2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan)

Report (Yamaha)

Yamaha Racing Team's Jamie Stauffer has cruised away from the highly competitive Superbike and Supersport fields, taking four stunning consecutive victories at the first round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek today.

Stauffer extended his winning streak to ten straight after a similarly dominant showing at the non-championship round earlier in the year, and looks absolutely unstoppable aboard both machines.

The factory backed team had a very successful weekend and is positioned at the top of the table in the race for championship honours in both premier classes.

Yamaha Racing Team Factory Superbike

Pole position for race one had Jamie Stauffer in the best possible position to continue his winning run, and a great start by the #27 bike put pay to the hopes of his competitors as they tore up the track for the first lap.

A subsequent red flag from a mid-pack incident brought him back to the back, along with brother Dan, who had made an amazing start to climb to fourth spot in the first few turns.

The field had to concede the weekend would be a battle for minor placing’s as Jamie streaked away with the lead, breaking his own race lap record set in 2005 in the process.

"It's certainly been a great weekend for us, the bike was perfect in every way and really used its tyres very well - there is a real synergy between the YZF-R1 chassis and the Dunlop race tyre package" said Stauffer.

"The quality of the field was very high and I really had to keep focused on the job at hand with so many of the big name riders from Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki close behind."

"The test was obviously a big advantage to us this weekend and it was fun to be able to cruise around knowing the bike was well sorted."

"It's a dream result to finish on top in both categories and has been a really professional effort from the team this weekend, I just want to try and keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully go a bit faster" Stauffer said.

Dan Stauffer delivered a great supporting result for the team with a strong second race, sticking with the leaders for 5th position.

Though not quite having the measure of his brother in terms of pace, he was able to mix it at the pointy end and was pleased with the finish.

"It was a good result, we qualified tenth and finished sixth and fifth so that was a good move in the right direction," said Stauffer.

"I feel like I'm riding the best I can, we're making inroads and though I'm a bit off the pace of Jamie, its only early and there's a lot of racing to come."

"Fifth in the championship is a pretty good place to be, and I'm looking forward to building on that next month."

Yamaha Racing Team Factory Supersport

YRT's Supersport trio couldn't have had a better preparation heading into the weekend and it was all too evident when the distinctive blue YZF-R6's hit the track.

Lead by man of the moment Jamie Stauffer, the youngsters Jason O'Halloran and Mark Aitchison provided the back-up as the team eclipsed every preliminary session leading up to Sunday's race.

Stauffer's speed aboard the YZF-R6 was unbelievable and in each race he was able to cruise away comprehensively, grabbing the maximum haul of points on offer to take the early championship lead.

Praising the bike and team, Stauffer also believed that the Dunlop tyre package was a major factor in keeping him clear of the field.

"Everything has just been working perfectly, the team, the bike, the tyres, it's a real winner," said Stauffer.

"The YZF-R6 is really good off the start which is important, allowing me to settle into a steady rhythm quite early in the race which saves the tyres over the distance."

"It's been a dream start to the year with my new team; hopefully we can keep it up."

Jason O'Halloran rode with a maturity beyond his years, and while unable to catch Stauffer in the lead, looked comfortable and unthreatened in second and third places across the races.

Taking 38 valuable series points behind Stauffer's 50, O'Halloran was very pleased with the start he had made to the new season.

"Race one with the second place was exceptionally good and third in that last race was a good way to back up”, O'Halloran.

"I didn't get the best start to the second race but held on and in the end we weren't really challenged on the way to a 1-2-3."

"I finished with second overall that's go to bed good for the championship, I'm already looking forward to Perth."

Mark Aitchison's weekend went from the highest of highs to a crushing low, when, lining up for the start of the first Supersport race on the first row, he was forced to walk his bike to the side of the track with holed radiator caused by a small piece of debris picked up on the warm up lap.

It was a disappointing way to begin his championship chase and very rare for a reliability issue to disrupt the professional Yamaha Racing Team'.s race plans, and he was determined to make amends.

Aitchison recovered well in the second race of the day, leading momentarily before being passed by his teammate for a solid second place finish, but was still stinging from the earlier failure and sits lower in the championship than he would like.

"It was a good start to the weekend, we were on top for pretty much the whole time there and had a good grid position before realising there was a hole in the radiator," said Aitchison.

"I was disappointed initially as I really wanted to be out there fighting for the win, but it made it even more important for me to score a good result in the second race, which I was able to do."

"I lead away the field for a while there and was really had the measure of Jamie in the second race, probably closer than anyone's been for a while, but not to take anything away from him, he did a great job."

The Yamaha Racing Team will return home to debrief and regroup and look forward to the West Australian race, round two of the championship from May 26-28.