Cru Halliday confirms pace on day two at Winton
Cru Halliday finished off the two-day ASBK Test in style by topping the timesheets once again. Halliday had topped day one and then underlined his pace by going quicker again today, a 1m20.770 coming in the final session.
This season Halliday is not under the official Yamaha Racing Team banner, and instead is running his own team backed by YMF/YMI and Ipone oils.
Cru Halliday
“We have got the CHR Yamaha YZF-R1M tuned pretty well. There are still some little grey areas we need to fix up. I believe the next race will come down to tyre choice. Its good to top the time sheets again, however It will be a whole different ball game when the race weekend comes around.”
The only other rider under the 1m21s barrier was another privately entered YZF-R1, in the hands of Daniel Falzon competing under the family run JD Racing banner.
Falzon dominated the opening round at Phillip Island, and then took fifth overall at Wakefield Park on his Caterpillar sponsored machine, which was good enough for the 23-year-old to retain a handy 13-point lead at the top of the championship table.
Defending ASBK Champ Troy Herfoss set the fastest ever motorcycle lap of Winton Raceway during qualifying last year, a 1m20.405, but the Crankt Protein Honda man only put down a best of 1m21.018 in this two-day test. Onboard video from last year’s record lap is featured below.
[youtube id=”kgO5T1oLK8A” width=”100%” height=”400″]
Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1) and Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing, CBR-1000SP) finished fourth and fifth overall respectively. Maxwell only a fraction behind third placed Herfoss, with Staring half-a-second down on that duo.
Glenn Allerton is still sidelined after badly breaking his arm at Wakefield Park last month.
Josh Waters punted the new GSX-R1000 to the sixth fastest time ahead of Alex Phillis, the young Victorian riding an Apex Civil backed YZF-R1 during the test.
Robbie Bugden was the fastest Kawasaki man in eighth ahead of Yamaha privateer Michael Blair and DesmoSport Ducati’s Callum Spriggs.
Supersport graduates Troy Guenther and Kyle Buckley continued their Superbike learning curve to finish the test 11th and 12th respectively.
ASBK returns to Winton late this month for the third round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship, 28-30 April.
ASBK Winton Test – April 2017 – Superbike Fastest Overall Times
- Halliday 1m20.770
- Falzon 1m20.944
- Herfoss 1m21.018
- Maxwell 1m21.046
- Staring 1n21.504
- Waters 1m21.598
- Phillis 1m21.823
- Bugden 1m21.973
- Blair 1m22.412
- Spriggs 1m22.500
- Guenther 1m22.537
- Buckley 1m22.811
- Walters 1m23.831
- Frost 1m23.859
- Levy 1m24.024
- Gibson 1m24.529
- McIntyre 1m24.757
- Spiteri 1m27.672
ASBK 2017 Championship Standings (current as of April 12, 2017)
- Daniel Falzon 106
- Troy Herfoss 93
- Robert Bugden 89
- Wayne Maxwell 74
- Bryan Staring 69
- Beau Beaton 60
- Josh Waters 58
- Cru Halliday 48
- Kyle Buckley 47
- Michael Blair 44
Supersport
Ted Collins (Saint Unbreakable, Suzuki GSXR-600) topped every session he took to the track in and now look towards the next Round to attempt to build on his championship lead.
In second position, Mark Chiodo (Repsol, Triumph, 675R) posted a solid time to keep Collins honest.
Chris Quinn (Coopers HXR Yamaha, YZF-R6) completed the top three overall times.
ASBK Winton Test – April 2017 – Supersport Fastest Overall Times
- Collins 1m24.040
- Chiodo 1m24.328
- Chris Quinn 1m24.622
ASBK 2017 Motul Supersport Championship Standings (current as of April 12, 2017)
- Ted Collins 86
- Mason Coote 85
- Sam Condon 70.5
- Jordan Carlsson 66.5
- Tom Toparis 65
- Mark Chiodo 54.5
- Nic Liminton 50
- Lincoln Gilding 43
- Ben Burke 41.5
- Ryan Taylor 41
Supersport 300
Fastest overall was Drew Sells (Race Center, Kawasaki Ninja 300) for the Under 300’s class. Sells noting that the conditions were perfect at the track. His fastest lap, a 1:33.207 was posted on the second session of the day. Sells later crashed, injuring his wrist, which prevented him taking part in the last session.
Next was Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki Ninja 300), who continued his impressive progression from yesterday to finish second overall for the Under 300’s class. Bayliss is certainly showing improvement and will be looking to further establish himself at the next round.
Max Croker (KTM Australia, RC 390) finished as the fastest Over 300’s rider and third in the timesheets. Croker is still adapting to the RC 390 but is pleased with his progression and will be looking for a podium at next round.
The Official ASBK Test featured combined sessions between the Hi-Tec Batteries Australian Supersport 300 and YMF R3 Cup.
ASBK Winton Test – April 2017 – Supersport Under 300 Fastest Overall Times
- Drew Sells 1m33.207
- Oli Bayliss 1m33.557
- Scott Nicholson 1m33.861
ASBK Winton Test – April 2017 – Supersport Over 300 Fastest Overall Times
- Max Croker 1m33.597
- Jack Passfield 1m34.833
- Dan Thomas 1m36.242
Supersport 300 – Over 300cc – Championship Standings
- Billy Van Eerde 95.5
- Zac Levy 91
- Brandon Demmery 89
- Jack Passfield 80
- Tom Bramich 79.5
- Hunter Ford 76.5
- Ty Lynch 76
- Corey Briffa 74.5
- Jack Mahaffy 69
- Max Croker 66
Supersport 300 – Up to 300cc – Championship Standings
- Reid Battye 127.5
- Scott Nicholson 94
- Oli Bayliss 91
- Yanni Shaw 84
- Drew Sells 80.5
- Laura Brown 79
- Tom Edwards 70
- Bronson Joel Pickett 57
- Grace Poutch 41.5
- Zack Johnson 41
ASBK heads to Winton later this month
Spokes.com.au presents Round 3 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli at Winton Motor Raceway 28-30 April.
2017 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
- Round 3 Spokes.com.au Winton Motor Raceway, VIC 28-30 April
- Round 4 Hidden Valley Raceway, NT 7-9 July
- Round 5 Morgan Park Raceway, QLD 25-27 August
- Round 6 SMSP Eastern Creek, NSW 8-10 September
- Round 7 Spokes.com.au presents Phillip Island Circuit, VIC 6-8 October
