ASBK 2023
Round Four – Hidden Valley, Darwin
Mike Jones continued to get quicker as the day progressed, topping the FP3 session and the day with a late 1m05.324s on the Yamaha Racing Team machine to underline his potential in Darwin. That time just under Wayne Maxwell’s 65.407s race lap record, but still a few tenths away from Maxwell’s qualifying record of 64.962s, set on the McMartin Racing Ducati last year at the 2870 metre 14-turn circuit.
Josh Waters had also been under the race lap record in the cooler conditions of FP1. Today the McMartin Racing Team debuted the new 2023 iteration of the Panigale V4 R for the first time and early indications are that the new bike has even more potential, but they failed to make any further progress in FP3.
Troy Herfoss had a painful high-side in FP2 but that didn’t stop the Penrite Honda man putting in 17 laps this afternoon. Like Allerton, Herfoss has also been in the mid 5s many times today and has been on the pace from the start. Troy’s best time of 1m05.386s in FP2 looked distinctly hard work though with the Penrite Honda getting in all sorts of shapes as Herf wrought the best out of it.
Glenn Allerton and GT Racing are running Ohlins suspension at Hidden Valley today after spending recent times on Bitubo. Early indications are that tyre life, a bugbear for Allerton in recent times, is improved, and the three-time champ put in plenty of laps in the mid 5s today, his best a 1m05.515s in FP3 good enough to end day one in fourth place.
The Yamaha Racing Team had examined the data on Cru Halliday’s YZF-R1M and suggested that he use a different gear at certain points of the circuit and those changes obviously worked as Halliday made good progress in FP2 and despite the warmer conditions was almost as fast in FP3. A huge slide through the back section saw the rear end of the Yamaha way out of line and if Cru and the traction control system had not caught it then it would have been a pretty big high-side indeed. A lap later though Halliday lost the front into the final turn which robbed him of any chance to make further progress.
Only two-tenths cover that top five but things start to get a little more spread out further down the field.
Arthur Sissis was pretty quick out of the blocks in the cooler conditions this morning but was slower in both the FP2 and FP3 sessions, ending the day sixth quickest.
Two riders that really needed to make serious progress this afternoon did exactly that, albeit not quite as much as they might have hoped.
Bryan Staring had not broken into the 65s all day but managed to find what he needed to do that in the final session, a 1m05.839s for the Western Australian on the MotoGO Yamaha. However, he needs to find more if he hopes to challenge for a podium tomorrow.
Broc Pearson made further gains but just missed out on breaking into the 5s, his best coming in the final session at 1m06.023s.
Anthony West had also needed to find plenty of time and the veteran produced his best result of 1m06.137s on his 17th lap of the session after tagging onto the back of defending champion Mike Jones. Smart move, especially around the middle sector where Jones is so strong.
Max Stauffer rounded out the top ten while Ted Collins shrugged off a big crash in FP2 to improve dramatically in the final session and end day one 11th fastest.
Paris Hardwick had a tumble on the BCperformance Kawasaki after running wide at turn five and getting on the dirty line but was up unhurt with minimal damage on the ZX-10RR.
Qualifying will take place first up on Saturday morning ahead of the opening 16-lap contest getting underway at 1240 (1310 AEST). It is again an early start on Sunday for race two, 0830 (0900 AEST) before the final 16-lap bout at 1310 (1340 AEST).
Hidden Valley ASBK Friday Practice Combined Times
Pos | Name | Bike | Time/Lap |
1 | Mike JONES | Yamaha | 1m05.324 |
2 | Josh WATERS | Ducati | 1m05.368 |
3 | Troy HERFOSS | Honda | 1m05.386 |
4 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW | 1m05.515 |
5 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | 1m05.525 |
6 | Arthur SISSIS | Yamaha | 1m05.803 |
7 | Bryan STARING | Yamaha | 1m05.839 |
8 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati | 1m06.023 |
9 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha | 1m06.137 |
10 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha | 1m06.417 |
11 | Ted COLLINS | BMW | 1m06.810 |
12 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia | 1m07.501 |
13 | Jack DAVIS | Suzuki | 1m08.312 |
14 | Paris HARDWICK | Kawasaki | m09.778 |
15 | Scott ALLARS | Yamaha | 1m09.872 |
16 | Eddie LEESON | Yamaha | 1m09.916 |
17 | Michael KEMP | Yamaha | 1m10.251 |
18 | Albert BAKER | Yamaha | 1m10.362 |
Superbike Championship Points
Pos | Rider | Points |
1 | Josh WATERS | 160 |
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 |