Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship 2017
Round Three – Winton Motor Raceway – April 28-30
Troy Herfoss tops first qualifying at Winton
The big hitters of the Superbike class did not join the track until well into the 30-minute opening qualifying session that got underway at 1130 this morning at Winton Motor Raceway. Troy Guenther led the session early on before being trumped by Robbie Bugden with 20-minutes remaining in the session, the BCperformance Kawasaki man the first to dip into the 1m21s with a 21.928. Cru Halliday then joined the track but it was not until almost the halfway point of the session before Bryan Staring and Wayne Maxwell turned a wheel this morning.
Maxwell went straight to the top of the charts on his first flying lap just as Alex Phillis slotted up to second place ahead of Halliday, Bugden and Josh Hook.
Bryan Staring’s first flying lap then saw his #67 atop the timing charts, but that reign was also short lived as Maxwell went quicker again on his second flying lap, lowering the marker to 1m21.032. Staring then went down in the fast left hander that is turn six.
The Crankt Protein Honda rider managed to get his machine back up and running to make his way back to the pits under his own stream.
Daniel Falzon and Troy Herfoss then hit the track with 13 minutes remaining in the session. Herfoss straight down to business, the first man in the 1m20s, a 1m20.768 on his first flying lap, followed by a 1m20.731 shortly thereafter.
Daniel Falzon went down on his second flying lap at turn seven but rejoined the circuit and made his own way back to the pits.
Josh Waters then exited pitlane on the Ecstar Suzuki and was quickly up to fourth place with seven-minutes remaining in the Q1 session.
Herfoss had remained out on track after setting that time on his first flyer, but was content to just circulate well off the pace, conserving his tyres and waiting for a break in traffic, before getting down to business again late in the session with a string of 1m20.9s and flat 1m21.0s.
Waters promoted himself to second place with four-minutes remaining in the session, a 1m21.027 pushing Maxwell, who was still in the pits, back to third place. Herfoss and Waters then returned to pitlane.
Maxwell and Staring were already in the pits, and had been for some time. None of that quartet rejoined the circuit before the time ran out, happy with their positions ahead of Q2 which is scheduled to take place at 1500 this afternoon.
Josh Hook got a handy 16 laps in during the session, continuing his learning curve to adapt his riding style for the Ducati. The Taree youngster got down to 1m21.713, good enough for provisional fifth place on the grid ahead of Alex Phillis and Cru Halliday.
Robbie Bugden was the leading Kawasaki rider in eighth ahead of BMW mounted Troy Guenther and DesmoSport Ducati’s Callum Spriggs rounded out the top ten.
Daniel Falzon did not make it back on to the track after his crash, leaving the championship leader languishing in 11th place, and hoping that rain does not fall this afternoon in Q2.
Winton ASBK 2017 – First Qualifying Results
- Herfoss 1m20.731
- Waters 1m21.027
- Maxwell 1m21.032
- Staring 1m21.393
- Hook 1m21.713
- Phillis 1m21.791
- Halliday 1m21.845
- Bugden 1m21.928
- Guenther 1m21.969
- Spriggs 1m22.086
- Falzon 1m22.485
- Blair 1m22.919
- Buckley 1m22.921
- Levy 1m22.991
- Turner 1m23.488
- Walters 1m23.735
- Frost 1m23.866
- Baker 1m24.546
- McIntyre 1m24.819
- Senior 1m24.838
ASBK 2017 Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)
- Daniel Falzon 106
- Troy Herfoss 93
- Robert Bugden 89
- Wayne Maxwell 74
- Bryan Staring 69
- Beau Beaton 60
- Josh Waters 58
- Cru Halliday 48
- Kyle Buckley 47
- Michael Blair 44
ASBK 2017 Motul Supersport Championship Standings (current as of April 28, 2017)
- Ted Collins 86
- Mason Coote 85
- Sam Condon 70.5
- Jordan Carlsson 66.5
- Tom Toparis 65
- Mark Chiodo 54.5
- Nic Liminton 50
- Lincoln Gilding 43
- Ben Burke 41.5
- Ryan Taylor 41
