Troy Herfoss dominates Friday AFX-SBK Race
Jamie Stauffer scorched off the line from fourth on the grid in the one and only AFX-SBK races to take the lead into turn one as Team Honda Racing fellow combatant and AFX-SBK series leader Troy Herfoss gave chase after also getting a brilliant launch from the Fireblade SP. Â Pole sitter Cru Halliday and second placed qualifier Wayne Maxwell were left in the dust of the Honda men as they both got perfect launches out of the hole to lead the field through turn one for the first of the 12-lap race distance around the 3.93km traditional Sydney Motorsports Park layout.
Wayne Maxwell was struggling right from the off and was quickly shuffled down the field to battle with Matt Walters over seventh place. The defending champion did not look comfortable and slipped off at turn nine.
Maxwell remounted but minus a footpeg and struggled valiantly to bring the Yamaha Racing Team YZF-R1 home and salvage a decent start for tomorrow’s three 12-lap races. Maxwell did well to bring the R1 home in eighth place and while obviously extremely disappointed was gracious about his unfortunate beginning to the championship decider weekend.
“Final race of the AFX-SBK Championship didn’t go ideal for me, got an average start and then crashed on lap three mid corner in turn 9, it’s not ideal but that’s the way racing goes. A massive congratulations to Troy Herfoss and Honda they did an awesome job, and for me to finish second in the championship is not too bad. We get to have another crack tomorrow on the main day and hopefully we can come out with a decent result.”
While Stauffer had been the early race leader Herfoss soon slipped past his teammate and steadily pulled away from Stauffer and the entire field. His dominance almost unprecedented in season 2015. Herfoss backed it off on the final lap so the time sheets say the win was 1.8-seconds over Stauffer, but realistically it was a five-second victory. If he had not backed it off on the final lap Herfoss would have won by a lot further than the gap shown in this shot below.
Jamie Stauffer took a strong second place. Cru Halliday and Glenn Allerton looked as though they might have been able to mount a challenge from the rear at a few points during the first half of the race but never got close enough to mount a serious challenge.
Instead the Yamaha men were eventually chased down by Mike Jones. The Cube Racing Kawasaki rider taking third place ahead of Cru Halliday, who will round out the front row for tomorrow main game.
Glenn Allerton finished fifth place ahead of Matt Walters, Ben Burke and Wayne Maxwell.
Fox Sports channel 501 will have racing at Sydney Motorsport Park live from 1700-2000 on Saturday 5th December, and live web streaming of all Saturday’s races can be viewed right here at www.MCNews.com.au from around 1030, Saturday morning.
Podium Interviews
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AFX-SBK 2015 – Round Seven – Sydney Motorsports Park – Race Results
- Troy Herfoss
- Jamie Stauffer
- Mike Jones
- Cru Halliday
- Glenn Allerton
- Matt Walters
- Ben Burke
- Wayne Maxwell
- William Davidson
- Evan Byles
The race results shown above is also the grid positions for tomorrow’s three 12-lap races. And Herfoss’ point for pole puts him one point ahead of Wayne Maxwell in the premier Swann Australasian Superbike Championship Points Standings.
2015 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship Points Standings after six of seven rounds
- Troy Herfoss 317
- Wayne Maxwell 316
- Glenn Allerton 292
- Cru Halliday 236
- Mike Jones 228
- Jamie Stauffer 222
- Matt Walters 200
- Sean Condon 160
- Evan Byles 156
- Ben Burke 146
Final AFX-SBK 2015 Points Standings
- Troy Herfoss 368
- Wayne Maxwell 339
- Glenn Allerton 327
- Cru Halliday 268
- Mike Jones 260
