Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship 2017
Round Three – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28-30
Winton ASBK Free Practice One Reports
Winton Motor Raceway, located near the Victorian country town of Benalla, plays host to the third round of the YMI ASBK Championship this weekend and first practice got underway for all classes in fine conditions this morning at the 3.0km circuit.
Cru Halliday (Yamaha Finance, Yamaha YZF-R1) was the pacesetter at the Official ASBK Test at Winton Motor Raceway a few weeks ago. Halliday put in a 1m20.770 during the test but nobody got near that this morning at Winton, Halliday himself could only manage a 1m22.790, a full two-seconds slower than what he achieved here during testing, to place fifth on the FP1 charts this morning.
Daniel Falzon has been taking the fight to the factory teams on his privateer Yamaha YZF-R1 this season. After winning an incredible trifecta in races at Round One Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Falzon set himself up brilliantly with a commanding championship lead, which was then trimmed a little at Wakefield Park but the JD Racing Team rider still enjoys a substantial 13-point lead over defending champion Troy Herfoss. Falzon underlined his status as a favourite for this year’s title by topping the timesheets this morning at Winton with a 1m21.432 on the 15th of the 17-laps he managed in the 30-minute FP1 session.
Wayne Maxwell is currently fourth in the championship standings and is traditionally strong at Winton, and is looking to improve his championship standings this weekend. This morning Maxwell recorded a 1m21.843 to place second in FP1.
Herfoss clinched the 2016 ASBK Championship here at Winton last year, and started his Winton campaign this morning with a 1m21.966 to place third on the charts, just ahead of his Crankt Protein Honda teammate Bryan Staring.
Robbie Bugden of the Kawasaki BCperformance Team has utilised his wealth of Superbike experience and is holding down a strong third position in the standings. While he hasn’t managed to claim a win in 2017 yet, Bugden has achieved excellent consistency with many podium finishes and is looking to break that win drought at Winton this weekend. He started this morning with a sixth in FP1, 1m22.826, just ahead of Josh Waters.
Alex Phillis , son of multiple Australian Champion Robbie Phillis, originally planned on competing in the NZSBK Championship this year, to sensationally find himself back in ASBK on a family entry backed by Apex Civil Construction Yamaha. On which he recorded the eighth quickest time this morning, 1m23.658. Michael Blair was ninth.
DesmoSport Ducati’s Callum Spriggs continues to get to grips with the 1299 Panigale S, the young Queenslander was tenth quickest this morning just ahead of Kiwi Sloan Frost and Superbike debutante Troy Guenther.
Josh Hook joins the Racer’s Edge Performance squad for this round on the Ducati Panigale R. Hook expects to complete the season with the squad, alongside regular incumbent Beau Beaton, however Beaton will miss the Winton round due to other commitments.
ASBK 2017 – Winton Motor Raceway – Superbike FP1
- Falzon 1m21.432
- Maxwell 1m21.843
- Herfoss 1m21.966
- Staring 1m22.528
- Halliday 1m22.790
- Bugden 1m22.826
- Waters 1m22.827
- Phillis 1m23.658
- Blair 1m23.782
- Spriggs 1m23.835
- Frost 1m24.065
- Guenther 1m24.346
- Hook 1m24.353
- Walters 1m24.879
- Buckley 1m25.663
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 28, 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
Motul Supersport
Ted Collins was on fire during testing in the lead up to Motul Supersport round three and the NextGen Motorsports Suzuki rider continued that form when FP1 got underway just before 1000 this morning at Winton.
Nic Liminton was three-tenths behind Collins but more than a full-second ahead of third placed Mark Chiodo.
The 17-degree track temperature obviously no problem for young Collins, whose 1m24.883 is still a way off the 1m24.040 new fastest Supersport lap of Winton the young Victorian set at the test session earlier this month.
Last season at Winton, Toparis won the Up To 300 Production overall, and this morning ranked sixth on the Supersport FP1 charts.
Tom Toparis
“I’m definitely looking forward to this weekend and I hope the weather works out for us,” Toparis explained. “We weren’t at the front during the test, but I think a little change will make a big difference and we have a good idea what we need to do. Hopefully we can start out the weekend strongly and keep working forward from there.”
After breaking his left radius at the wrist joint six weeks ago while testing at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park, Luke Mitchell, 20, said he was more than happy to be able to line up on the grid for this weekend’s third round of the series. Mitchell currently sits in eighteenth place in the Australian Supersport Championship with 19-points to his name. The testing crash was caused by his bike having a leaking water pump which put water onto his back wheel and caused him to high side on the exit of the fishhook (turn seven).
Luke Mitchell
“There is no doubt that this weekend will be tough. I’m not kidding myself when it comes to that area. However the mindset is still the same as it was in 2016 and at the opening round at Phillip Island at the end of February I’m still going to go out there and give it my best shot. Physically, I won’t be up to par as the other riders, which will be a big struggle for me. I’m just going have to pin it and see where we end up. If I can finish within a reasonable time of the leaders, not so much positions, but within overall time behind the leaders, knowing that I have given it my all, I’ll be happy.”
ASBK 2017 – Winton Motor Raceway – Supersport FP1
- Ted Collins / Suzuki / 1m24.883
- Nic Liminton / Yamaha / 1m25.210
- Mark Chiodo / Triumph / 1m26.009
- Sam Lambert / Yamaha / 1m26.110
- Chris Quinn / Yamaha / 1m26.957
- Tom Toparis / Kawasaki / 1m27.098
- Mason Coote / Yamaha / 1m27.221
- Patrick Li / Kawasaki / 1m27.739
- Sam Muldoon / Kawasaki / 1m27.829
- Giuseppe Scarcella / Kawasaki / 1m28.631
- Sam Condon / Yamaha / 1m28.637
- Ryan Taylor / Yamaha / 1m28.989
- John Hunt / Suzuki / 1m29.049
- Cambridge Olivier / Yamaha / 1m29.165
- Jake Pruiti / Triumph / 1m29.340
- Damon Rees / Honda / 1m29.665
- Luke Mitchell / Yamaha / 1m30.007
- Jordan Carlsson / Yamaha / 1m30.071
- Rhys Belling / Yamaha / 1m30.452
- Brendan Wilson / Yamaha / 1m30.483
ASBK 2017 Motul Supersport Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 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
Hi-Tec Batteries Supersport 300
Young Oli Bayliss topped the overall times for the Hi-Tec Batteries Supersport 300 class during the test earlier this month. The 13-year-old son of WorldSBK legend Troy Bayliss, Oli was also the quickest this morning around the 3km Winton circuit just ahead of Scott Nicholson.
“Winton is a track I like and seem to go good at and racing there last year will help me a lot when we go back this weekend,” Bayliss said. “I just want to take it race by race and keep learning, but we definitely want to get the best results that we can at every race.”
The Supersport 300 category includes two-categories, an U300 class for machines such as the parellel-twin Kawasaki Ninja 300 that displace less than the 300cc in capacity, and O300 class for machines between 300 and 400cc in capacity such as Yamaha’s twin-cylinder YZF-R3 and KTM’s single-cylinder RC390.
Supersport 300 FP1 Winton
- Oli Bayliss / Kawasaki / 1m34.151
- Scott Nicholson / Kawasaki / 1m34.237
- Max Croker / KTM / 1m34.466
- Reid Battye / Kawasaki / 1m34.808
- Yanni Shaw / Kawasaki / 1m35.054
- Jack Mahaffy / Yamaha / 1m35.282
- Ben Bramich / Yamaha / 1m36.484
- Drew Sells / Kawasaki / 1m36.484
- Ty Lynch / Yamaha / 1m36.725
- Ryan Taylor / Yamaha / 1m36.892
Supersport 300 – Over 300cc – Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)
- 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 (current as of April 28, 2017)
- 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
Yamaha R3 Cup FP1
- Jack Passfield 1m37.349
- Ben Bramich 1m38.054
- Tommy Edwards 1m38.797
- Jack Mahaffy 1m38.835
- Locky Taylor 1m39.370
- Boyd Hocking 1m39.440
- Hunter Ford 1m39.445
- Corey Briffa 1m40.025
- Andrew Hannan 1m41.133
- Tayla Relph 1m41.327
Yamaha Motor Finance R3 Cup Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)
- Jack Passfield 67
- Tom Edwards 63
- Corey Briffa 51
- Boyd Hocking 48
- Dan Thomas 43
- Tayla Relph 42
- Ben Bramich 40
- Jonathan Henderson 34
- Hunter Ford 28
- Jack Mahaffy 26
GP Juniors Cup FP1
- Ben Baker 1m49.961
- Tom Edwards 1m50.815
- Joel Kelso 1m52.650
- John Lytras 1m53.343
- Jack Cousens 1m56.166
- Max Stauffer 1m57.041
- Luke Power 2m06.062
- Reece Oughtred 2m06.688
- Harry Khouri 2m08.674
GP Juniors Cup warms up for their second round
The second round of the inaugural 2017 GP Juniors Cup that will take place at the Spokes.com.au presents Round 3 of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK) at Winton Raceway, Benalla, VIC, April 28-30 and is shaping up as another exciting outing for the 12-16 year olds.
All competitors in the 2017 GP Juniors Cup ride the dynamic Yamaha YZF-R15, a four-stroke, single-cylinder 150cc motorcycle, on the same specification Bridgestone tyres, to provide a level a playing field allowing the true talent to shine. The complete ‘ready to go racing’ package is competitively offered at around $4,900 (including a set of race tyres)
The opening round of this historic new racing series was conducted in atrociously wet conditions at Wakefield Park Raceway last month, so hopefully the weather at the northern Victorian circuit shines on these young up-and-coming racers who are chasing their dream to follow in the footsteps of many great riders before them.
Current series leader, Tom “Tom-E-Gun” Edwards from Swansea (NSW) will be keen to stretch his lead in the GP Juniors Cup. Edwards has a lot more experience than the rest of the field as in 2016 he competed in the ultra-competitive Asia Talent Cup, contested on standard Honda 250cc Moto 3 machines and is seen as a stepping stone into the European Championship and Grand Prix World Championships.
“I am really looking forward to Winton and seeing if we can improve on what we did there,” series leader, Tom Edwards said. “The GP Juniors Cup is a great series to be a part of and there are a lot of good riders in there so I will have to be on my game to win all three races. Hopefully, it will be dry for the entire weekend, but in saying that, riding on the control tyre I have learnt a lot in the conditions in getting the feedback from the tyres.”
The talent and disposition of all the youngsters at the opening round was exceptional given the conditions over the three days of practice and competition, as only three of them crashed while more experienced riders in the other classes had many more crashes.
Edwards won two of the three races, from pocket-sized 13-year-old Joel Kelso. Kelso took out second leg in a titanic battle with the more experienced Edwards as Sunshine Coast local, John Lytras came third in the three races.
There will be some great duels playing out throughout the field as the Junior riders gain more experience and understanding the complexities of road racing. One stand out in the GP Junior field who has a wealth of experience in his corner, is Max Stauffer. The son of multiple Australian Superbike Champion, Jamie Stauffer. For Max, this will be his second ever road race after learning his craft in dirt-track racing, promptly winning an Australian Championship title.
GP Juniors Cup Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)
- Tommy EDWARDS (NSW) 70
- Joel KELSO (NT) 63
- John LYTRAS (QLD) 56
- Max STAUFFER (NSW) 50
- Ben BAKER (NSW) 48
- Luke POWER (VIC) 42
- Jack COUSENS (VIC) 41
- Harry KHOURI (NSW) 31
Sidecars FP1
- Joyce/ Blackman 1m38.745
- Collins / De Angelis 1m39.830
- McKinnon / Cummings 1m43.652
- Goodale / Goodale 1m44.010
- Boughen / O’Kane 1m45.856
- Brown / Sheldrick 1m46.907
- McLeod / Matthews 1m50.611
- Reynolds / Treacey 1m55.323
ASBK Live
Grab your remote this Sunday afternoon, buckle up and tune into SBS on your television from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM AEST for hours and hours of dramatic race coverage!
