Cru Halliday Signs With Team Stop and Seal
The first significant rider movement for the 2025 ASBK season has dropped with long-time Superbike front-runner Cru Halliday joining the innovative and progressive Stop and Seal Racing Team.
The Stop and Seal Team has made a dramatic impact on the Australian road racing scene, and with the addition of Halliday, is sure to increase its presence in the prestigious ASBK Championship.
Halliday will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team, where he will be joined by his 2024 YRT technician Brent Stephens. The new move for Stephens will allow him to put his personal stamp on proceedings after a few decades in the MotoGP paddock and, more recently, with YRT in Australia.
Additionally, the dynamic of the team will suit Halliday down to the ground, and he will be aiming to be a front-runner from the very first practice session once season 2025 gets underway at Phillip Island.
Cru Halliday
“I’m heading into 2025 with a fresh outlook and a new team after 13 years with the Yamaha Racing team,” explained Halliday. “I’ve been with YRT for so long I feel that we are almost family, but I need a breath of fresh air. I am starting to head to the pointy end of my career, and I thought I would try something new and branch out. There are no hard feelings with anyone in the team. I get on well with everyone at YRT, it’s just that I really feel that I just need something new to spark that drive back up in me and the “Stop and Seal” team is the perfect setup to continue my career in ASBK and dreams of becoming an ASBK champion.”
After 13 years with the Yamaha Racing Team, 36-year-old Halliday, who hails from Camden, south-west of Sydney, has set himself a new challenge for 2025 by accepting an offer from the successful Stop and Seal team to join their assault on the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK).
Halliday’s association with the Yamaha Racing Team has been a successful tenure that garnered the Australian Supersport Championship in 2018. Cru then went on to take race wins in the premier Superbike category, and has been a regular top-five championship contender in the Australian Superbike Championship for several years.
This year, he was second in the title chase for a number of rounds but, unfortunately, was an absentee in the last two outings due to an arm injury suffered at the new One Raceway, which saw him drop down the points table to finish eighth.
Since entering ASBK, the Stop and Seal Team has made an impressive impact, and this will no doubt increase in 2025 with an expanded team across both the Superbike and Supersport classes. The commitment and success are undoubtedly due to the passion of team owner Robbie Bolger.
Bolger and his team have brought a new element to the championships, and this will expand next year with a concerted assault on both classes.
Halliday will be joining present Stop & Seal incumbents Tom Toparis and Arthur Sissis in the premier Superbike category.
While in the Supersport Championship, there will be another three fully supported riders. Archie Macdonald and Jack Mahaffy are already confirmed to return after finishing second and third in this year’s Michelin Australian Supersport Championship. A third rider in the 600 cc class is still to be announced.
For 2025, the team will continue its association with Michelin, and will also receive support from both Yamaha Motor Australia and YRD.
A massive part of the success of the Stop and Seal team is due to a lady who is very much behind the scenes, going about her work without any fanfare.
Without Clare Sharkey, the team wouldn’t be in this impressive situation. Clare is the powerhouse that keeps the concern on an even keel. Without her input, guidance and overall logistic experience, the team would not have experienced the level of success it has in little over a year of competition.
This year, the team was a major player in the Michelin Australian Supersport Championships with six riders. They also campaigned Arthur Sissis in the Superbike category from mid-year.
Upon joining, Sissis tasted immediate success and, in the final two rounds, scored a podium finish at each outing. When not on the podium, Sissis was in the top five. With an entire season with Stop and Seal next year Sissis is aiming to be a regular race winner and serious championship contender.
As for Toparis, his season was ruined by injury halfway through the year, but by the first round next year, the lad from Goulburn (NSW) will be back to full fitness and rearing to hit the podium with Halliday and Sissis while flying the Stop & Seal banner.
In the Supersport class Archie Macdonald finished second overall with Mahaffy was in sixth place and topped off the year with a couple of wins to provide the perfect springboard for season 2025.
There will undoubtedly be plenty of banter and rivalry in the Stop and Seal pit boxes in 2025!
