THIRD FOR HERFOSS FOLLOWING PHILLIP ISLAND ASBK FINALS
It was a gut-wrenching end to the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) for Crankt Protein Honda Racing at Phillip Island, in what marked the final ASBK appearance for the outfit in operation with Troy Herfoss and Bryan Staring.
Former champion Herfoss was destined for success, carrying a slender six-point lead into the weekend, although it wasn’t to be when the Queensland-based rider was forced to return to pit lane in race one with just a matter of laps still on the board.
The opening outing saw Staring put in spirited fight, navigating the challenging conditions with class to position himself just outside of the top five in sixth place, narrowly edging out a number of rivals despite a rare flat front tyre.
In much better weather conditions for race two, Herfoss charged to second in a last-ditch attempt to revive his championship hopes and, despite the heroic effort, he wasn’t able to pull it off after he was credited 10th overall with a DNF-2 scorecard.
To round out the year on a positive note, Western Australian ace Staring put in an impressive display, finishing just behind teammate Herfoss in third to be rewarded fourth overall, just two points shy of the overall podium to cap-off the season.
In the final championship standings, it was Herfoss who collected third in the championship despite a difficult final round, as Staring was credited seventh overall in what was his return to the ASBK series this season.
Crankt Protein Honda Racing will now turn its attention to the national Superbike support races at Phillip Island on 20-22 October alongside the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
2017 ASBK Rd7 Phillip Island overall results:
1. Wayne Maxwell 46
2. Josh Waters 41
3. Glenn Allerton 35
4. Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) 33
5. Daniel Falzon 32
6. Alex Phillis 27
7. Josh Hook 27
8. Michael Blair 24
9. Cru Halliday 23
10. Troy Herfoss (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) 20
2017 ASBK championship standings:
1. Josh Waters 261
2. Wayne Maxwell 257
3. Troy Herfoss (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) 246
4. Daniel Falzon 220
5. Robert Bugden 219
6. Cru Halliday 206
7. Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) 184
8. Michael Blair 138
9. Corey Turner 138
10. Mitch Levy 137
More, from a press release issued by DesmoSport Ducati:
DISAPPOINTMENT AT PHILLIP ISLAND FOR DESMOSPORT DUCATI
It was a challenging end to the season for DesmoSport Ducati at Phillip Island’s seventh round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), as sole premier class entrant Corey Turner lodged two non-finishes.
The youthful Queenslander, who qualified 12th in Saturday’s session, suffered a bizarre crash during the warm-up lap for race one, which resulted in the teenager being forced to run back to the pits and make the switch to what was initially slated to be his wet bike.
It meant he would start at the rear and with his second bike not set-up for the conditions, Turner called it time in the opening laps, returning to pit lane and shifting his attention onto race two. The team repaired the number one bike between races, however a cracked steering damper bracket – a result of the crash – gave way, which saw Turner experience further difficulties and ultimately record another DNF result.
“I was following Alex Phillis and Jed Metcher on the sighting lap and I think I just got unlucky,” Turner explained. “I came up to turn 11, I wasn’t hard on the gas or hard on the brakes – nothing – it just stepped out on the rear in the mixed conditions. I thought I saved it, I still had my hands on the bars, but at the last minute I got a tank-slapper and it spat me off.
“I picked the bike back up and it didn’t look bad at all, but the actual throttle handle had broken off, so I couldn’t ride it back to the pits. It was a marathon, but I ran back to the pits incase the boys had a wet bike ready, which they did. They threw some slicks on it but the front warmer had only been on for about five minutes, so they told me to take it easy.
“I went out on that, but obviously we had it set-up for the wet, so it was just too hard to ride and I was last anyway, so we called it a day on that one. We were really looking forward to race two, the boys got my number one bike going again. I had a really good first lap and made up a few positions. I think a couple of laps in the steering damper bracket was cracked from the crash and it finally let go.
“With the wind out there, it was just too much and I was rolling off down the straights. There were a few other things that I think were damaged from the crash in race one, so it was a pretty disastrous weekend for us and I’m devastated for the boys – they worked so hard. I think we just scraped in for Rookie of the Year, so at least we’re walking away with that! and thank you to everybody for the support.”
Team manager and co-owner Ben Henry was evidently disappointed with the outcome of the day, however still maintains his belief in Corey as a future victor in the prestigious championship.
“It was an odd day and it just didn’t go to plan really,” Henry recalled. “Corey fell off on the warm-up lap of the first race and that was really the end of the weekend. Obviously we fixed the bike and sent it back out, but we had a small problem and DNF’d. It’s pretty hard to find anything positive with a result like that, but it is what it is.”
“It’s been good having Corey, he’s done a good job and we’ve enjoyed working together. I think he just needs to keep his head down, train hard and focus on winning – it’s really, really difficult to achieve that. I do think it’s possible for him though and I do think he’s good enough, so we just need to focus on it and move forward from here.”
Turner completed his maiden season in the premier class as top of the rookies for 2017, claiming ninth in the final championship standings after contesting the final three rounds as part of the DesmoSport Ducati squad.
Like DesmoSport Ducati on Facebook and visit www.asbk.com.au for further information. Cube Performance Centre also has an exclusive DesmoSport Ducati section on its website, available to view at www.asbk.com.au now.
More, from a press release issued by Cube Racing:
POSITIVE PHILLIP ISLAND ASBK FINALE FOR CUBE RACING
It was a strong and positive finish to the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) for Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis and Oli Bayliss at Phillip Island’s final round in Victoria on 6-8 October.
Starting in second position on the Supersport grid for Sunday’s two-race schedule with a qualifying time of 1m35.871s, Toparis remained consistent throughout the day and challenged for race wins in challenging windy conditions.
“Today was pretty good, honestly I expected to be closer in race one and I definitely expected to battle for the win,” said Toparis. “The wind change was just too much for me and I couldn’t deal with it, so that was the reason why I was so far off in the first race.”
After finishing second in race one, the Cube Racing squad made vital changes to the bike allowing the 17-year-old to run the pace neccessary to battle for the win as he crossed the line just 0.447s outside of the top spot.
“We went back and changed the bike completely for the second race and we could run with the leader,” Toparis explained. “I was so close to him but I just couldn’t show him a wheel anywhere really, I struggled with rear grip onto the straight in the final turn and that stopped me from getting a tow. The day was good overall though, I got a whole bag of points and we were going pretty fast considering the windy conditions.”
Rounding out the series with a second place finish at round seven and third overall in the championship rankings, Toparis now looks forward to putting his newfound knowledge to work ahead of the upcoming 2018 season.
“This season I’ve learned a heap obviously, and I’ve learned pretty much every track in Australia now, so next year we should be strong no matter where it goes in all conditions,” he added. “I can’t thank the team, my family and everyone else enough for what they’ve done for me this year, to gain all of the knowledge that we have this year will be a big head start coming into 2018.”
In the Supersport 300 category Bayliss continued to show strong form as he qualified in fifth position with a time of 1m49.880s ahead of the three-race schedule spread over both Saturday and Sunday.
Capturing two out of three victories in the Up To 300 category throughout the weekend, the 14-year-old finished out the season with the overall round victory and a fourth place ranking in the overall Up To 300 series points.
“I had a fairly good weekend here at Phillip Island,” Bayliss said. “I had a good first race and we made a few changes on the bike for the second race but it started to rain a bit and then it got real dry. My wet tyres just starting to tear up and I lost the rear in turn 11 and had a bit of a crash. We went out for race three and did pretty well though, so besides from the crash in race two, it turned out to be a pretty good weekend.”
Satisfied with Cube Racing’s Phillip Island performance, team owner/manager Ben Henry praised both Toparis and Bayliss after engaging in some of the best racing throughout the weekend.
“Tommy was awesome on the 600, unfortunately we couldn’t take the win, but he was still fast and he’s definitely shown that he will be the guy to beat next year I think,” said Henry. “It was also cool to see him out on the Moto3 bike spinning laps for his first go.
“The 300 battles were awesome and I think they were the races of the day really. Oli is learning the ropes and he’s just a little bigger than the other guys at the moment and in that class it doesn’t pay. But he’s riding good, he’s riding really good, so that has been great.”
Cube Racing-supported Supersport racer Aidan Hayes finished also finished out his 2017 season on a high note using a 7-11 result to secure ninth overall for the weekend.
Like Cube Racing on Facebook and visit www.asbk.com.au for further information. Cube Performance Centre also has an exclusive Cube Racing section on its website, available to view at www.asbk.com.au now.
