Wayne Maxwell takes Wakefield Park pole | Saturday wrap

ASBK 2021 Wakefield Park
Full Saturday wrap up from Wakefield Park ASBK

Superbike Timed Practice Report

Maxwell had been hot right out of the blocks in FP1 and didn’t let up in FP2 or FP3.  That FP3 session saw Maxwell put in eight sub-lap-record times in succession to set the early Superbike pace, while Glenn Allerton showed momentary brilliance by also dropping into the 56s in FP2.

Herfoss joined them in the 56s in the Saturday morning’s timed practice session, a 56.991 immediately backed up with a 56.922, those two laps separated by a single thousandth of a second, how’s that for consistency? The Penrite Honda man then returned to the pits. 

Wayne Maxwell did not join the fray in the Saturday morning Timed Practice session until almost ten-minutes had passed in the 35-minute session. He took a couple of laps to work up to full speed before dropping in a 56.978 to go top of the charts. 

A few minutes later he then bettered it again with a 56.930, a fraction off his 56.922 best on Friday where the track temperature was almost ten-degrees warmer than what riders were experiencing on Saturday morning.

Glenn Allerton was in no hurry to show his hand in Timed Practice but eventually joined the circuit with a little over 20 minutes remaining. 

Cru Halliday put in his best lap of the weekend so far on his third lap, a 57.298 to go fourth quickest behind Mike Jones on 57.113.

With 15-minutes left on the clock it was still Maxwell, Herfoss, Jones and Halliday. The only one of those riders on the track at that juncture was Herfoss who had just exited pit-lane. A 57.150 to Herfoss on his first flying lap of that stint backed up with a 57.204 before then returning to the pits once again. 

Most of those fastest few seemed content to rest on those earlier times as it looked unlikely any of the other riders could match their pace, or at least not enough of them to displace them from automatic entry to Q2. 

Glenn Allerton didn’t get within half-a-second of his Friday best but his time was still good enough for P5 in Timed Practice.

The BC Performance riders were making small gains each session and Bryan Staring was P6 on 57.720 to just beat Matt Walters out of top Kawasaki honours by seven-thousandths of a second. 

Oli Bayliss was a few tenths off his Friday best but P8 on Saturday morning would still see him graduate straight through to Q2 while Lachlan Epis secured the final transfer spot. 

Josh Waters would have to contest Q1 along with Arthur Sissis. Anthony West had finally managed to get in a good number of laps to familiarise himself with the MotoGo Yamaha after a litany of technical issues on Friday. We have yet to see anywhere near his best that’s for sure.

Superbike Timed Practice Results

Superbike Q1

The 15-minute Q1 session got underway at 1517 and it was Mark Chiodo first out of the pits and on track to try and earn a promotion through to Q2. The fastest three from this session join the top nine from Timed Practice this morning in to make for a 12-rider Q2 shootout staged over another 15-minutes.

Arthur Sissis was the first Q1 rider to drop into the 57s, a 57.793, three-tenths quicker than he managed this morning in Timed Practice.

Josh Waters put in a 57.753 with six-minutes remaining to stake his claim on a Q2.

Jed Metcher improved this standing at the end of the session to demote Luke Jhonston out of that final transfer spot.

Aaron Morris was robbed of his chance of progressing to Q2 by some mechanical gremlins.

Superbike Q1 Times

Superbike Q2

Troy Herfoss was the first man in the 56s this afternoon with a 56.941 to show that track conditions were good enough to set new qualifying lap records here today. Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton had also been in the 56s on Friday but that was in practice and not qualifying. Herfoss looked on course to go quicker again as he was two-tenths under the second split but then pulled into the pits…

Cru Halliday then went P2 with a 57.373, he was actually quicker through the first two splits than Herfoss had been on that 56.941 but lost ground through the final sector.  It was a similar story on his next lap, again losing out in the final sector but backed that 57.373 with a 57.400.

