Australian Superbike 2008 - Round Four / Five - Queensland Raceway

Australian Superbike 2008 - Round Four / Five - Queensland Raceway - Yamaha Report

Teknic Honda’s Glenn Allerton wrapped up Queensland’s double header weekend in scintillating style, securing his Australian Superbike Championship lead after a final lap performance that brought the crowd to their feet.

After a more difficult round four on Saturday, Allerton dug deep to better his results on his 2008 CBR1000RR at Sunday’s round five, and now leads Yamaha’s Jamie Stauffer by six points.

From the front row of the grid, the 27-year-old put in two sold rides on day one of racing stepping up to third place on the podium, but it was his nail-biting .195 second win from Stauffer and Suzuki’s Craig Coxhell on Sunday afternoon that allowed the Team to finish on a high note.

“I’m really happy with that last race result and it’s a great way to thank the Team for all their hard work this weekend,” Allerton said.

“I can’t wait for the next round at Tasmania as I won there last year and am planning to do the same again in six weeks time.”

Team Manager Paul Free said it was an exciting weekend for everyone.

“That last lap on turn 3 and 4 was a bit scary to watch, but Glenn rode like an absolute champion and made us all very proud.”

“He actually struggled to find an ideal set up on the bike this weekend, but was able to work through that and move forward to secure a solid leading position.”

“There isn’t a lot between the top two guys now in terms of points, but there is a big gap back to third which shows how strongly Glenn has been riding all year.”

The Team also had some joy with team mate Jason O’Halloran who catapulted himself up two places in the ladder to fifth overall.

He too struggled to find an ideal set-up on his Superbike, and also explained that an early proceedings problem with his primary race bike gave him the most grief.

After a technical glitch put the #1 machine out of action from day one, O’Halloran did well to ride the spare CBR1000RR to two strong fourth place round finishes.

“Things got better for me as the weekend progressed and we made the spare bike work well in the long run, but I didn’t get the results I had hoped for,” he commented.

“The weekend was a tough haul in some respects and we need to work out some kinks before the next round; I’m optimistic that I can get some better results on the board.”

Paul Free echoed his rider’s comments and noted that the 20 year old Supersport Champion is showing great speed and determination.

“Jason is still struggling to find 100% comfort on the Superbike, but he is certainly out there putting in super fast laps so I think we will see some great things from him before the end of the season.”

The Teknic Honda Team’s next appearance will be at the ASC’s penultimate round, Symmons Plains, Tasmania on 29-31 August 2008.

Yamaha Racing Team Supersport.

A solid bag of points from a run of consistent race finishes has re-ignited the championship chase for Yamaha Racing Team Supersport pilot Jeremy Crowe at Queensland Raceway this weekend.

The sole R6 pilot for the Supersport team was determined to factor within the frontrunners and did not disappoint, finishing Saturday’s round 4 in third place.

Crowe fought a race-long battle with Josh Waters for the win in race 1, ultimately losing out by a tiny .327 second margin.

Again a frontrunner in the second race, Crowe was shuffled back to fifth, where he was unable to find a way past those ahead of him.

The weekend’s double-header format saw all classes back on track for 2 more races on the Saturday, and Crowe was again in top form, finishing third in the opener.

Another fifth in the second race of the day saw him finish fifth overall for the round.

He picked up 36 points for his efforts in round 4, and 34 points in round 5, and is fourth on the standings with 153 points.

“It was tight between all the frontrunners this weekend, there were a number of teams and riders that seemed to have a very solid handle on the setup,” said Crowe.

“It was good to get through and grab a second place to start the weekend, we had some good battles and after Winton it was just good to come across the line to a chequered flag each race.”

“Each year we try to improve from the mark we’ve set previously, we did that easily this weekend and will continue to push in Tasmania, a place I personally enjoy.”

Yamaha Racing Team Superbike rider Jamie Stauffer won today’s round of the series, and was second yesterday.

He extends his points lead on the R6 to 221, 28 clear of second place.

A notable performance throughout the weekend came from Yamaha privateer Ben Attard, who finished fifth outright on Saturday and a commendable third outright on Sunday.

He is not only the leading privateer in the Supersport class but also sits fifth outright on the series ladder.