Troy Herfoss takes crucial ASBK Superpole point
Troy Herfoss takes Superpole to close to within six points of Wayne Maxwell
Title contenders Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton sensationally failed to make the top six in QP2. This certainly took some of the pressure off Troy Herfoss, and the Crankt Protein Honda man went on to claim the single championship point awarded for pole position on a dry track this afternoon at Winton Motor Raceway.
That single point could make all the difference when the 2016 YMI ASBK Champion is crowned tomorrow afternoon, following the final 2 x 17 lap races of the six-round 2016 ASBK Championship.
In fact, a single point is exactly what it came down to last year, when Maxwell and Herfoss went head-to-head in the rival Swann Superbike Championship.
Josh Waters has done brilliantly to finish as the top qualifying Yamaha. The Mildura based rider is Pirelli shod, unlike the other Yamaha entrants which are on Dunlop. The top four qualifiers are all on the Italian rubber. That is not to take anything away from 29-year-old Waters, to come here with limited testing and prove that competitive is a testament to his ability. And also a big shot in the arm for the newly formed Team Apex Motorsport squad headed by Jordan Coote.
It was nice to see that the DesmoSport Ducati squad look to have perhaps got on top of the problems that have recently plagued the Italian machine, enabling Mike Jones to secure a front row qualifying position.
Jamie Stauffer heads the second row ahead of Cru Halliday and Daniel Falzon.
Title contenders Glenn Allerton and Wayne Maxwell will start from the third row of the grid. Their weekend could hardly have got off to a worse start, to seemingly be so far behind at this crucial point of the season is a massive blow to the two Yamaha men.
Teammate Cru Halliday has rarely been in a position to challenge his more experienced teammates this season, but the Camden rider finished today as the top qualifying Dunlop rider, fractionally ahead of fellow Dunlop shod rider Daniel Falzon. The young South Australian and his family based team will be extremely pleased to be ahead of the more fancied factory backed Yamaha men, who between them have four Australian Superbike Championship Titles under their belts.
At the other end of pitlane, there would be some red faces in the official Yamaha Racing Team that their two leading protagonists in the race for the ASBK Title are starting from the third row. And that another three Yamaha riders have managed to out-qualify their lead chargers. Certainly going to be some heads being scratched and work going on in the big blue Yamaha tent this evening…
The first of tomorrow’s 2 x 17 lap races is scheduled to get underway at 1135, with race two slated for a 1455 start. So by around 1545 tomorrow afternoon, our new 2016 Yamaha Motor Insurance Champion would have been crowned.
ASBK Superpole Results
- Troy Herfoss 1m21.033
- Josh Waters 1m21.212
- Mike Jones 1m21.242
- Jamie Stauffer 1m21.632
- Cru Halliday 1m21.654
- Daniel Falzon 1m21.743
2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship Standings
- Wayne Maxwell 216
- Troy Herfoss 210
- Glenn Allerton  205
- Daniel Falzon 137
- Mike Jones 137
- Cru Halliday 124
- Brayden Elliott 120
- Jamie Stauffer 115
- Ben Burke 114
- Sloan Frost 98
Earlier News
Troy Herfoss topped Superbike Qualifying ahead of Superpole
The 20-minute Superbike QP2 got underway just before 1430 this afternoon under cloudy skies at Winton Motor Raceway. Hardly any precipitation had falled in the few hours before the QP2 session thus the track was mainly dry when riders took to the track this afternoon.
Troy Herfoss took to the track five minutes into the session and from thereon in was never headed. The Crankt Protein Honda rider recorded a 1m21.798 to end the session at the top of the charts.
Josh Waters impressed to provisionally qualify second ahead of Cru Halliday, Daniel Falzon and Mike Jones.
The massive news from the session though was the failure of title contenders Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton to make the top six cut-off for Superpole.
Maxwell unable to put in a competitive lap-time due to set-up issues with the Yamaha. He said they knew they were in trouble after their private two-day test, which is a massive turnaround in fortunes since his dominant performance here last year on the same machine. Last year, however, it was Maxwell v Herfoss here in the rival Swann Superbike Championship, on a Dunlop control tyre. Maxwell dominated that event, much to the frustration of Herfoss. This time around Maxwell is on Dunlop, and Herfoss on Pirelli.
The top six qualifiers now go through to the Pirelli Superpole ten-minute session scheduled for 1520 this afternoon. The single point awarded to the pole position getter might eventually decide the championship result come Sunday, and only one of the title contenders now has the opportunity to score that point, Troy Herfoss. If the Goulburn 28-year-old can take that point this afternoon the gap between himself and series leader Maxwell comes down to only six points…
Superbike Qualifying Results
- Troy Herfoss 1m21.798
- Josh Waters 1m22.069
- Cru Halliday 1m22.103
- Daniel Falzon 1m22.206
- Mike Jones 1m22.251
- Jamie Stauffer 1m22.270
- Glenn Allerton 1m22.464
- Brayden Elliott 1m22.558
- Wayne Maxwell 1m22.699
- Beau Beaton 1m24.227
- Sloan Frost 1m24.398
- Adam Senior 1m25.475
- Brendan Schmidt 1m26.930
- Ryan Hampton 1m27.108
- Peter Berry 1m27.775
- Nathan Spiteri 1m29.083
Supersport Qualifying
Callum Spriggs took pole position on a mainly dry track ahead of Luke Mitchell, Nic Liminton and Troy Guenther.
Callum Spriggs
“An awesome start to the final round so far. I have been alright in the wet and in the drying track managed to get a few good laps in. I was really happy the Pirelli tyres worked well with the set up XXX Rated Race Suspension had on my Kawasaki Zx-6r. After the disappointing round at my home track in Queensland I definitely want to come back strong and hopefully get my first Round Win for year. It looks like we are in the right direction for it. I can’t wait for tomorrow . It looks like it will be some good close racing as always.”
Mark Chiodo and his team had packed up early yesterday to head back to Geoff Winzer’s Wangaratta workshop to do some work on the Triumph after they suffered a setback this morning. The team thought they may have expired an engine after it was left to rev on its side after a crash, as oil and smoke started pouring out of the machines exhaust. After getting it back to Winzer’s workshop for further investigation, Garry House removed the plugs and tried to turn the machine over, when he and the workshop got sprayed violenty with oil out of the plug holes, as the combustion chambers and inlet tracts had filled with oil when the machine was on its side. Luckily the oil had cooled down by the time they got back to the workshop! Apparently oil was everywhere, all over House and his face, and all over the workshop! The boys could have a laugh about it later but I don’t think they found it quite so funny at the time! Chiodo qualified 11th today.
Supersport Qualifying Results
- Callum Spriggs 1m25.940
- Luke Mitchell 1m26.163
- Nic Liminton 1m26.310
- Troy Guenther 1m26.633
- Robbie Menzies 1m26.970
- Sam Clarke 1m27.521
- Ted Collins 1m27.861
- Ryan Taylor 1m27.887
- Brad Shaw 1m28.147
- Thomas Bryden 1m28.251
- Mark Chiodo 1m28.559
- Cambridge Olivier 1m29.182
- Jake Pruiti 1m31.882
- Rhys Belling 1m31.889
- Michael Conway 1m33.910
