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2006 Australian Superbike
Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway July 8th, 2006 |
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2006 Australian Superbike
Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway July 8th, 2006 |
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Day 2 Report
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| A serious bout of the
winter ‘flu did little to hamper the progress of the Yamaha
Racing Team’s Jamie Stauffer who instead had his competition
singing the ‘blues’, taking pole position for the two-race
showdown at round four of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike
Championship at Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway today. Stauffer set his quick lap in the morning session and was unable to eclipse it in the final qualifier, but it was enough to guarantee him the crucial grid spot as well as a bonus championship point. Interestingly, the entire front row of the grid in the premier Superbike class set their fastest times in the morning. Championship standout Stauffer will now take on the task of maintaining his points buffer over second, though he knows it will be tough to circulate for the races’ 20 minute duration at far from optimum health. “It’s been a very tough weekend physically, the onset of this ‘cold’ has beaten me around quite significantly and to still be able to qualify on top is a good sign that the bike and tyres are working well under me,” said Stauffer. “We, along with a number of other riders, couldn’t quite push the bikes to the times the morning session had seen but this afternoon was more about getting adjusted and ready for racing.” “It’s a great advantage to have a bike that qualifies well and then backs up well for the full race distance round after round, and hopefully we’ll be up there challenging for the top spot tomorrow afternoon as well.” Friday’s fast man Russell Holland set the pace early on today aboard his Pirelli-backed Robern Racing Honda, breaking into the 1 minute 9 second bracket on lap 7. The field did not seem to have an answer to Holland as he further lowered his lap-time, before Stauffer broke through with a 1.09.594, shaving less than a tenth of a second from the leading privateer. Adam Fergusson held up Honda’s end of the bargain in the 1.09’s, with the Joe Rocket Honda pilot grabbing grid position three for tomorrow’s ‘battle royale’ at Queensland Raceway. Dan Stauffer enjoyed a storming qualifying run aboard his YZF-R1 and rounds out the front row of the grid, the third-placed championship rider well-placed to continue his table topping run. Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden was the best of the ‘locals’, the lone factory GSXR-1000 rider just missing a slot on the front row in 5th. He is joined on row 2 of the grid by a strong ‘green machine’ presence, with Kawasaki Racing Team’s Shannon Johnson and Josh Waters and Floyd Parkes Kawasaki’s Wayne Maxwell in 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. There are 50 valuable championship points up for grabs across tomorrow’s 2 x 20 minute races, and racegoers can look forward to another exciting round of top-level racing, with riders battling both their competition and the bumpy Queensland track. Jason O’Halloran scored a standout pole position in the Supersport ranks, outqualifying teammate and championship frontrunner Jamie Stauffer who backed up with a solid second. Mark Aitchison completed an R6 triple for the Yamaha Racing Team, who once again look poised to battle for the podium placings. Joe Rocket Honda’s Adam Fergusson backed up his Superbike efforts with another strong performance in the 600cc class, and will start from 4th on the front row. 2005 Supersport round victor Brendan Clarke qualified down the order in 10th, but is sure to be a contender as his two spectacular come-from-behind wins proved last season. Support class actions kicks off at 9am tomorrow, and spectators can enjoy a rider autograph session and pit walk during the lunch break. Local V8 Supercar driver Jamie Whincup from Triple Eight Race Engineering will also be on hand to chat with motorsport fans of a different discipline, ensuring a great day out for the entire family at unprecedented low admission prices. |
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2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway |
