Cru Halliday tops ASBK morning practice at Phillip Island

ASBK 2023

Round One – Phillip Island

Conditions were already warming up when the Australian Superbikes rolled out of Phillip Island’s pit-lane at 0947 this morning. Clear skies with an ambient temperature climbing rapidly from the low 20s towards a forecast top of 34-degrees this afternoon. The track temperature was still under 30-degrees at this point but is not going to stay that way for long.

Supersport 300 competitors had first broken the silence at 0850 and Cameron Swain headed that session ahead of Jai Russo and Luke Jhonston.  Tara Morrison put in a performance of note to finish the opening session fifth just behind Brodie Gawith but in front of Brandon Demmery.

Supersport 300 will be out on track again at 1305 for a 20-minute qualifying session ahead of their first eight-lap race of the weekend at 1705 this evening.

SS300 were followed by Supersport 600 where Harrison Voight bested the field by a second. Harry set the benchmark at 1m35.800 ahead of Tom Bramich, Olly Simpson, Jack Passfield, defending champ John Lytras and category debutante Cam Dunker.

Supersport competitors have their one and only qualifying session at 1335 this afternoon and then will not be on track again until 1015 on Saturday morning to contest their first 10-lap race of the event.

Troy Herfoss wanted to immediately make a statement on the Penrite Honda and he did exactly that. A 1m32.672 on his third lap and was well on course to best that on his next lap before falling at turn ten.  Herf was unhurt, returned to the pits under his own steam and was back on track only minutes later.

Cru Halliday took P1 with just over 20 minutes remaining in the 30-minute session, a 1m32.424 to the YRT man.

Josh Waters went down at turn two with just over ten-minutes remaining in the session. Josh was second at this stage of the game, a fraction behind Halliday, but a long way from the 1m31.286 qualifying record he set here a few months ago.

Halliday lowered his marker to 1m32.139 on his 12th lap of the session and that survived the final three-minutes of the session to see him on top of the final FP1 time-sheet.

Josh Waters P2 ahead of Troy Herfoss, Mikes Jones and Bryan Staring.

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Superbike competitors have a second 30-minute practice session this afternoon at 1405 followed by a single 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning. Superbikes will race three times this weekend, the first 12-lap bout is scheduled for 1140 on Saturday, race two at 0945 Sunday morning followed by the third contest at 1340 Sunday afternoon.

Superbike FP1

Supersport 600 FP1

Supersport 300 FP1

Phillip Island WorldSBK/ASBK Race Schedule