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Wayne Maxwell and YRT top Tailem Bend ASBK Test

Wayne Maxwell sets the The Bend benchmark with a 1m54.020

April 4, 2018

YRT mans tops ASBK shakedown at new South Australian circuit

Bryan Staring was the man that really need to make some progress this afternoon and the Western Australian and the Sydney based BCperformance Kawasaki definitely started to find the right direction. Staring improved markedly to a 1m57.667 to make it inside the top ten.

The real fast man in today’s third session though was Glenn Allerton. The three-time champ found his form to set a new outright fastest lap of the 4.95km The Bend ‘International Circuit’, negotiating its 18 corners in 1m54.630 on the NextGen BMW S 1000 RR.

We mentioned in our AM report how The Bend, like Phillip Island, is not a horsepower track. That was underlined again late this afternoon when Cru Halliday smacked down a 1m56.464 on the YRT YZF-R6 Supersport machine. That time faster than 80 per cent of the Superbike field had managed.

The penultimate Superbike session of the day got underway around 1620 this afternoon but was red flagged almost immediately when Phil Czaj went down over the back of the circuit. Officials were concerned as there was no initial movement from the Aprilia rider thus the red flag, but he was then up and okay almost immediately after the red flag call was made. Riders were remonstrating their displeasure at the red flag call with officials from their motorcycles as they entered pitlane.

Everyone understands their frustration, but I would like to think that officials would err on the side of caution if I was lying out there on the track. And this is a test after all, thus some inconvenience in the aim of ultimate rider safety is totally appropriate.

Riders were back on track shortly thereafter and Troy Herfoss joined the 1m54s club for the first time with a 1m54.983. Then Wayne Maxwell and Josh Waters joined the 54 club, a 1m54.54 to the Suzuki man and a 1m54.58 to the YRT #47.

Josh Waters was just about to smash another fast one in to really cement his position on top when the red flag came out again, just as the defending champ had posted a first split that was four-tenths quicker than his already chart topping 1m54.54s scorcher. He could well have been on course for the first ever 1m53s lap around The Bend, but alas it was not to be.

One rider who was not enjoying the fourth session was Glenn Allerton. After topping the third session with a 1m54.630 the BMW man went out in the fourth session with new rubber, only to have problems.

A new front slick did not agree with Glenn Allerton and nearly put the NextGen man on his head thus the team called it a day prior to the last and did not participate in the final session.

A massive front end lose on the second lap out on a new front slick saw the team call enough and start packing up. The reason, they had simply no more tyres, nor did the tyre suppliers. And they saw there job here as largely done.

Bryan Staring had continued to make great progress on the BCperformance Kawasaki, slashing another two-seconds off his time to end the penultimate session with a best of 1m55.658. Clearly the team had found the solution to get the hard option Dunlop working.

The tenth and final Superbike session of this two-day test got underway at 1645 and Staring was again running a hot pace, his first flying lap a 1m55.676 and he then went better again at 1m55.470.

With 12-minutes remaining in the session it was Wayne Maxwell who set the new outright benchmark, a 1m54.504 to the YRT man put him atop the charts.

Troy Bayliss was determined to end the day as top dog but was gazumped in the dying minutes by Wayne Maxwell and Troy Herfoss

We did not have to wait long until Troy Bayliss then smashed out a 1m54.280 on the Ducati Panigale Finale R Edition to lower the benchmark further. There was now nine-minutes remaining for anyone else to try and knock him out of top spot.

Wayne Maxwell exited pitlane shortly after Bayliss knocked him off the top peg and put his head down to try and regain The Bend bragging rights.

He did it too… Maxwell banged in a 1m54.117 to steal that top spot back again from Bayliss.

Then Troy Herfoss joined the party! The Penrite Honda man then gazumped them all with a 1m54.030 with three-minutes remaining…

Maxwell immediately retaliated with a 1m54.020 to again be top dog and as the clock ticked down and the chequered flag came out he held on to that honour as the inaugural Tailem Bend motorcycle lap record holder.

