ASBK 2023
Round Four – Hidden Valley, Darwin
Cooler track conditions on Saturday morning caught plenty of riders out at Hidden Valley.
After hardly putting a foot wrong all season Ted Collins wrecked a Livson BMW on Friday, and on Saturday morning went down the road once again, his stricken machine bringing out a red flag. Collins was certainly not on his Pat Malone as Scott Allars and Michael Kemp also fell early in the 20-minute Q1 session.
Josh Waters, Glenn Allerton and Mike Jones were the only men in the 65s in the Q1 session but with the top 12 going through to Q2 there was no real need to push the limits just yet. The top 12 riders were the dozen pilots you would expect to make it through to Q2.
Q1 Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | Josh WATERS | Ducati | 1m05.406 |
2 | Glenn ALLERTONÂ | BMWÂ | +0.313 |
3 | Mike JONES | Yamaha | +0.352 |
4 | Troy HERFOSSÂ | Honda | +0.621 |
5 | Bryan STARINGÂ | Yamaha | +0.696 |
6 | Arthur SISSISÂ | Yamaha | +0.749 |
7 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | +0.797 |
8 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha | +1.042 |
9 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati | +1.135 |
10 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha | +1.284 |
11 | Ted COLLINS | BMW | +1.549 |
12 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia | +1.944 |
13 | Jack DAVISÂ | Suzuki | +3.572 |
14 | Eddie LEESON | Yamaha | +3.718 |
15 | Paris HARDWICKÂ | Kawasaki | +4.335 |
16 | Scott ALLARSÂ | Yamaha | +4.379 |
17 | Michael KEMPÂ | Yamaha | +6.299 |
18 | Albert BAKER | Yamaha | +9.399 |
Q2
Things started to get more serious when the 15-minute Q2 session kicked off before 9am with riders wasting no time in setting a marker.
Glenn Allerton had some lurid rear slides on the BMW M 1000 RR on his opening laps.
Anthony West had got out of bed on the right side to immediately dip into the 65s for the first time this weekend.
Cru Halliday was at the bottom of the top 12 at the midway point of the session after returning to the pits early for some work on the YRT YZF-R1M. Once back out though Cru was immediately on the pace, catapulting himself from last to P2.
Josh Waters had gone top early on and didn’t hit the track again until late in the session just as times started to tumble.
Mike Jones the first to really fire and set a new marker of 1m05.122s to go P1. Allerton then went P2 and Herfoss P3 to push Waters back to fourth.
Jones then improved to 1m05.067s, Herfoss up to P2, Allerton P3 and Cru Halliday then went fourth to push Waters back to fifth.
The McMartin Racing man had the answer though with a 1m04.963s on his penultimate lap of the session and considered that job done. That time a single thousandth of a second from the qualifying lap record set here by Wayne Maxwell last year while riding for the same team.
Mike Jones and Troy Herfoss will be alongside the Ducati on the front row while Glenn Allerton heads row two alongside Cru Halliday and Bryan Staring.
The MotoGO Yamaha squad and Staring must have done their homework overnight to propel themselves into contention today.
Arthur Sissis will start from the third row but few would bet against the South Australian having the lead by turn one.
The opening 16-lap contest gets underway at 1240 (1310 AEST) this afternoon. Track temperatures will be significantly hotter and that might bring forth some surprises late in the race to upset the usual pecking order.
It is an early start on Sunday for race two, 0830 (0900 AEST) before the final 16-lap bout of the triple-header at 1310 (1340 AEST).
Q2 Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | Josh WATERS | Ducati | 1m04.963 |
2 | Mike JONES | Yamaha | +0.104 |
3 | Troy HERFOSS | Honda | +0.145 |
4 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW | +0.217 |
5 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | +0.345 |
6 | Bryan STARING | Yamaha | +0.577 |
7 | Arthur SISSIS | Yamaha | +0.639 |
8 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha | +0.857 |
9 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha | +1.025 |
10 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati | +1.048 |
11 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia | ++1.979 |
12 | Ted COLLINS | BMW | 2.456 |
Superbike Championship Points
Pos | Rider | Points |
1 | Josh WATERS | 161 |
2 | Troy HERFOSS | 142 |
3 | Cru HALLIDAY | 115 |
4 | Glenn ALLERTON | 115 |
5 | Mike JONES | 104 |
6 | Ted COLLINS | 95 |
7 | Bryan STARING | 88 |
8 | Broc PEARSON | 82 |
9 | Arthur SISSIS | 72 |
10 | Max STAUFFER | 69 |
11 | Matt WALTERS | 68 |
12 | Scott ALLARS | 51 |
13 | Michael KEMP | 50 |
14 | Paris HARDWICK | 48 |
15 | Anthony WEST | 24 |
16 | Michael EDWARDS | 19 |
17 | Mark CHIODO | 16 |
18 | Jack DAVIS | 16 |
19 | Josh SODERLAND | 15 |
20 | Dominic DE LEON | 13 |
21 | Nicholas MARSH | 12 |
22 | Leanne NELSON | 4 |
2023 ASBK Calendar
2023 ASBK Calendar | |||
Round | Circuit | Location | Date |
R4 | Hidden Valley Raceway (Superbike Only) | NT | Jun 16-18 |
R5 | Morgan Park Raceway | QLD | Jul 14-16 |
R6 | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | VIC | Oct 27-29 |
R7 | The Bend Motorsport Park | SA | Dec 1 – 3 |