2005 Australian Superbike Championship - Round Three

Under sunny western skies with a record crowd to cheer them on, Australia’s best road riders took to the track at Wanneroo Raceway in WA for the third round of the Superbike Championships this past weekend.

Joe Rocket Honda’s Josh Brookes, Adam ‘Krusty’ Fergusson and Rocket Racing’s Jason O’Halloran were each extremely competitive, with Josh blitzing the Supersport class and taking away a perfect score for the weekend after qualifying on pole position and winning both races.

Adam also maintained his second place on the ladder in the highly spirited 600 class after securing a podium position for the round, making it a Honda affair for the riders and their 2005 CBR600RRs.

Privateer local Honda rider, Bryan Staring showed he has what it takes to run with the factory boys and took away an impressive second place for the day, whilst fellow teen sensation, Honda Australia’s own O’Halloran finished in the top ten after a putting in a solid run.

After putting in two consistent races with some edge of the seat antics thrown in, Brookes also held on to his leading position in the Superbike class whilst Fergusson, who won both classes outright at Wanneroo in 2004, managed to move himself up from 7th to 4th overall in just three rounds.

With the near perfect conditions, the racing proved to be particularly fast and furious and the Honda Team were subtlety pleased overall with the results.

“It was a mixed weekend for us because we had some excellent results as well a few glitches,” Team Manager Paul Free said. “The guys rode as hard as they possibly could and picked up points along the way though which is what winning a championship is all about.”

Supersport Action

Brookes and Staring started a gargantuan battle early on in Supersport race one with the gap remaining constant between the pair at just under half a second. Although Krusty didn’t get away as well as hoped, he certainly upped the pace quickly, and at just 1.7 seconds behind the leaders, last year’s Champion kept on the back of Chris Seaton (Kawasaki) eventually stealing fourth position.

Meanwhile at the front, Staring and Brookes continued to dice for the front with Josh staving off the competition to take the win by 1.2 seconds over Josh Waters (Kawasaki) who snuck into second.

In race two, it was the same three way battle as the previous scenario with Brookes stalking Staring this time. Team mate Fergusson once again found himself needing to work his way up to the front line, which he eventually did to within a second of the leading trio.

Brookes got the speed he needed down the straight, pegging Staring into turn one to take the lead with the privateer Honda rider keeping him honest for the majority of the melee. With one third of the race to go, the top quartet including all of the Honda men were only 7/10ths of a second apart, making for some spectacular racing.

Whist Brookes eventually pulled away by a couple of bike lengths, Fergusson responded with a fastest lap of 57.981 allowing him to take second from Staring, and that is how the three finished up.

Rocket Racing’s Jason O’Halloran meanwhile was dealing with his own battles further down the field, and finished up the day with two ninth place finishes, a respectable placing for the relative rookie.

Josh now has 153 points ahead of Krusty’s 128. In fifth position, O’Halloran is 20 points behind Adam with a 108.

Superbike Action

The Superbike contests proved to be a little more difficult for the Joe Rocket men with both Brookes and Fergusson having to deal with frustrating starts and other minor mistakes.

In race one, neither Honda rider got away particularly well with Josh slotting into fourth and Fergusson fifth. However Josh quickly worked his way up into the 3rd place spot and it looked like he would challenge the lead before the race was red flagged due to an accident.

The Honda Racesafe Team quickly tended to the injured rider (Daniel
Stauffer) in their usual professional manner and the race was restarted as a second leg, 12 lapper with results to be decided on combined times.

Second time away and Krusty slotted in to 4th, putting in a charging lap time of 55.8 to get past Shannon Johnson (Yamaha), and eventually up to second on track (third on combined time). Krusty pulled out all stops to try and close in on the lead with a few scary sideways moments thrown in for good measure. Giles (Suzuki) took the win that time over Fergusson who secured a 2nd place on combined times as well. Team mate Brookes had to settle for a 4th place combined.

When the field met again for the final premier race of the day, Fergusson again found himself struggling off the start line, this time ending up well outside the top ten at turn one. Brookes came around in 4th and made his way past Jamie Stauffer (Kawasaki) whilst Krusty continued to force his way forward by going up the inside and outside of other riders at virtually every turn. Fergusson eventually won the challenge on Jamie Stauffer for fourth where he finished his day overall.

Back at the front, Shawn Giles, Jamie Stauffer and Josh Brookes continued their battle over second place with Brookes putting in a scorching lap to try and get an advantage. With the leader ahead by about one second, Brookes continued to challenge for 2nd place.

With back markers galore adding a difficulty factor for the faster riders, the racing continued at a furious pace. With four laps to go, Giles managed to get up to the front under brakes at Novus Corner whilst Josh also managed to make his way past Johnson for second just over the Basin.

The crowd were on their feet as the last lap board came out and Brookes and Giles came down to the final corner side by side under brakes.

Pushing it to the limit, Brookes unfortunately came in for the final run a bit too deep and ended up in the sand. He picked up the bike up and rejoined the race to salvage 6th but was clearly a bit disappointed with the result.

“I did what I felt I had to do at that point”, Josh said. “I ran the best race possible but I did make a mistake that cost me. Still I’m pretty happy with my results. I am still leading both classes, but of course, there isn’t much in the Superbike points at the moment with the top guys only a few points apart.”

“I’ll be staying in WA this week before we race in Adelaide this weekend, so I just plan to train as much as possible and make sure my fitness is as good as it can be.”

Fergusson was also happy but somewhat understated.

“I certainly felt better on both bikes this weekend than I did at Eastern Creek, and I think my lap times are an indication that all is well on that front.”

“I wasn’t too happy with some of my starts today on the other hand so that’s something to work on. But the Superbike competition is very close and I think any of us are capable of winning it, so that’s what I’m planning on doing.”

Going into South Australia, Josh Brookes leads the competition on 126 points with Fergusson just 25 points behind in fourth.