ASBK 2023
Round Three – QLD Raceway
Superbike Race One
Sizeable showers had fell overnight in the Ipswich area and while competitors woke to a bright and sunny morning, the Queensland Raceway surface was soaked. Thus few riders chose to take to the track during morning warm-up, as so little was to be gained as there was virtually no chance of any precipitation falling during the day.
Josh Waters arrived at this round with a 35-point lead but Troy Herfoss had trimmed that by a point on Saturday after the Penrite Honda man took his first pole position since 2021.
Herfoss has changed up his training program of late, spending less time on a bicycle and more time on a motorcycle. The 36-year-old has been riding motocross during the week and told me that had helped him to get up to speed quicker from the first session this weekend, as he was immediately comfortable with the Fireblade moving around underneath him and just got on with it.
Cru Halliday might have topped that opening session, but Herf topped FP2, FP3 and Qualifying. More importantly, there were plenty of fast laps done across those sessions by the Penrite Honda man. Herf had knocked out ten laps in the 67s. His 67.655s pole time lowering the qualifying lap record by a fraction in the process. He had actually gone even quicker during practice, Herf’s 67.582s on Saturday morning the fastest lap of the weekend, so far…
Of course the man that held that qualifying lap record was Mike Jones. The defending champ has taken some time to build up speed this weekend, but by the qualifying session he was flying and was only pipped for pole by Herfoss in the dying seconds of the qualifying session. Jones dominated here last year with pole position and two victories, in 2023 however Jones has been overshadowed somewhat by a resurgent Cru Halliday and his YRT team-mate will start alongside him on the front row.
Halliday looked to be doing it tough on Friday. The super fit cyclist uncharacteristically bathed in sweat after even short runs. We later found out that reason for that is that the 33-year-old suffered with the flu all week but is now looking and feeling a lot better here this morning.
Ducati runners have been experiencing some overheating problems. The V4 R runs hot, very hot, and the baking tarmac on Friday caused them some problems until a breeze arrived late in the afternoon to take some string out of the surface. This seemed to stunt the progress of Josh Waters somewhat but he starts from the second row and has also been in the 67s a few times this weekend.
Young Max Stauffer found some extra speed during qualifying to qualify fifth, ahead of Glenn Allerton and Ted Collins. This marked the first time that young Max had managed to lap a circuit quicker than his two-time champion dad Jamie Stauffer.
Broc Pearson starts from eighth on the grid on the DesmoSport Ducati, ahead of the man that rode that V4 R to a new race lap record (67.681) here last year, Bryan Staring. The Western Australian had managed a couple of 68.3s during practice this weekend but his 68.487 on the MotoGP Yamaha during qualifying was only good enough for ninth place on the grid ahead of Anthony West.
Weather conditions were great by the time competitors formed up on the grid for the opening 16-lap bout of the weekend. So far this weekend there had been virtually no injuries sustained across all the categories and we were hoping that trend continues throughout our busy race schedule here today. After the rain overnight though, and not much rubber down this morning, track conditions were a little sketchy. Fortune favours the brave, sometimes…
Mike Jones got away well from the centre of the front row and led Herfoss into turn one for the first time. Halliday didn’t get a great run off the line and was quickly passed by Josh Waters, with Glenn Allerton then pushing Halliday further back to fifth at turn two.
Jones leading Herfoss while Waters in third looked to be torturing his rear Pirelli right from the off, the rear end of the McMartin Ducati protesting and struggling for drive. Glenn Allerton then got the better of Waters, the Ducati man ran very wide which also allowed Halliday through to demote the Mildura man back to fifth place with 14 laps to go.
Allerton was the fastest man on track early on and he quickly got on terms with Herfoss and Jones once clear of Waters. Bryan Staring went down at turn three while in seventh place, a repeat of last year when he fell at the same corner. Staring remounted and managed to finish the race in 13th place to claim an important eight-points.
The top five then started to close up further as Halliday started to find his stride. Only for him to then run wide which allowed Waters back through to that fourth position, Halliday got him back in quick fashion and that battle continued. Right on their tail and benefitting from their mistakes was young Max Stauffer who was running a strong sixth, two-seconds clear of seventh placed Broc Pearson with 11 laps to run.
Mike Jones then dropped in the first 67 of the day, a 67.985 on lap five to inch away from Herfoss. That pair had now broken away a little, Allerton, Halliday and Waters fighting between themselves over third place and tripped each other up, that battle now happening two-seconds behind the race leader.
