Swann Australasian FX Superbike Championship 2015 – Round Two – Mallala
AFX-SBK Race Three Report – By Trevor Hedge
The final Superbike Saturday bout got underway at Mallala Motorsports Park at 1550 this afternoon in fine conditions with race two victor Jamie Stauffer once again getting away to an early lead.Â
Troy Herfoss went with Stauffer from the off but got into the esses a little too hot at the end of the opening lap and was shuffled back to fifth by Wayne Maxwell, Glenn Allerton and a charging Mike Jones.
The Kawasaki man then underlined his intention by getting the better of both Yamaha men, and then closed onto the tail of Jamie Stauffer before then slipping through to the race lead through the fast kink heading down towards the Northern Hairpin. That second lap, a 66.939, good enough to maintain his lead as they crossed the stripe to commence lap three, Stauffer second, Wayne Maxwell third and Troy Herfoss had got back past Glenn Allerton for fourth place.
Jones was fastest again on the next lap and eked out a few bike lengths over Stauffer, the gap 0.476 of a second with eight laps to run. Two-seconds covered the top four, but next time around the quartet had closed up again and only one-second covered that troupe.
The Kawasaki looked very well settled, while every time Jamie Stauffer screwed the throttle on harder to try and close the gap down to Jones the rear end of the Fireblade protested. The real advantage of Jones was sheer speed through the fast back kink, an area where the Honda also was struggling to match the horsepower of the new YZF-R1M, but the Kawasaki looked even faster again.
Troy Herfoss then got Maxwell on the exit of turn two with five laps to run, laying claim to third position. The Goulburn based 28-year-old was then all over the back of his teammate and looking to make an attack. A lap later Stauffer ran a little wide at the hairpin, and again wide at the esses, allowing Herfoss through to take second place with three laps to run. At the front Mike Jones had stretched his lead out to 8-tenths of a second…
Wayne Maxwell moved past Jamie Stauffer at the Northern Hairpin with 2.5 laps to go. Overall honours for the day to be decided in that Maxwell-Stauffer battle as both men had a race win and a second place to their credit already today.
Herfoss put in a great penultimate lap to pull more than half-a-second back on Jones with a 66.7-second scorcher. Maxwell and Stauffer were now out of the hunt for race victory, but still engaged in their own heady battle for the final step on the rostrum.
Mike Jones took the race win by 0.232 of a second, Herfoss deciding not to take any risky moves and settling for second place.
Likewise, Stauffer kept a cool head and followed Maxwell home rather than shove it up the inside at the esses. That discretion, however, allowing Maxwell to take that third place and with it the Saturday round win, and thus the all-important pole position for tomorrow.
Troy Herfoss retains the overall Saturday AFX-SBK Series lead but his margin has been narrowed to only two points by Wayne Maxwell.
The really great point to take away from today is the equality of the competition underlined by wins by three different manufacturers, a race win to Yamaha in race one, a race win to Honda in race two, and a race win to Kawasaki in today’s final bout. Something in that recipe must be right…
Another 17-lap race programme gets underway at 10am tomorrow morning at Mallala Motorsports Park and you will be able to watch all the action right here via video livestream.
Supersport
The final Supersport bout for the day got underway at 1515 this afternoon and again it was Michael Blair that immediately stamped his authority on the category. This time however it seemed as though Suzuki’s Brayden Elliott might have an answer for the Yamaha man’s speed.
Elliott shadowed Blair throughout every single lap of the nine-lap affair with Jay Presepio also in close company. At the last lap board only half-a-second covered the leading trio. Elliott made his move into the esses for the final time, up the inside of Blair but could not stop and gather it up in time which allowed Blair to switch back through to the lead, Blair also lost some time however and was nearly mugged on the line by Jay Presepio, the gap at the chequered flag only 0.101 of a second while Elliott regathered himself to take third place, 2.8-seconds behind the leading duo.
Pro Twins / Nakedbike / Formula Xtreme C&D
James Arnold once again got away to an early lead in the final Pro Twin / Nakedbike race for Saturday at Mallala Motorsports Park. Angus Reekie had to start from the rear of the grid but by the end of lap one had already moved up into sixth place, a lap later the KTM man was up to third. While Reekie was the fastest man on the circuit his battle through the field had cost him 2.5-seconds to race leader James Arnold with six laps still to run.
A lap later Reekie moved past Dutton for second place and started to chip away at Arnold’s lead. By half race distance Reekie had the gap down to 0.982 of a second as he continued to overhaul the Ducati 1199 Panigale. A lap later the gap was down to nothing and Reekie was simply biding his time to make a move through to the race lead. He waited another full lap before taking Arnold on the change of direction between turn one and two, and then quickly sprinted away from the Ducati to a safe win and underlined his dominance with a 70.148 on the final lap, the fastest lap of the race.
Ninja FX 300 Cup
