ASBK 2024
Round Four – Morgan Park
Australian Superbike Race Two
Mike Jones bided his time in the opening Superbike contest before squeezing past Max Stauffer and streaking away to victory. Conditions in race one were warmer than expected, but this afternoon, some of that temperature had come out of the track, making things a little treacherous on the opening lap.
Broc Pearson capitalised on his pole position to lead the field through turn one, fending off a lunge from Max Stauffer, but Max did make a pass stick up the inside at turn eight. Mike Jones up to third, Glenn Allerton fourth, Josh Waters fifth, Arthur Sissis sixth, Cru Halliday seventh.
Stauffer was letting the Penrite Yamaha have its head and was full of aggression as he tried to break away from Pearson, who looked to be holding up Mike Jones a little on lap two.
Jones got inside Pearson on the next lap at turn four to take second place and set about chasing down Stauffer who had a lead of around eight-tenths. That gap was down to six-tenths next time across the stripe.
Glenn Allerton was running well in fourth place and looking to move forward before losing the front at turn four while being challenged for that position by Josh Waters.
Max Stauffer into the 12s…Â A 1m12.997 for Stauffer saw his lead over Jones stretch out to eight-tenths at the end of lap five. Stauffer’s next lap, though, was a 1m13.668, which saw Jones close the gap to less than four-tenths. Broc Pearson was looming large behind that duo and not out of the fight.
At half-race distance, only three-tenths covered the leading trio. Josh Waters was starting to inch closer to that trio while Arthur Sissis had forged his way through to fifth and was the fastest rider on lap eight.
Mike Jones through to the lead and Broc Pearson then followed him through, pushing Stauffer back to third as the race entered its second half.
Josh Waters then demoted Stauffer further to fourth, but just over a second covered that leading quartet as two-thirds of race distance was broached.
Stauffer then started to lose pace quite dramatically, drifting back into a 1m14s on lap 11, which saw Arthur Sissis arrive on his ducktail.
As the race wore on, making a late charge once again was young Cam Dunker. The rookie was tenth early on but worked his way past John Lytras, Anthony West and then Cru Halliday to move up to sixth place with four laps to run.
Dunker then started to close down Sissis and Stauffer hand over fist, and with three laps to run, he thrust himself into that battle for fourth.
Up front, Broc Pearson was refusing to let Mike Jones getaway, keeping the YRT rider within half-a-second. Josh Waters was a further 1.4-seconds back in third.
Dunker got Stauffer and Halliday, then relegated Stauffer further back to seventh. Stauffer carrying some injuries from a huge off during qualifying yesterday that saw the session red-flagged.
Broc Pearson through to the lead! The DesmoSport Ducati rider made a decisive move on Jones. Pearson then had a slide early on in the final lap that potentially cost him the win, Jones taking the opportunity to sweep right on by. Pearson was back into it, though, with the hammer down and leaving nothing on the table…
Nose-to-tail through the final sequence, each hoping to win the drag to the line, but Jones hung on by four-hundredths of a second to do the double. Both men out of tyre and battling it out to the end.
Josh Waters a relatively lonely third place at the end, with a handy buffer over fourth-placed Arthur Sissis.
Sissis only denied Dunker that fourth position by a slender four-hundredths of a second! And right with that pair on the run to the strip was Cru Halliday, the YRT man having to settle for sixth. Dunker certainly knows how to ride smoothly and look after his tyres, and we must remember, this is only his fourth round on a Superbike, so that is some pretty good company he is keeping.
Max Stauffer hung on to finish seventh but would be ruing what could have been after such a strong showing early on. His sheer speed was clearly on display, though, with the fastest lap of the race, and I am sure it will all come together soon enough. I presumed he had used too much of his tyre up early on, but after the race, Max was adamant he had the package to win and was capable of victory today. However, after a few laps, he started to cramp severely in the neck and upper back, the aftermath of a high-speed crash into the air-fence at turn three yesterday.
The 50-point haul for Jones closes him to within 17-points of championship leader Josh Waters.
Broc Pearson regarded that as a breakthrough performance on the Superbike and leaves here full of confidence.
For Josh Waters, it was a matter of limiting the damage at a place he really dislikes.
Arthur Sissis is clearly starting to love the Superbike Stop & Seal built for him in the lead-up to the previous round at Queensland Raceway. There could be more to come from Sissis in the second half of the championship as he and the team really start to get on top of things.
