2019 ASBK

Round Four – Morgan Park

Images by TBG and Rob Mott

Weather conditions were a little problematic this morning out at Warwick as practice for the fourth round of the Australian Superbike Championship got underway at Morgan Park.

A stiff wind combined with some very light, almost imperceptible rain drops made things a little sketchy.

The forecast for weekend is for much of the same really, but nobody could hold it against the weather gods this weekend even if it bucketed down.  This region is on stringent water restrictions and currently resembles somewhat of a desert.

Last year this was a watershed round for Troy Herfoss and the new look Penrite Honda led by Shaun Clarke. To my mind it was the most well calculated performance that Herfoss and his team have ever put in.

In what was a very clear team effort, where everyone in the team was on the top of their game, Herfoss had to come from behind in both races in a well judged ride before then simply smashing the opposition in the closing stages of each race.

It was a dominant and crushing performance the likes of which is rarely witnessed in Australian Superbike.

As we head into this weekend their competitors will be working harder, and smarter, to try and prevent the reigning champion from just walking away from them in the closing laps once again…

Tyre wear was critical here last year and no doubt it will be the same again this year when the 2 x 16-lap races get underway on Sunday.

Tyres are always critical in regards to longevity in this series, but last time out in South Australia it was a bigger factor than ever.  There Bryan Staring, as the only lead rider on Dunlop rubber, dominated the races completely and catapulted himself into the series lead off the back of a 75-point haul in what was a triple-header weekend.

Pirelli had no answer for Dunlop at The Bend, in what was a big turn up for the books as in recent years the Italian rubber has largely dominated ASBK, where ever we went. Which brand will win the tyre war this weekend…? To throw another wildcard in to that question both Dunlop and Pirelli have a new spec’ rear here this weekend… The Pirelli in question sacrifices a small amount of ultimate edge grip in return for an increase in longevity, while the Dunlop option for this weekend is softer than what they dominated with at The Bend but Dunlop are still confident that it will last the 16-lap distance without a problem.

Few Superbike riders ventured out in the opening practice session this morning but most of the field hit the track for the 30-minute FP2 session that got underway at 1330 this afternoon. Conditions were now perfectly dry but the wind was blustery and somewhat unpredictable which kept the riders on their toes. There was certainly nothing to be gained by throwing a bike away today!

Cru Halliday topped that FP2 session by a narrow margin over Mike Jones and Wayne Maxwell. Only a tenth-of-a-second covered that trio with Mike Jones clocking 20 laps in the session to Halliday’s 16 and Maxwell’s 14.

Track temperatures were well under 30-degrees all day and by 1550 this afternoon when the final 30-minute Superbike practice session of the day got underway the track temp’ was down to only 20-degrees.

Cru Halliday didn’t mind the cold though and was quick out of the blocks with a 1m13.8s on his first lap, and he followed that up with a 1m13.52s on his second, a 1m13.96s on his third.

Wayne Maxwell then started banging in some 1m13s also, a 1m13.72s followed by a 1m13.33s to set a new benchmark for the day before returning to pit-lane.

Mike Jones then started winding the big Ducati 1299 up as the session reached the halfway marker and dropped in a 1m13.82s before topping that with a 1m13.50s and then a 1m13.45s.

It was also 15-minutes into the session before Herfoss started moving up the leader-board. A 1m14.16s and then Staring matched him a few minutes later but that time hardly representative of their potential pace come Sunday.

Cru Halliday exited pit-lane with ten-minutes to run but immediately went down at turn 11.

Mark Chiodo was showing good pace early on in the session before going down at turn four. In fact Chiodo’s 1m14.123 at the beginning of the session still ranked him fourth two-thirds of the way through the session. It was also faster than his team-mate Troy Herfoss managed all session as the #1 was struggling today with the bumps at Morgan Park and looking for a better suspension setting to help smooth his progress.

With seven-minutes remaining in the session other riders started to put their head down and move up the leader-board

Josh Waters moved up to fourth just after Matt Walters had taken that position, then Daniel Falzon pushed Walters back further to sixth.

Just as things were starting to hot up the red flag was then produced to put a premature end to the session after Glenn Scott went down at the left-hander under the bridge. Scott went under the air-fence and was followed in by his bike. Medical staff were on the scene quickly to attend to a conscious but clearly injured Scott.

Thus Maxwell tops Friday practice overall ahead of Jones and Halliday while Josh Waters rounds out the top four ahead of Daniel Falzon and Matt Walters.

Tailem Bend winner Bryan Staring eighth today while championship leader Herfoss appears a little frustrated and was only ninth on combined times. A bit of work to do for the Penrite Honda squad tonight to turn things around tomorrow.

Aaron Morris did a good job today to get the NextGen BMW into the top ten on his first competitive outing with the squad as he stands in for the injured Glenn Allerton and Ted Collins.

Kawasaki Superbike Friday Times

Australian Supersport Friday

Despite some bike problems Tom Toparis narrowly edged out Nic Liminton for top spot today in the Australian Supersport ranks while Reid Battye rounded out the top three.

Corey Turner and Callum Spriggs are a couple of well credentialled locals with their experienced hats in the ring this weekend and today they managed fourth and fifth on the timesheets ahead of Broc Pearson.

Oli Bayliss was seventh quickest this afternoon ahead of Chris Quinn and Avalon Biddle while Aidan Hayes rounded out the top ten.

YMI Supersport 300 Friday

Senna Agius topped Supersport 300 proceedings today on a 400 Kawasaki ahead of a trio of Yamaha YZF-R3 machines headed by Locky Taylor.

YMF R3 Cup Friday

Locky Taylor topped the YMF R3 category on Friday from John Lytras and Brandon Demmery while Harry Khouri rounded out the top four.

bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup Friday

Superbike Masters Friday FP2

FP3 Cancelled

Championship Standings

ASBK Schedule AEST