ASBK 2023

Round Two – Sydney Motorsport Park

Alpinestars Superbike

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At first glance the results of the two races of the Alpinestars Australia Superbike Championship under lights at SMP last weekend, may give the impression that the championship might be done and dusted. Josh Waters has won five from five, set lap records at both rounds, and in pre-season testing.

However, closer analysis after what unfolded during the unique two-day meeting reveals a different story. Waters may have won both races and claimed another lap record on the extremely rapid McMartin Racing with KTech Ducati V4 R, but for the irony of racing and the intervention of rain, the round may have yielded completely different results.

To tell the truth, the way the two Superbike races unfolded was an anti-climax for all concerned. That was no fault of the riders or the racing, it’s just what happens sometimes.

The competitiveness of the Yamaha Racing Team against the dominant McMartin Racing outfit bodes well for the rest of the season.

Then there is of course the likes of Penrite Honda’s Troy Herfoss, currently second in the championship, and Bryan Staring on a much improved MotoGo Yamaha getting back to where he should be.

DesmoSport Ducati have had a trying start to the season chasing problems, but they worked through a lot of those idiosyncrasies in Sydney and Broc Pearson was starting to work his way up the time-sheets as the weekend progressed.

The script for the weekend started from when the wheel turned of Friday’s first Free Practice at midday.

Yamaha’s Cru Halliday took opening honours from his team-mate, defending champion Mike Jones, with Waters third, the trio the only riders to dip into the 1m29s and separated by only a couple of tenths.

In the third session Halliday posted the fastest ever lap of a rider in a national competition at the Creek with a time of 1m28.895s, but as it was outside official qualifying it was not recognised. No one else dipped into that exclusive zone. The time was 0.575 sec quicker than what Waters recorded six weeks prior during testing, when he put in that lap to go under Robbie Bugden’s qualifying lap record from 2013.

Due to the shrunken two-day program all riders took part in the first qualifier, with the top 12 progressing to Q2, unlike a normal round where the top nine from FP3 graduate automatically to Q2.

In the opening 20-minute qualifying session it was a rather quiet affair, with more time spent in the garage than on track.  Of the top five; Waters, Jones, Halliday, Troy Herfoss and Bryan Staring, it was Waters that spun the most laps (five), to set a new qualifying lap record, only a few hundredths away from a 28.

Halliday was straight onto it when Q2 got underway. Waters went fractionally under his Q1 time, a 1m29.020.  Jones went 0.001 seconds faster two-minutes later, and then with just 15 seconds to spare Halliday put down a 1m28.970. Not quite as quick as his FP3 time but still good enough for pole and an official new qualifying lap record.

By the end of the second qualifier the field had compressed somewhat.  Herfoss had also got in the 29s, a 1m29.710, as did Staring on 1m29.837. Allerton was not far behind on 1m30.062s while Arthur Sissis headed row three on 1m30.494. Max Stauffer, Broc Pearson and Ted Collins completing the top ten and all in the 1m30s.

As the filed lined up on the grid there was a real air of excitement and anticipation of what may lie ahead. But could anyone interrupt the flow of Waters and turn the tide?

A month previously, a mediocre start in the first race of the year at Phillip Island had seen Halliday playing catch-up.  It caught the Yamaha rider from Camden out on his charge through the field as he had to take evasive action when Arthur Sissis had a moment heading through Stoner Corner, Jones had to swerve to miss the slowing machine, forcing Halliday to stand the bike up and run off the circuit at high speed. Halliday was very fortunate to walk away, albeit bloody sore.

Halliday had been the pace setter in the lead up in Sydney, could he finally get a decent start?

Halliday did get a great start but Waters did even better to lead him into turn one. Glenn Allerton had a bullet start from the sixth on the grid to be right up with that pair.  A great sight to see after Glenn’s challenging start to the season, where he missed the test and was lucky to get things organised in time to compete in round one at the last minute.

