2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan)

Report (Series)

West Australian racegoers were treated to an amazing displaying of action at today’s round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship at Barbagallo Raceway, with Yamaha Racing Team’s Jamie Stauffer securing the Superbike round victory despite not winning a race.

Two second placings were enough to award overall honours to the 27-year-old, who battled tenaciously with the frontrunners and emerged with the points advantage as riders fell around him.

Multiple Australian Champion Shawn Giles (Team Yoshimura Suzuki) was flung from his bike in the second race after taking the spoils in the first 20-lapper, bringing out the red flag to signal a race restart. Moments later, another rider exited the track at the notorious ‘basin’, causing the race to be declared.

Half points were awarded for race two, giving Joe Rocket Honda’s Adam Fergusson the win. However, Fergusson had also found the sand in the morning’s first race, removing him from the equation for round victory.

The round two victory marked Stauffer’s second in succession and also aided his championship charge; he now sits 17 points clear of second placed rider Russell Holland.

Stauffer was pleased by the result, though acknowledged luck played some hand in the win.

“To win without actually winning a race is a strange situation, but we were best placed at the end of the day after all the restarts,” said Stauffer.

“The nature of the track definitely tightened the field up, but it was the constant strain on the bikes that really hurt, I had a good race package but the other guys had our measure for most of the weekend,” he said.

“It was good to add another few points to my championship tally and its providing a healthy buffer for the upcoming round.”

Interestingly, the round podium was almost identical to that of round one, with Kawasaki’s Shannon Johnson and Honda privateer Russell Holland trading places on the dais for 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Johnson’s placing keeps his consistent run of results intact, producing a measured and level-headed ride to record 3rd and 4th across the two red-flag interrupted races.

“Looking at it overall it was a good result for us, though I made a few errors in the first race and got caught out by the rain in the second, I suppose it could have been much worse,” explained Johnson.

“It was difficult to keep a race focus with all the restarts, the bikes really aren’t designed for that type of racing and we really asked a lot of them today, with the tyres constantly going from hot to cold.”

“The team is working really well together and it showed this weekend, the bike really took everything the track threw at it and I’m really looking forward to making up some points on Jamie and Russell at Mallala next weekend.”

Another strong result from the privateer Holland saw him again taking the fight up to and beyond the factory teams, with the Robern Racing pilot maintaining his second place in the title chase.

Holland admitted to struggling in the first race, finishing in fifth position, but said a tyre change gave him the edge in the final battle.

“It really was quite a difficult weekend for us, and therefore even better to come away with such a good result,” said Holland.

“We were a little off the pace in terms of setup and there was a real gamble to find grip early, a change to a Pirelli production tyre in the second race made the bike lap much more consistently.”

“It was really good to be able to pass Jamie Stauffer even if he got the position back, it proves we are really coming along with developing the bike and choosing the correct tyres, we made up some points in the championship today.”

“The job couldn’t have been done though without the support of a special sponsor in Leamy Constructions, who has come on board for round two and three – I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going at Adelaide.”

Jamie Stauffer also wrapped up an impressive Supersport victory, extending his unbeaten run and building upon his already solid points haul. Stauffer took the win from teammate Mark Aitchison who shone aboard his YZF-R6, and Joe Rocket Honda’s Glenn Allerton built on his consistent run of points in third.

The championship standings now sit heavily in Stauffer’s favour, and he sits 30 points clear of Allerton in second. Yamaha privateer Shaun Geronimi has crept inconspicuously up the ladder into 3rd after aiming for consistency within the lead pack.

An already packed racing program was stretched further into the afternoon after a number of incidents resulted in restarts and race declarations across the various headline and support categories.

The most recent update from Team Yoshimura Suzuki on the progress of injured star Shawn Giles had the 35-year-old described as suffering from bruises and lacerations, and to go undergo further examination in hospital this evening.