Cru Halliday was hot to trot on Friday, but that pace and form didn’t really carry through to race day, and that has cost him in the championship chase. The next stop is Phillip Island, though, and Cru is the man most likely to be able to take the fight to Waters around there when ASBK reconvenes at the picturesque Victorian circuit for a two-day meeting on the weekend of September 7-8.
Superbike Race Two Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | M Jones | Yam | 19m41.618 |
| 2 | B Pearson | Duc | +0.044 |
| 3 | J Waters | Duc | +3.211 |
| 4 | A Sissis | Yam | +7.022 |
| 5 | C Dunker | Yam | +7.062 |
| 6 | C Halliday | Yam | +7.121 |
| 7 | M Stauffer | Yam | +9.716 |
| 8 | A West | Yam | +16.890 |
| 9 | J Lytras | Yam | +25.799 |
| 10 | T Lynch | Yam | +28.246 |
| 11 | R Yanko | Yam | +31.218 |
| 12 | P Hardwick | Yam | +45.490 |
| 13 | J Soderland | Yam | +45.581 |
| 14 | G Allerton | BMW | +1m06.572 |
| 15 | M Edwards | Yam | 1 Lap |
| 16 | P Linkenbagh | Yam | 1 Lap |
| 17 | M Kemp | Yam | 1 Lap |
1. Mike Jones
2. Broc Pearson +0.044s
3. Josh Waters +3.211s
Morgan Park Round Points
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Pole | R1 | R2 | Points |
| 1 | M Jones | Yam | 25 | 25 | 50 | |
| 2 | B Pearson | Duc | 1 | 20 | 20 | 41 |
| 3 | J Waters | Duc | 17 | 18 | 35 | |
| 4 | C Dunker | Yam | 16 | 16 | 32 | |
| 5 | M Stauffer | Yam | 18 | 14 | 32 | |
| 6 | C Halliday | Yam | 15 | 15 | 30 | |
| 7 | A Sissis | Yam | 12 | 17 | 29 | |
| 8 | A West | Yam | 13 | 13 | 26 | |
| 9 | T Lynch | Yam | 11 | 11 | 22 | |
| 10 | G Allerton | BMW | 14 | 7 | 21 | |
| 11 | R Yanko | Duc | 10 | 10 | 20 | |
| 12 | P Hardwick | Kaw | 9 | 9 | 18 | |
| 13 | J Soderland | Yam | 8 | 8 | 16 | |
| 14 | J Lytras | Yam | 12 | 12 | ||
| 15 | M Edwards | Yam | 6 | 6 | 12 | |
| 16 | P Linkenbagh | Yam | 7 | 5 | 12 | |
| 17 | M Kemp | Yam | 5 | 4 | 9 |
1. Mike Jones 50
2. Broc Pearson 41
3. Josh Waters 35
ASBK Superbike Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Points |
| 1 | J Waters | Duc | 179.5 |
| 2 | M Jones | Yam | 162.5 |
| 3 | C Halliday | Yam | 145 |
| 4 | B Pearson | Duc | 139.5 |
| 5 | M Stauffer | Yam | 130 |
| 6 | C Dunker | Yam | 115.5 |
| 7 | A West | Yam | 97.5 |
| 8 | A Sissis | Yam | 95.5 |
| 9 | G Allerton | BMW | 91 |
| 10 | T Herfoss | Duc | 84 |
| 11 | H Voight | Duc | 82 |
| 12 | B Staring | Yam | 69 |
| 13 | J Lytras | Yam | 66 |
| 14 | J Soderland | Yam | 61.5 |
| 15 | P Hardwick | Kaw | 61 |
| 16 | R Yanko | Duc | 50 |
| 17 | T Lynch | Yam | 39 |
| 18 | M Edwards | Yam | 28 |
| 19 | M Kemp | Yam | 26 |
| 20 | D Carberry | BMW | 25.5 |
| 21 | P Linkenbagh | Yam | 22 |
| 22 | E Leeson | Yam | 16 |
| 23 | M Walters | Apr | 13 |
| 24 | T Large | Yam | 10.5 |
| 25 | A Senior | Yam | 4.5 |
2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Mar 22-23Round 3: Queensland Raceway, QLD Apr 26-28Round 4: Morgan Park Raceway, QLD Jul 12-14- Round 5: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC Sept 7-8
- Round 6: One Raceway, NSW Oct 4-6
- Round 7: The Bend Motorsports Park, SA Nov 8-10