Up front Herfoss continue to stalk Jones. The Penrite Honda man had also dipped into the 67s, a 67.942 to ensure the YRT man got no breathing space.
Herfoss almost drew alongside Jones as they started lap ten but thought better of it. The leading duo then had to start dealing with lapped traffic with six laps still to run.
Herfoss lunged up the inside at turn three but ran in too wide which allowed Jones to sweep back through. Halliday was now matching the pace of that pair but his slower start was costing him dearly, Cru was two-seconds behind but was now clear of Waters.
Herfoss tried exactly the same move on the next lap, and the outcome was the same. But Herfoss then went under at turn four, only for Jones to sweep through to the lead again on the run to turn five… It was on.. Their tussle was now allowing Halliday to get a sniff and was closing in on them, he had four laps to do it…
Herfoss slots the Honda under Jones at turn three again! Jones takes the lead again on exit.. Herfoss does it again at the final turn and they run onto the main straight side by side. Halliday was now right on their tail…
Herfoss under again at lap three and holds onto the lead this time around, he also holds on through turns four and five, leads in to the final turns and down the main straight, holds on again through turn one. Was this the moment when Herfoss brakes Jones…? It was the last lap so now was the time to do it, but nothing separated Herfoss, Jones and Halliday as they contested that final lap. Herfoss maintains the lead at turn three, then four and five, Jones up the inside at turn six but Herfoss turns it back under him and runs to the line to take his first ever victory at Queensland Raceway. Mike Jones just managed to hold out Halliday on the run to the flag as only 0.162s covered the podium getters at the stripe.
Josh Waters claimed fourth place but was more than three-seconds behind the leading trio. Glenn Allerton lost a little pace late in the race but claimed fifth place to hold onto third place in the championship.
Max Stauffer claimed 15-points after a great consistent ride to sixth place with a two-second buffer over Ted Collins, who in-turn had two-seconds on Broc Pearson.
With that victory Herfoss has trimmed Waters’ championship lead to 26-points.
Superbike Race One Results
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap | Speed |
1 | Troy HERFOSSÂ | Honda CBR RR | 18m20.882 | 276 |
2 | Mike JONES | Yamaha YZF-R1M | +0.115 | 271 |
3 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha YZF-R1M | +0.162 | 271 |
4 | Josh WATERSÂ | Ducati V4R | +3.462 | 278 |
5 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW M RR | +7.781 | 282 |
6 | Max STAUFFER | Yamaha YZF-R1M | +9.634 | 277 |
7 | Ted COLLINSÂ | BMW M RR | +11.670 | 276 |
8 | Broc PEARSON | Ducati V4R | +13.662 | 274 |
9 | Anthony WEST | Yamaha YZF-R1M | +30.761 | 268 |
10 | Matt WALTERS | Aprilia RSV4 | +32.330 | 267 |
11 | Paris HARDWICK | Kawasaki ZX10R | +51.616 | 259 |
12 | Michael EDWARDS | Yamaha YZF-R1M | +1m05.595 | 262 |
13 | Bryan STARING | Yamaha YZF-R1M | 1 Lap | 273 |
14 | Scott ALLARS | Yamaha YZF-R1M | 1 Lap | 265 |
DNF | Michael KEMP | Yamaha YZF-R1M | 13 Laps | 257 |
Superbike Championship Points
Pos | Rider | Total |
1 | Josh WATERS | 143 |
2 | Troy HERFOSS | 117 |
3 | Glenn ALLERTON | 99 |
4 | Cru HALLIDAY | 97 |
5 | Mike JONES | 84 |
6 | Ted COLLINS | 82 |
7 | Bryan STARING | 74 |
8 | Broc PEARSON | 74 |
9 | Arthur SISSIS | 72 |
10 | Matt WALTERS | 57 |
11 | Max STAUFFER | 54 |
12 | Scott ALLARS | 51 |
13 | Paris HARDWICK | 48 |
14 | Michael KEMP | 41 |
15 | Mark CHIODO | 16 |
16 | Jack DAVIS | 16 |
17 | Josh SODERLAND | 15 |
18 | Dominic DE LEON | 13 |
19 | Anthony WEST | 12 |
20 | Nicholas MARSH | 12 |
21 | Michael EDWARDS | 9 |
22 | Leanne NELSON | 4 |
2023 ASBK Calendar
2023 ASBK Calendar | |||
Round | Circuit | Location | Date |
R3 | Queensland Raceway | QLD | Apr 28-30 |
R4 | Hidden Valley Raceway | 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 |