ASBK READY TO RUMBLE IN THE VALLEY This weekend’s round of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship, presented by Motul (ASBK), is the first time since 2018 that the premier national class has visited the challenging Hidden Valley Raceway, and all riders are ready to rumble in Darwin on the magnificent layout. This is also the first time that the Alpinestars Superbike class in almost a decade have shared the stage with Supercars as part of this weekend’s Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. Hidden Valley Raceway may be short in distance at 2.8km, but it is extremely demanding requiring precision, commitment, aggression, and courage from riders for a good lap of the circuit that many consider one of the very best in Australia. The 1km long main straight starts the challenge, topping nearly 300kmph before the bravery of late braking takes over for the critical turn one. From there it is a charge over the undulating variations of the track to the daunting right-hand, turn five, before another hard braking spot at turn 6, then the charge over the last half of the track through one of the most confronting corners in Australia at turn 10. It is an intense corner to get correct, for the final part of the lap, but extremely easy to misjudge, and run out of bitumen. From there the next three corners are basically straight-lined into the final turn 14 where the drag race begins again. The ASBK Championship first visited the track in the late ‘90s and has visited sporadically over the years. ASBK returned in 2010 for four successive years before a middecade hiatus with a return of all the championship classes in 2017 and 2018. The 12 races over those six visits have produced six different winners, with four of them all in with a chance this weekend. The most successful rider at Hidden Valley is three-times Australian Superbike Champion, Josh Waters. Josh Waters
14
Troy Herfoss
Josh was scintillating in his performances when he won five of the six races from 2010-12, riding a Suzuki, although he didn’t race here in 2013 as he was competing in the British Superbike Championship. On his return to Australia, he added two more to his tally when the championship returned in 2017, and he smashed his own lap record by over a second (1:05.986), on his way to his third title that year. This year, he is racing for Kawasaki BC Performance on a brand new ZX-10R that is in the early stages of development. Waters will no doubt take inspiration from his team-mate’s results here in 2018, as Bryan Staring aboard the BC Performance machine finished second and third and has been on the podium a total of four times at Hidden Valley. 2018 was a watershed year for ASBK at Hidden Valley with moments of history created over that particular weekend. The major standout of that year was the appearance of threetimes World Superbike Champion, Troy Bayliss
Cru Halliday
