— ASBK 2011 – Round Six – Queensland Raceway
Flag-to-flag victory for Stauffer at Queensland Raceway
Team Honda’s Jamie Stauffer defied the disappointment of a DNF yesterday to win the second race of round 6 of the QBE Australian Superbike Championship at Queensland Raceway today.
Stauffer led the 14-lap clash from pole, treading carefully on a low-grip circuit as he fended off a race-long challenge from Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters.
Stauffer and Waters engaged in a battle of the late brakers, with Waters attempting but unable to convert a number of moves for position at the end of the circuit’s 280km/h back straight.
Stauffer redeemed himself after yesterday’s dramatic crash to take the chequered flag by 2.262 seconds and his third race victory from four starts at Ipswich.
Third place went to a consistent Ben Attard, who put his i-Style The Natural Aprilia RSV4 on the podium in both races this weekend.
The overall round 6 victory fell in favour of Stauffer’s Honda teammate, Wayne Maxwell, who backed up his race win yesterday with fifth today.
Maxwell lacked the front end confidence to push forward during the race but was relieved to bag more valuable points after a rollercoaster year.
Procon Maxima BMW rider Glenn Allerton was unable to challenge for a race podium today but pushed on to finish fourth, snaring second overall for the round.
The result marks Allerton’s first non-podium finish for the season, an incredible statistic which sees him sitting comfortably atop the standings as the ASBK looks ahead to its penultimate round at Symmons Plains in November.
The BMW rider’s points lead extended to 67 today as the battle for positions 2 through to 6 tightened considerably.
By virtue of his pole position point, race win and DNF, Jamie Stauffer remains in second but is joined by Attard, with both riders sitting on 196 points.
Team Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss holds onto fourth place despite a disappointing run this weekend. He survived a run through the gravel trap at the end of turn 3 today to salvage 9th for the round.
Craig Coxhell may not have had the pace of the podium placers but rode consistently today to maintain 5th on the standings, 4 points ahead of a charging Wayne Maxwell.
Prostock Challenge honours went to BMW rider Linden Magee, who held off Team Suzuki’s Brodie Waters and local Honda rider Nathan Houtermann in identical race and round results.
QBE ASBK action resumes at Symmons Plains for its third 2+4 event of the year on November 11-13.
Wayne Maxwell, Team Honda:
“To get the overall win here in front of an awesome crowd is good. The overall win is a bit of a surprise, it’s a lucky win with Jamie and some of the other boys making mistakes. It puts us back in contention for second in the championship and that’s all we can achieve after the year we’ve had. Full credit to the guys at Team Honda Racing, they’ve given me the confidence to get up the front and battle with those guys. We move on to some tracks that I’m a bit stronger at, Tassie and Phillip Island, so I should be able to get up there and end up second in the championship overall.”
Glenn Allerton, Procon Maxima BMW:
“The positives from today are that we came away with an even bigger championship points lead and I finished second for the weekend, I can’t complain about that. The Procon Maxima BMW went really well, I think if we had have done a test between the last race and this one like everyone else did we would have been that step further forward and battling for the win. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that due to me being overseas and doing some racing. We’ll go to the next round and try to consolidate, I’m strong at Tasmania so I’ll go to my favourite track and hopefully be able to take the number 1 plate there.”
Ben Attard, i-Style The Natural Aprilia:
“It was a good weekend, I’m really happy to be on the podium twice this weekend, it definitely proved that we’re a frontrunner now and that a race win is getting closer and closer. It was there today and there was an opportunity to take it but I messed up, we struggled with rear grip in today’s race but we’ll go on to the next one feeling strong.”
Jamie Stauffer, Team Honda:
“Yesterday was a disappointment..it’s one of those things that happen in racing and we could have won that quite easily. We made up for it today by going out there and getting the win. The conditions weren’t easy today, the track was a bit slippery but everyone had to race in the same conditions, I’m just glad we brought it home for the win.”
QBE Australian Superbike Championship Round 6 Overall Results*
1. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC), 41
2. Glenn ALLERTON (VIC), 37
3. Ben ATTARD (QLD), 36
4. Joshua WATERS (VIC), 35
5. Robert BUGDEN (QLD), 32
6. Craig COXHELL (VIC), 30
7. Scott CHARLTON (VIC), 27
8. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 26
9. Troy HERFOSS (VIC), 25
10. Ben HENRY (QLD), 23
*Results provisional at time of publishing.
QBE Australian Superbike Championship Standings after round 6 of 8
1. Glenn ALLERTON (VIC), 263
2. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 196
3. Ben ATTARD (QLD), 196
4. Troy HERFOSS (VIC), 185
5. Craig COXHELL (VIC), 181
6. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC), 177
7. Joshua WATERS (VIC), 159
8. Robert BUGDEN (QLD), 148
9. Cole ODENDAAL (NSW), 123
10. Ben HENRY (QLD), 121
— Transcript from our as it happened live page conducted throughout the round
- 1534 – Clarification of the protests. Procon Maxima BMW’s protest against bracing of the Honda swingarm seems to amount to the carbon cover on the swingarm. Team Honda’s protest in retaliation stems from the engine cover protectors on the BMW made from a material not stated as allowed in the rules. All seems a bit silly, but there you go
- 1521 – Team Honda’s Paul Free has responded to BMW’s protest with one of their own… More to come….. Later, probably much later… Ciao for now!
