Waters and Herfoss down to lap record pace on Friday at The Bend

ASBK 2023
Round Seven – The Bend
Friday

Both Josh Waters and Troy Herfoss are already down around lap record pace on Friday here at The Bend.

Waters was actually under Wayne Maxwell’s lap record to top the opening day of practice on 1m50.454, besting Herf’s 1m50.604.

Josh Waters – P1

“It was a good Friday for us across the three sessions. We were chipping away all day and changed a lot of everything – including the suspension. Just look at the lap times for me and Troy and you can tell something’s important on our minds! It’s great for all the people following the championship.”

Troy Herfoss – P2

“We just worked slowly through a few electronic things, as well as a small chassis change in the third session. We are so close and trying to work with the grip levels as they change. A really solid day, and I felt really comfortable on the bike. It looks like Josh and I are a little bit ahead of the field at the moment, but you know racing: other riders can wake up on Saturday and be fast so I’m definitely keeping things in perspective. I just can’t wait for racing to get underway – it’s exciting.”

Max Stauffer has continued his positive trajectory, ending Friday as the fastest Yamaha in third place on 1m51.105 ahead of Cru Halliday, Bryan Staring and Mike Jones.

Anthony West (Addicted to Track YZF-R1, 1:51.546) was sixth ahead of Arthur Sissis (Unitech Racing YZF-R1, 1:52.156), while Glenn Allerton (GT Racing M 1000 RR) – defending third place in the championship – was back in 11th place and will have to find more speed in qualifying to work himself back into calculations.

Apologies for the brevity of today’s wrap but a few hiccups today had us otherwise detained. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

Superbike Merged Classification

Superbike Championship Points

Supersport

Simpson (1:54.840) pushed hard from the outset in Michelin Supersport practice, with this weekend’s grid strengthened by a number of young Aussie internationals returning home for ASBK cameos.

Simpson held onto top spot despite last year’s winner Harrison Voight (YZF-R6, 1:54.866) finishing the day strongly.

Simpson is 14pts adrift of Cameron Dunker (GTR MotoStars YZF-R6, 1:55.660) in the championship, with the latter third in practice from Tom Toparis (Cube Racing Stop & Seal YZF-R6, 1:55.674) and Hayden Nelson (Cube Racing YZF-R6, 1:55.800).

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South Australian Ty Lynch (AMR Motorsports YZF-R6, 1:56.370), just 2pts behind Simpson and the third cog in the thrilling championship battle, also kept his powder dry in sixth position.

Supersport Merged Classification

Supersport Championship Points

Supersport 300

It’s all set up for a nerve-wrecking finale in both classes, with main contenders Brodie Gawith, Cameron Swain and Henry Snell all lurking at the top of the timesheets, with Bradon Demmery also in the hunt as well.

There are 75pts up for grabs in each class across the weekend, starting with the opening races tomorrow afternoon – which can both be seen on SBS On Demand!

Supersport 300 Merged Classification

Supersport 300 Series Points

YMF R3 Cup Merged Classification

YMF R3 Cup Series Points

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup

More top guns at the very top with one and two in the series, Archie Schmidt and Bodie Paige, the stars of practice.

Schmidt, from Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, has been a revelation all year with his fast and aggressive riding, and he’ll look to complete a stellar year with a title victory on Sunday.

Schmidt can’t slip up though, as Paige will be there to pounce only being 1pt in arrears, while Hayden Fordyce is third – the only other realistic contender.

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup Merged Classification

bLU CRU Oceania Junior Cup Series Points

SureFlight Superbike Masters

It didn’t take long for Garry McCoy to remind us why he is a three-time MotoGP winner, qualifying on pole position in his Sureflight Superbike Masters cameo – the diminutive Queensland fulfilling a long-held ambition to ride a Yamaha TZ750.

He will start from pole position after going 0.3 seconds faster than 2022 The Bend winner David Johnson (Suzuki Katana), with series leader Keo Watson (Yamaha FZR1000) third. Ryan Taylor (Suzuki GSX-R1100) will also looking to keep pace with the top three in the four five-lap races.

SureFlight Superbike Masters Qualifying

SureFlight Superbike Masters Merged Practice Classification

SureFlight Superbike Masters Series Points