Mike Jones then pushed Halliday back to P3 with a 57.326 but that was only momentary as seconds later Wayne Maxwell shot straight to the top of the charts with a 56.923, relegating Jones to P3 and Halliday to P4.

With a few minutes remaining Bryan Staring moved up to fifth place and Glenn Allerton sixth, pushing Oli Bayliss back from fifth to seventh in the dying minutes of the session. 

Wayne Maxwell improved to 56.920 on his final lap and Herfoss tried to knock him off but some traffic interrupted his final chance to take pole. In the qualifying parc ferme he did make some comments in regards to a difference of opinion in regards to tyre choice in the team that he seemed displeased with.

Thus we have defending champion Wayne Maxwell on pole alongside Troy Herfoss while Mike Jones rounds out the front row. 

Lachlan Epis put in a stunning 57.317 on his final lap to earn his spot at the head of the second row alongside Cru Halliday and Bryan Staring. 

Glenn Allerton heads row three alongside Oli Bayliss and Josh Waters while Arthur Sissis rounds out the top ten. That is a somewhat disappointing result for Allerton after that stunning 56 he managed on Friday. 

Alpinestars Superbike Q2 Times

Alpinestars Superbike Combined Qualifying Results

Supersport Qualifying Report

The pace was perilous in the opening Supersport qualifying session with Tom Edwards joining Friday pacesetter Broc Pearson in the 58s.  A 58.526 this time around for Pearson, half-a-second under the previous Supersport qualifying lap record here at Wakefield Park.

Tom Edwards put in a best of 58.853 to also be below Cru Halliday’s previous qualifying lap record of 59.050.  Max Stauffer was on the provisional front row with a 59.154 

Most of the Supersport field still took to the track for Q2 including provisional pole-man Broc Pearson. He was in the 58s again in the second session, a 58.886. Tom Edwards joined Q2 later in the session and put in a 58.898, fractionally slower than his Q1 time.

With seven-minutes remaining Max Stauffer then dropped half-a-second off his Q1 best, a 58.606 and then backed it up with another 58, a 58.887. That 58.606 good enough to put him into P2, splitting Pearson and Edwards on the front row.

That is also Pearson’s first dry pole in the Supersport category.

Dallas Skeer heads the second row alongside Luke Power and Tom Bramich. Skeer’s time though was a full-second slower than the front row riders which suggests it might be a three-way battle up front tomorrow in the two 16-lap Supersport bouts and then a much larger group fighting over fourth.

Supersport Qualifying Results

Supersport 300 Qualifying and Race One

Ben Baker topped the Supersport 300 opening qualifying session with a 65.591 to Angus Grenfell’s 66.167 and Zack Johnson’s 66.263. Baker was happy to sit on that time and did not take to the track as that was good enough for pole. 

Ben Baker did a 1m10 from a standing start when the lights went out to start the opening Supersport 300 bout of the weekend.

He then backed it up with a 65.064 to smash the category lap record and had a five-second lead by the end of that second lap. 

Baker took victory by 7.5-seconds over Zack Johnson while Reece Oughtred broke through for a podium result after getting the better of Archie McDonald.

Supersport 300 Qualifying and Race One Results

YMF R3 Cup Qualifying and Race One

Ben Baker set the pace in a crash littered opening qualifying session for the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup. Baker’s 65.183 also stood the test of time through Q2. Archie McDonald and Angus Grenfell sat out Q2 and scored front row positions courtesy of their Q1 times. 

YMF R3 Cup Qualifying and Race One Results

Oceania Junior Cup Qualifying and Race One

Oceania Junior Cup Qualifying and Race One Results

Sidecar Qualifying, Race One and Race Two

The Turner brothers once again dominated the Sidecar category with a 17-second victory in the eight lap opening encounter. Turner’s fastest lap en route to victory a 63.764, three-seconds quicker than anyone else in the field. While the Turner boys are GSX-R1000 powered the second placed F2 Clancy-Bonney outfit is propelled by a GSX-R600 engine. 

Sidecar Qualifying, Race One and Race Two Results

Wakefield Park Schedule

2021 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar