Yamaha
- Bronson Joel Pickett 1m12.457 / Kawasaki
- Ben Bramich 1m12.570 / Yamaha
- Greg Farrell 1m13.308 / Kawasaki
Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup
Jack Mahaffy (JDS Moto YZF-R3, Supersport Over 300), took top honours overall in the YMF R3 Cup and Over 300 category with a 1:08.316. Hunter Ford with a 1:08.429 and Tommy Edwards a 1:08.897 rounded up the top three.
Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup Friday Combined Times
- Jack Mahaffy 1m08.316
- Hunter Ford 1m08.429
- Tom Edwards 1m08.897
- Corey Briffa 1m09.029
- Ty Lynch 1m09.223
- Jack Passfield 1m09.673
- Andrew Hannan 1m10.647
- Boyd Hocking 1m11.569
- Tayla Relph 1m12.782
- Troy Ryan 1m13.087
- Dan Thomas 1m13.159
- Chris Dobie 1m14.303
- Chris Balen 1m14.733
- Jonah Sita 1m16.100
- Mark Bottomley 1m16.714
- Jake Brett 1m19.827
- Jonathan Henderson 1m19.912
GP Juniors
The introduction of the GP Juniors didn’t get off to an easy start as the riders had to brave the wet conditions of Practice One. Despite the track being slippery and wet the young riders were able to stay on their bikes. As the conditions improved the young riders were able to increase their pace.
Tommy Edwards (Yamaha Motor Australia) dominated the GP Juniors category, with his fastest time a 1:20.003 a full second and a half quicker than his closest challenger in Ben Baker with a 1:21.540.
GP Juniors Cup Friday Combined Times (All riders on Yamaha R15)
- Tom Edwards 1m20.03
- Ben Baker 1m21.540
- Reid Battye 1m21.729
- John Lytras 1m22.003
- Jack Cousens 1m24.934
- Joel Kelso 1m25.042
- Ben Bramich 1m25.215
- Harry Khouri 1m25.530
- Max Stauffer 1m28.559
- Luke Power 1m31.674
2017 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
- Round 2 Wakefield Park Raceway, NSW 17-19 March
- Round 3 Winton Motor Raceway, VIC 28-30 April
- Round 4 Hidden Valley Raceway, NT 7-9 July
- Round 5 Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick, QLD 25-27 August
- Round 6 SMP Eastern Creek, NSW 8-10 September
- Round 7 Phillip Island Circuit, VIC 6-8 October