More, from a press release issued by Swann Insurance Kawasaki:
WALTERS ROUNDS OUT 2017 ASBK CAMPAIGN AT PHILLIP ISLAND
Swann Insurance Kawasaki’s Matt Walters finished out his 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) campaign inside the top 10 during race two of the premier Superbike category at Phillip Island’s season finale.
Walters kicked off his weekend in Victoria with a successful pair of qualifying sessions that saw him start out of eighth position on the grid for Sunday’s two-race format thanks to a fast lap of 1m33.957s.
“We had good practice sessions and qualifying this weekend,” Walters said. “We’ve made improvements to our qualifying and we’ve moved up onto the third row a couple of times now, which has been good.”
Although a turn one mistake would prove costly during race one on Sunday, the multi-time national champion returned with strong form in race two finishing in eighth position to secure 11th overall for the round.
“We didn’t have a great race in the first one this weekend,” he explained. “I had a bit of a run off at turn one, which is kind if my fault as we ran the corner a bit hot and a bit wide. The second race was good, we made sure the bike had the right tyres on it, so it was pretty good.
“We had a couple of good battles there and just moved forward at the end of the race. We came good and got inside the top 10 again, which is a pretty good way to finish off the year.”
Finishing out the season ranked 15th overall in the championship standings, Walters will begin his 2018 preparations promptly as he looks towards an improved season for the new year.
“I would have like to have been further up this year, but we had a couple of struggles and a couple of moments there,” he added. “We just need to try and capitalise on these next three months and really push super hard. I’m fairly capable of doing some winning, I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind and physical form to do it.”
Like Matt Walters Racing on Facebook and visit www.asbk.com.au for further information on the series.
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
WATERS AND GSX-R1000R WIN AUSTRALIAN SBK CHAMPIONSHIP
Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia and Josh Waters won the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in convincing fashion during the weekend’s seventh and final round of the season at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria.
After qualifying third on Saturday with a scorching 1m32.740s lap-time, Waters piloted the brand new GSX-R1000R to victory in race one and took charge of the points lead in the process. His winning margin of 3.759s enabled him to stretch a 13-point margin at the top of the points table with just one race remaining on Sunday afternoon and in front of a live television audience.
That advantage saw Waters start race two in ‘championship mode’ of sorts, understanding what it would take to seal the crown in glorious afternoon sunshine at the world-famous 4.445km circuit. He led lap one but soon settled into a rhythm as the 12-lap duration ticked down, eventually crossing the stripe in fifth position to cement the number one plate.
It was a special victory for Waters in what was his first full season of ASBK since winning with Team Suzuki in 2012. His first-career championship was won way back in 2009 as a rookie and once again equipped with GSX-R machinery.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to win another ASBK title in my first year with Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia and also with the new GSX-R1000R,” Waters said. “At one stage we were nearly 60 points down, so to turn that around and even be in the position to challenge for the championship at the last round was an achievement for everyone. It’s just unbelievable – I still can’t believe it!
“The championship is that tough at the moment, so this is pretty special. The aim was to win race one and then in race two I knew what I had to do, but it wasn’t easy and I had about a trillion things going through my head. It just feels really good to win this title and it played out the way we needed to, so thank you to everybody who has supported us and all of the team’s partners as well.”
Owner of Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia, Dale Brede, congratulated Waters and the entire team on the championship, proud to achieve the ASBK premier class title in their first attempt as Suzuki Motorcycles Australia’s official race team. He says it’s a testament to the GSX-R1000R’s capabilities on-track.
“It’s just a great result considering we weren’t even thinking about the championship at all this year!” Brede explained. “I think that’s actually helped us, because we have just been focusing on developing the bike and next year was always the goal in terms of the title. But in the back-end of this year Josh’s performances have been unbelievable, Phil [Tainton] has produced an amazing machine and Suzuki has provided a fantastic platform for us to compete with.
“To come away with the championship was very unexpected, but unbelievable and just unreal for Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia. They’re a great team of people we have and I’m really proud to be part of that also. Working with them is a real pleasure and everybody at Suzuki has been great as well, so thank you to everybody who has made this possible.”
Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia was a late addition to the series for this season, officially announced during February’s world launch of the GSX-R1000R at Phillip Island. Waters ultimately scored five race wins and two overall victories throughout the course of the season en-route to a third-career crown.