Australian Superbike 2008 – Round Three – Winton Motor Raceway
By KW
Reigning Australian Superbike champion Jamie Stauffer was fortunate to escape serious injury after a spectacular multi-bike pile-up at the third round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Victoria’s Winton Raceway this afternoon.
The 29-year-old was part of a high-speed seven-bike freight train battling for the lead in race two when he lost control of his Yamaha Racing Team YZF-R1 Superbike along the back straight after exiting Turn Nine on lap three.
Stauffer was thrown from his bike as it cart-wheeled spectacularly along the track, with Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Robbie Bugden and Teknic Honda rider Glenn Allerton unable to avoid the incident, hitting both Stauffer and his motorcycle.
“I had nowhere to go,” said Bugden, the reigning New Zealand Superbike champion. “I cannoned straight into Jamie’s bike at around 160km/h. Bits of bike went everywhere – mine ended up in two pieces. I was just glad I hit the bike, and not Jamie.”
Allerton, the championship leader heading into the Winton round, said the scene resembled a multi-car crash at an F1 event, rather than a Superbike meeting.
“Jamie’s bike somersaulted over my head – I thought it was going to hit my helmet,” said Allerton. “I swerved to miss Jamie as he slid up the track, but I clipped his legs which spun him around. There was no where to go, but fortunately I just clipped them and didn’t run over them.”
“There was debris everywhere – bits of carbon-fibre, pieces of bodywork,” said Allerton. “When I got back to the pits my tyres had cuts all over them. I was so lucky Jamie’s somersaulting bike didn’t hit me.”
Stauffer, who earlier in the day had won the opening Superbike race by 0.221sec from Teknic Honda rider Jason O’Halloran, was knocked unconscious in the incident but escaped major injury. He was treated at the scene by the series’ Racesafe Medical Team, before being transferred to Wangaratta Hospital for observation.
In the re-run race, Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Shawn Giles was first to greet the chequered flag in the two-part race, but a ten-second penalty imposed by race officials for a jump start dropped the three-times Australian Superbike champion to fourth on the result sheet. Giles had earlier set a new Superbike lap record for the 3.0km Winton circuit in race one, his 1:21.802 taking 0.317sec of Jamie Stauffer’s previous record time.
“I knew I’d jumped the start as soon as let the clutch out,” said Giles. “I was just that little bit too eager.”
O’Halloran, who’d been lying second in the early laps of race two prior to the red flag, saw his championship challenge dented when he crashed at Turn 10 on the opening lap of the re-start.
With the time penalty applied to Giles, the race two victory went to Stauffer’s Yamaha Racing Team teammate – and elder brother – Dan by 0.561sec from Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Craig Coxhell.
The win in race two gave Dan Stauffer the overall win for the weekend with 42pts to Coxhell’s 35, a points tally equalled by Giles. However, the latter’s lower finishing position in race two, due to the time penalty, relegated Giles to third overall for the round.
In the championship standings Allerton maintained his lead in the seven-round series, but saw the gap closed to just three points – 114 to Giles’ 111. Dan Stauffer has catapulted from sixth to third, 10pts behind Giles, while the no-score by Jamie Stauffer in race two has dropped the two-time Superbike champion to fourth.
| RACE ONE ( 17 LAPS )
1 Jamie Stauffer (NSW), Yamaha 23:22.951 FASTEST LAP: Shawn Giles 1:21.802 (new lap record) |
RACE TWO ( 15 LAPS )
1 Dan Stauffer (Qld), Yamaha 20:47.746 FASTEST LAP: Dan Stauffer 1:22.062 |
PROGRESSIVE POINTS ( AFTER 3 OF 7 ROUNDS ): 1 G Allerton 114pts |