ASBK Tailem Bend Superbike Practice Times

Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R1M 1:54.020
Troy HERFOSS (QLD) Honda CBR-RR SP 1:54.030
A Troy BAYLISS (QLD) Ducati Panigale FE 1:54.280
Josh WATERS (VIC) Suzuki GSXR-R 1:54.544
Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) BMW S RR 1:54.630
Daniel FALZON (SA) Yamaha YZF-R1M 1:54.994
Bryan STARING (WA) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:55.441
Arthur SISSIS (SA) Suzuki GSXR 1:56.539
Michael BLAIR (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:56.784
Kyle BUCKLEY (QLD) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:57.033
Mark CHIODO (VIC) Suzuki GSXR-R 1:57.161
Ted COLLINS (VIC) BMW S 1:57.174
Sam LAMBERT (NT) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:57.203
Alex PHILLIS (VIC) Suzuki GSXR 1:57.417
Jay PRESEPIO (SA) Suzuki GSXR 1:58.152
Mitchell LEVY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.447
Mitch REES (NZ) Honda CBR-RR SP 1:58.858
William STRUGNELL (SA) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:58.915
Matt WALTERS (NSW) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:59.077
Mason COOTE (VIC) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:59.192
Phil CZAJ (VIC) Aprilia RSV4 F 1:59.435
Lucas VITALE (NSW) Kawasaki ZX10R 1:59.733
Brendan MCINTYRE (NSW) Suzuki GSXR-R 1:59.982
Adam CHRISTIE (SA) Suzuki GSXR-R 2:01.016
Trent GIBSON (VIC) Suzuki GSXR 2:01.136
Patrick LI (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:01.158
Simon GALLOWAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:01.538
Mathew HARDING (NSW) Kawasaki ZX10R 2:01.626
Sloan FROST (NZ) Suzuki GSXR 2:01.677
Nathan SPITERI (VIC) Suzuki GSXR-R 2:02.307
Scott MCGREGOR (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:02.622
David BARKER (SA) Kawasaki ZX10R 2:03.291
Aaiden COOTE (VIC) Kawasaki ZX10R 2:04.387
Ashley MANUEL (SA) Kawasaki ZX10R 2:04.800
Kieran HURRELL (SA) Honda CBR RR 2:06.529
Evan BYLES (SA) / SA Kawasaki ZX10R 2:07.399
Con KOKKORIS (NSW) Ducati Panigale 2:07.583
Jeremy GUNIA (SA) BMW S RR 2:07.881
Donald OWEN (VIC) Suzuki GSXR 2:10.777

Supersport 600

Cru Halliday proved head and shoulders above the competition in the Supersport category with his 1m56.464 good enough for a top ten in the Superbike class, and well clear of second placed Supersport rider Tom Toparis who posted a 1m58.249. Third placed Giuseppe Scarcella set a 1m58.677.

Halliday’s time was faster than all but the top seven Superbike riders…

ASBK 600 Supersport Tailem Bend Superbike Practice Times

Cru HALLIDAY (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:56.464
Tom TOPARIS (NSW) Kawasaki ZX6R 1:58.249
Giuseppe SCARCELLA (NSW) Kawasaki ZX6R 1:58.677
Broc PEARSON (QLD) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:59.398
Max CROKER (NSW) Suzuki GSXR 1:59.652
Zac JOHNSON (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 1:59.695
John HUNT (SA) Suzuki GSXR 2:00.461
Damon REES (NZ) Honda CBR RR 2:00.954
Jack PASSFIELD (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:01.556
Dallas SKEER (SA) Suzuki GSXR 2:01.839
Scott NICHOLSON (VIC) Suzuki GSXR 2:02.080
Ty LYNCH (SA) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:02.205
Rhys BELLING (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:02.517
Thomas BRYDEN (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:03.147
Campbell RUSSELL (VIC) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:06.148
Meri MALENA (NSW) Yamaha YZF-R6 2:11.081

Supersport 300

Supersport 300 was a tight contest today for top dog status but in the final wash-up it was Hunter Ford who took the mantle clearly despite not going out in the final session.

Hunter Ford’s 2m11.506 was just clear of second placed Olly Simpson with a 2m11.623, while Tayla Relph was the last of the 300 Supersport field in the 2m11s with a 2m11.980.