9 minute read
ASBK Season Recap
After pre-season testing, it was all about Wayne Maxwell and his Ducati Panigale V4S - the question at this point was: could he be beaten.. at all?
Round One - Phillip Island, Victoria
Alpinestars Superbike
A fast and consistent Bryan Staring took the round one victory of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK).
In Alpinestars Superbikes race one at Phillip Island, Wayne Maxwell (Ducati V4R) was the only rider in the 1:31’s and was looking untouchable until a stumble on lap 5 saw last year’s ASBK champion crash out at turn eight. Maxwell walked away unscathed, but the error left Bryan Staring (Ducati V4R) a clean road ahead with a four-second margin over the rest of the field.
An emotional Staring was almost lost for words on the podium, saying that he’d been “pretty patient for a pretty long time” waiting for this victory.
“We were chasing (Wayne) all weekend,” said Staring.
“I knew that we had good race pace, but I didn’t know how good it needed to be though. Once we set out I could see the areas where we were strong and in the end, I kept the pressure on.” Despite nursing a sore ankle from his excursion at Hayshed in race one, Maxwell kept it neat and clean in race two and was able to slowly edge a two-second gap to the fellow Ducati rider to take victory ahead of Staring and Cru Halliday (Yamaha YZF-R1).
Maxwell commended his team on preparing the number two bike to give him the win.
“It was good to get a bit back,” said Maxwell.
ASBK SEASON RECAP CONT.
Round Two - Queensland Raceway, Queensland
Alpinestars Superbike
Mike Jones completed a perfect weekend to take two wins from two races at Round Two of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK) at Queensland Raceway.
Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati Panigale V4-R) got the early jump on Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing YZF-R1) to take the lead in race one, with Glenn Allerton (Maxima Oils Racing BMW M1000RR) also making a big first lap move up to fourth. Jones would briefly retake the lead on lap two, but left the door open enough for Staring to nudge through.
A mid-corner error from Staring saw the championship leader drop out of contention and hand second place to Wayne Maxwell (V4-R). Jones would cruise to a 5.6-second lead to take victory ahead of Maxwell and Josh Waters (Maxima Oils Racing BMW M1000RR).
Maxwell timed his launch perfectly to take an early lead in race two ahead of Jones and Staring. It would be short-lived however as Jones ran past the Ducati through the outside of turn two. Arthur Sissis (Unitech Racing YZF-R1) and Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing YZF-R1) would argue over fourth and fifth respectively. This duel would be settled before the chequered flag when Halliday stopped on the penultimate lap with mechanical issues.
Staring would shadow Jones more closely in the afternoon race, albeit two-seconds adrift. Eventually, Jones took his second win by 4.6 seconds ahead of Bryan Staring and Wayne Maxwell.
Jones now leads the championship on 86 points over Bryan Staring on 70 points with Josh Waters on 67 points. Jones, by his own admission, was surprised to be so competitive so early.
“I was hoping as the season went on to get to grips with the Yamaha and be able to challenge, so to lead the championship is a little bit above my expectations,” added Jones.
Second-placed Staring was circumspect after a crash in race one effectively lost him the championship lead to Jones, but philosophical nonetheless about his return to form.
Third-placed Maxwell was happy to score two podiums on what he deemed to be his ‘bogey’ circuit.
Got the gear? Ride with it.
ASBK SEASON RECAP CONT.
Round Three - Wakefield Park Raceway, New South Wales
Alpinestars Superbike
Ordinarily, the morning warm-up would pass with barely a mention. But Wayne Maxwell had noted at the Saturday evening press conference that the Boost Mobile with K tech team would be returning to previous settings, so interest was piqued. The #1 plate was up by a lot on Friday and had conceded ground in every session from then on. In the warmup it was Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) from Maxwell with Cru Halliday third.
Notable news from the warmup were crashes from both Lachlan Epis and Broc Pearson. In Pearson’s case, the Racesafe medical team were dispatched to attend to him. Shortly after the session concluded, race direction sent out a bulletin indicating that Pearson was to be transferred to the hospital for further investigation and would play no further part in the day’s proceedings.
As they say, once the flag drops, the BS stops and it was Wayne Maxwell who took the lead into turn one, showing the Yamaha Racing Team pair of Jones and Halliday the way around the 2.2km Wakefield Park Raceway.
It remained thus: Maxwell, Jones and Halliday. Local lad, the muchimproved Troy Herfoss, worked his way up to fourth and when Halliday had a small glitch early in the race, Herfoss found himself in contention for a podium spot. At the front, Jones was probing and poking the bear that is Wayne Maxwell. While Maxwell was in P1 with the fastest lap of the race, he was somehow not riding away. Smooth, yes, alone; no. A 0.3 of a second lead was the most he could manage, and as ASBK Commentator Phil Harlum would note: “that’s a Wakefield zero”.
Behind the leading quartet, Bryan Staring found himself in no man’s land while Sissis, Waters, Allerton, Falzon and Epis all fought for position. Marcus Chiodo was having a solid dice with this second group until a crash at turn one ended his race and turned his bike into a collection of spare parts. He walked away, seemingly uninjured, but an ankle injury would see him out for the day.
At the front, it remained tense. At half distance, Maxwell and Jones remained locked in an immovable arm wrestle. Every fast Maxwell lap saw Jones follow suit. The gap between the two sat at less than 0.2 of a second and the pundits wondered aloud if Jones was just content to stay where he was and wait for the final act.
While Halliday had fallen into Herfoss’ clutches for a time, he just put his head down and worked his way back into contention, but with six laps to go, he sat just a tantalising 0.8 off the back of the leading pair. Herfoss had been unable to stay with Halliday and a four-second gap opened.
Jones stopped biding his time with three to go and showed Maxwell a wheel at every opportunity. Finally putting a pass on the 2021 champion to take the lead into turn three - much to the surprise of onlookers and riders alike.
It was as unexpected as it was brilliant, and Maxwell seemed to have no answer. Immediately, Jones pushed his Yamaha R1 ahead and opened a seemingly unbeatable 0.6 gap to Maxwell’s familiar Boost Mobile Ducati.
Jones would hit the finish line by 1.118 seconds to take a tactically perfect victory and increase his lead in the Alpinestars Superbike Championship.
Halliday would finish third with the top ten made up of Herfoss, Staring, Sissis, Allerton, Waters, Falzon and West.
In race two, Jones got the good start he needed, and a motivated and aggressive Cru Halliday held on for second with Wayne Maxwell similarly aggressive. These two came together as they came onto the straight and set the tone for the rest of the 20-lap journey.
Halliday would get shuffled back to fourth by Bryan Staring as Jones again tried to get away from the pursuing pack. Maxwell, who led the first race, now found himself as the hunter and settled happily into second place.
Meanwhile, fifth-placed Troy Herfoss stayed in contention behind Halliday. Up front, Maxwell was all over Jones but these two had now opened a onesecond gap to the riders behind. Arthur Sissis showed he’s realising his huge potential by sitting in sixth with a German triumvirate of BMWs behind him in the form of Waters, Allerton and Epis.
Out front, Maxwell seemed to be playing the numbers and saving his tyres. While Jones happily - in Maxwell’s words “did the donkey work”, the 2021 champion did the same thing Jones did in race one; observed, poked and prodded.
Halliday got past Staring in an important championship-points situation. Staring’s tyre woes appeared to have struck as Herfoss also put a pass on the Western Australian’s DesmoSport Panigale.
At the halfway point it was Jones and Maxwell out front with Maxwell “shadowing Jones perfectly” according to ASBK commentator Steve Martin. The tactic also seemed to suit Maxwell physically, who had complained of arm pump in race one.
Herfoss and Halliday were trading lap times in third and fourth, but neither was able to set off after the leaders, while Staring was clearly struggling with his Ducati’s rear grip. On lap 14, Maxwell ran out of patience - or saw an opportunity - and took the race lead into the last turn. Immediately he did the expected thing and banged out a fast lap. But he might as well have been actually towing Jones around as the blue R1 stayed glued to his tailpipe.
Meanwhile, Herfoss was as brave as he was confident, and tried to get around Halliday, only to run wide and let Halliday get away.
At the pointy end, the tables were turned, with Jones now in hot pursuit. Maxwell was riding 10/10ths and while there were only a few laps left, it was far from over.
Maxwell got out to a 0.3 second lap, but for all that effort, Jones reeled him in again with a lap to go, to get back on terms. For all his efforts, Jones seemed to be losing some drive and Maxwell was clearly hungry for the win.
Maxwell played the last lap to perfection and drove the Ducati to the line to take the win to put himself well into the championship contention in terms of points and perhaps even more importantly, put himself psychologically back in the game.
APLPINE SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 5 AFTER ROUND 3
Pos. No. Name Machine Points
1 46 Mike JONES Yamaha 132
2 1 Wayne MAXWELL Ducati
3 67 Bryan STARING Ducati
4 21 Josh WATERS BMW 109
102
94
5 65 Cru HALLIDAY Yamaha 90
See the results in full at: www.asbk.com.au/results/
