Yamaha’s Daniel Stauffer On Australian Superbike Pole At Winton

Yamaha’s Daniel Stauffer On Australian Superbike Pole At Winton

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Trevor Hedge (www.mcnews.com.au)

2003 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship
Round 3, Winton Motor Raceway
June 21, 2003

Australia’s fastest motorcycle racers converged on Victoria’s Winton Motor Raceway today for the opening bout in this weekend’s third round of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship.

The premier Superbike war starts tomorrow but the first salvo was fired across the bows of the opposition by Nikon Yamaha’s Daniel Stauffer in final qualifying today when he went under the previous Production Superbike lap record to clinch pole position. The Newcastle based rider will start tomorrow’s three races at the front of the grid flanked by Joshua Brookes (Honda), Kevin Curtain (Yamaha). Reigning Shell Advance Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles (Suzuki) rounds out the front row on the all new ‘K3’ model GSX-R1000.

This weekend marks the first time Stauffer had ridden a motorcycle since his incredible 250kph crash at Phillip Island last month when he came together with Shawn Giles but he quickly showed he has lost no speed since breaking his wrist, ankle and ribs only a matter of weeks ago.

“The injuries are still hampering me a little so I did not too much time on the bike today to try and save myself for tomorrow’s races, I only did about 3 laps in that qualifying session with that thought in mind.”

Stauffer continued, “It is all very close but I am pretty sure I can keep that pace up so unless the others really pick their pace up we are definitely looking good for tomorrow.”

Honda’s Joshua Brookes put the new CBR600RR on pole position for the opening Supersport race of the weekend and took the early lead before being overcome by the irrepressible force that is Yamaha’s Kevin Curtain. The two Sydneysiders battled briefly in the early laps but eventually Curtain pulled an advantage.

A thrilling battle was fought for third place between Brendan Clarke (Yamaha) and Shannon Johnson (Honda). But ex-500cc Grand Prix competitor Clarke pulled away from Johnson in the final laps. Clarke nearly managed to get Brookes for 2nd place on the run to the chequered flag but Brookes held on to take that 2nd position.

The Supersport war continues on Sunday with another two battles on the schedule. Curtain now has a healthy lead overall in the points standings and is well on his way in his quest to take the Australian Supersport crown off reigning Champion Shannon Johnson (Honda).

Pole position for the 250 Grand Prix class was fought out between Mark Stanley and Western Australia’s Peter Taplin but it was Stanley who got the nod for pole.

The Lismore (NSW) rider took advantage of that grid position to lead the first laps but eventually succumbed to Taplin. Stanley tried to come back at Taplin but unfortunately fell while pushing hard, thankfully he was unhurt in the incident. That left Taplin to take a clear win over Geoff Hardcastle to further extend his unbeaten run in the 250 Grand Prix Championship to seven wins in succession.

Mildura teenager Joshua Waters started from pole in the 125 GP initial encounter and blitzed the field from the outset to take a clear win. An exciting battle waged for 2nd place with Sydney teenager Jason ‘O’Halloran in the thick of the action with a pair of experienced campaigners in the shape of Peter Galvin and Mick Kelly hot on his heels. Galvin and Kelly are both previous Australian champions so the fact that the teenage duo of Waters and O’Halloran managed to put one over them today is a great advertisement for the future of Australian racing.

Taree teenager Alex Cudlin took pole for the Superstock class by a slender five-hundredths of a second over Melbourne’s Leigh McKenzie and used it to his advantage to take the race win. The race distance was reduced due to fading light. The South Australian pairing of Neville Lush and Martin Scott took first blood in the battle for sidecar honours.

The remainder of the race programme wraps up on Sunday with three Superbike races and two more races for each of the other classes.


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