Josh Waters leads home YRT duo in second Superbike bout at P.I.

ASBK 2023

Superbike Race Two

An overcast but fine morning greeted Superbike competitors at Phillip Island just before 1000 on Sunday as they gridded up for their second race of the season opening weekend.

Cru Halliday was having some last minute tweaks on the grid in regards to the controls of the YZF-R1M.  Halliday had to take evasive action on the entry to turn three yesterday to avoid another rider and had a scary high-speed crash that saw him make it all the way to the tyre wall. A little battered and bruised this morning but eager to make amends for that misfortune.

Max Stauffer was another that went down as somewhat of an innocent party on Saturday but the youngster was showing good form before his demise.

Josh Waters had their measure in Saturday’s opening bout of the season and set a new ASBK lap record of 1m31.075 in the process.

They’re away!

Josh Waters led Glenn Allerton through turn one for the first time, Mike Jones in third, Arthur Sissis fourth, Troy Herfoss fifth, Cru Halliday sixth ahead of Broc Pearson and Lachlan Epis.

Mike Jones went around the outside of Allerton at Lukey Heights but the BMW man keeps him out at turn ten to hold onto that second place. Jones then goes up the inside at the next turn to steal the position but that tussle was already allowing Waters to stream away from them…

At the end of the opening lap Waters led Jones by 1.131-seconds. Herfoss went up to third ahead of Allerton at turn two early on the second lap, Halliday fifth and that top five had started to break away from Sissis in sixth.

A 1m37.319 from a standing start by Waters was backed up with a 1m31.383 to stretch his lead out to 1.8-seconds, but then the red flag came out for Cape Barren Geese around the back of the circuit.

Coitus interruptus for Waters once again!

Riders came back around to the grid for a re-start on the original grid. It was unclear at first if they were lining up for a full re-start and riders were asking if so, for how many laps?

We got those answers moments later with a plan for another warm-up lap followed by a nine-lap race.

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Any competitors that had leaned on their clutch a little bit too hard at the first start would be somewhat nervous as they rounded the warm-up and readied themselves for another race start.

There was a short delay as the lights were set before Herfoss again rocketed off the line between Jones and Halliday, but by turn one it was Glenn Allerton into second place, meanwhile that #21 Ducati was already stretching away…

Mark Chiodo down at turn two.  Max Stauffer down at turn four after being clipped by Cru Halliday.

Early on lap two Herfoss ran in too hot at turn one from second position and lost a number of places.

Glenn Allerton had the bit between his teeth and the BMW protesting as he tried to keep Mike Jones at bay.

Cru Halliday also well placed in that battle for second place, Sissis was trying to stick with that party while Herfoss tried to claw back ground and get back into contention.

Mike Jones and Cru Halliday sneaked past Allerton and were running 2-3 as lap three got underway. Halliday all over the back of Jones. Up front though Waters already led by 2.8-seconds…

Halliday then moved up to second place, his YZF-R1M protesting underneath him as he wrung its neck on the exit of Siberia and then through Hayshed before leading his team-mate down the chute to cross the stripe 3.2-seconds behind Josh Waters.

Jones still third, Allerton fourth and Sissis fifth.  Troy Herfoss sixth, Bryan Staring seventh, Ted Collins eighth and Broc Pearson ninth.

Lachlan Epis then went down at turn four from tenth place.

Herfoss caught and passed Allerton at Miller Corner for fourth place with four laps to go.

Josh Waters continued to pull away from the field, reeling off 1m31s to stretch his buffer out to 3.1-seconds with three laps to run.

Cru Halliday had left Mike Jones behind, once clear he had pulled away by up to eight-tenths per lap to have a handy 2.4-second buffer over his team-mate with two laps to run.

Further back Glenn Allerton and Troy Herfoss were trading positions regularly as Arthur Sissis looked on right behind them.

At the last lap board Waters led Halliday by 3.3-seconds with Jones a further 3-seconds behind but in a safe third position.

Josh Waters unchallenged on his way to victory but Halliday showed encouraging pace and might be able to find what he needs to challenge the Ducati man this afternoon, but he will need to get away from the line much better to have half a chance.

Mike Jones got the job done in third and ran the latter laps pretty much by himself a further three-seconds behind Halliday, but four-seconds clear of the battle for fourth.  We suspect that both YRT men contested that race on the soft option tyre.

That battle for fourth went to Troy Herfoss with Arthur Sissis fifth and Glenn Allerton sixth.  Bryan Staring was with that group by the end of the race and finished seventh.

Nine-seconds further back was Ted Collins in eighth, with Broc Pearson a further nine-seconds back in ninth place but with ten-seconds over Matt Walters on the RSV4 Aprilia. We believe Pearson had some quick-shift problems plaguing him in that bout.

The third and final race of the weekend is scheduled to get underway at 1340 this afternoon.

Superbike Race Two Results

Superbike Championship Points

Phillip Island WorldSBK/ASBK Race Schedule