- 1500 – Some breaking news…. Procon Maxima BMW’s Mark Trounson is lodging a protest against Team Honda, alleging that they have illegally braced the swingarm on Jamie Stauffer’s Fireblade
- 1438 – Uploading audio commentary now
- 1436 – SBK Race Two Results
1. Stauffer
2. Waters 2.2
3. Attard 8.6
4. Allerton 10.7
5. Maxwell 12.4
6. Bugden 15.7
7. Coxhell 20.0
8. Charlton 22.9
9. Herfoss 26.9
10. Henry 33.6
11. Magee 35.5
12. B Waters 35.6
13. Smith 54.5
14. Houterman 57.5
15. Snowsill 65.9
16. Cole 67.2
17. Lovett
18. Wacker
19. Simmonds
20. Kitchin
21. Yanko - 1432 – Last lap now, Jamie will win from Josh and Attard will be third…
- 1431 – Allerton on a charge now, a little too late however I think and he will not challenge for a win. Jamie leads by 1.5 seconds…
- 1430 – Jamie leads by a second now, two laps to run. Allerton just had a big moment after getting past Maxwell, out of turn two the BMW got really quite wild
- 1429 – Jamie now has 7-tenths over Josh, who in turn has 4.3 seconds on Attard. Maxwell is not closing in on Attard and Allerton looks to be coming back at him
- 1428 – No rider in the 9s on that last lap
- 1428 – Jamie passes the first of the slower guys, Josh through also but perhaps not quite as cleanly…. There will be lots more passing before this race is out, four laps to run…
- 1427 – Maxwell past Allerton and has pulled away from the BMW man, he has more than three seconds to make up in order to challenge Attard for a podium spot
- 1427 – Magee and Brodie Waters having their own interesting tussle over ProStock honours, and lying 11th and 12th outright
- 1426 – Lapped traffic may decide this race, it won’t be long before the race leaders are threading their way through slower riders….
- 1425 – A 9.7 to both Jamie & Josh on that circuit. Attard now 1.5 seconds behind the race leader, but he has a 2.5 second buffer over that fourth placed tussle unfolding between Allerton and Maxwell
- 1424 – Jamie and Josh the only men in the 9s now, Attard has drifted back into the low 10s… Allerton yet to do a 9, Maxwell on his tail and trying to pounce…
- 1424 – Maxwell about to start challenging Allerton for fourth place. Attard starting to lose touch with Stauffer and Waters now…
- 1423 – Allerton not keeping pace with the leading trio now, he is a full two seconds behind Jamie, 1.4 seconds behind third placed Attard
- 1422 – Herfoss went grass tracking and will lose positions…
- 1421 – Nothing between the top three still, Allerton keeping watch a little further back…
- 1420 – Attard fastest man on the circuit now, a 9.89, Jamie yet to dip into the 9s but he is going to have to in order to keep Waters and Attard at bay…
- 1419 – Josh pulls alongside…. Pulls out of the move, Attard right there also. Allerton a little further behind, perhaps biding his time
- 1419 – The top six all still very close, 1.7 seconds separating them at the stripe as they start lap three
- 1418 – Jamie’s Honda has been riding the bumps quite well but on that lap it got quite ugly out of turn one
- 1418 – The order as they start lap two is Jamie, Josh, Ben, Glen, Troy, Wayne and Robbie.
- 1417 – Still Jamie from Josh, Attard third…. Waters keen to try and attack Jamie…
- 1416 – Stauffer gets a good launch, Attard also but Jamie leads them through turn one where Attard also got swallowed up by a couple of Suzukis….
- 1415 – Due to the delays this race is down from 16 laps to 14 laps and we are readying for a start…
- 1414 – They’re away on their warm-up lap now, only a couple of minutes away from a race start….
- 1412 – Tyre warmers coming off now..
- 1410 – Tyre warmers still on, will have to come off soon I imagine…
- 1408 – There has been some spills from the four-wheel brigade throughout the day today so riders will be keen to feel their way around and get an idea of just how much grip is available to them out there
- 1406 – Bikes forming up on the grid now, tyre warmers going back on
- 1404 – Bikes out of pitlane now… Teams back on grid…
- 1403 – Teams clearing off the grid now, perhaps we will not have a formation lap or the like, and it will be straight out for warm-up lap then race start… Unsure of what is happening right now to be honest…
- 1401 – Everyone waiting until the last second to remove tyre warmers before heading out of pitlane. This will be a dry race
- 1400 – Teams on the grid now, riders heading out of pit lane shortly
- 1356 – Teams making their way out to pit lane now in readiness for today’s Superbike bout
- 1347 – This race will not be shown today as part of the V8 Supercar telecast, but is likely to be shown with the Fujitsu Support category coverage next weekend
- 1342 – Track is mainly dry at the moment but rain could come at any time. I spoke to Mark Trounson from Procon Maxima BMW about the electronic tweaks that are available to them to aid Glenn Allerton should the rain indeed come down for this bout.
- 1340 – Kicking off the live page now in readiness for ASBK Race 2, schedule to get underway in 25 minutes