Halliday and Waters soon gapped the field.  Jones moved into third by the fifth lap but by this point it appeared that Waters might clear out, as he now had nearly a second over Halliday.

But then Halliday started closing the gap… Finally, we had a race on our hands as during the 11^th lap Halliday was within a tenth of Waters, it looked likely that Cru would launch an attack in the last couple of laps.

Then when Mike Jones exited turn one he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke as the YZF-R1M self-destructed. He quickly got off the racing line, but the bike was on fire. It took forever to get extinguishers on scene and the officials were forced to display the red flag to end the race.

With only a couple of laps remaining the race was declared.

You could almost hear the sigh of disappointment throughout the healthy crowd.

A YRT Superbike blowing up is basically unheard of. I can’t remember the last time that one of Kev Marshall’s engines let go. Maybe that’s the result of tuning the bikes to close-down the gap to the Ducati. There is no doubt Yamaha have found some speed, but the McMartin Racing V4 still has a bigger punch than Mike Tyson exiting corners.

It sure wasn’t the way Jones wanted to celebrate his 70^th ASBK start.

So, Waters declared the winner, much to Halliday’s disappointment.  Herfoss promoted to third after the demise of Jones.

We felt robbed but the only certainty of racing, is the uncertainty.

It was an entrée that was snatched away just as we reach the most appetising part of the dish, but we all anticipated that the race under lights that was due to start at 2115 would make up for it.

The best Superbikes in the land lined up with the LED lights shining down made for an impressive sight. The contrasts so vivid that the bikes looked more colourful than they do in daylight.

After a bit of on-and-off rain the track was declared dry for the second stanza but there still appeared to be some damp patches around the track. However, all teams fronted the grid on slicks, for the Pirelli runners that was the SCX option, all hoping that the rain would stay away for the 13 laps duration.

There were plenty of questions to be answered with the primary being; could Halliday continue from where he was forced to leave off in the opening leg?

Halliday surprised everyone by getting another dynamic start to lead, but Herfoss and Sissis did even better to charge into turn one ahead of the rest. Allerton then produced a jaw dropping moment when he went around the outside of all of them to take the lead!

By the end of the opening lap Allerton had over a second on Halliday, Waters was in third.

Halliday reeled the BMW in and took the lead on the third lap from Allerton. Herfoss was now up to third and Pearson fourth, after Waters dropped from third to fifth, just in front of Staring, but the bunch was running line astern as they commenced lap four, with six riders covered by less than half a second.

This is what we wanted.

Then the bloody rain returned and yet another damn red flag!

All bikes returned to the pit boxes where frantic activity commenced.

It was a quick restart procedure with an eight-lap race. The rain had ceased but the track remained wet to damp as there was little wind to help dry the track.

This time around Herfoss got the jump to lead Halliday, Waters, Pearson and Sissis. Herf looked as though he was going to make a gap but heading into turn six on lap two, the two-times ASBK champion had a massive moment on the Penrite Honda and ran off track. Waters swept through to the lead, followed by Allerton, Halliday, Herfoss and Sissis, Pearson not far away either.

Unfortunately, that was the closest that the opposition got to Waters as from there he simply cleared off.  Despite slowing down to the tune of four-seconds on his final lap, Waters still took the chequered flag 6.3 seconds ahead of the next best.

The battle for second was a beauty though. Herfoss nearly binned it again, this time at Turn Two, but kept it upright. Two remarkable recoveries that were rewarded with second place, the Penrite Honda man finishing nearly a second in front of Halliday, the YRT man taking third after holding off a late charging Sissis over the final lap.

As the rain continued the only ones truly smiling were the McMartin Racing Team. Five races, five wins and another lap record.

The opposition can take some cold comfort in that Waters is not totally invincible, but it’s sure going to take a monumental effort to upset his applecart as he aims to become the first rider to win four ASBK titles.

The circus now moves to Willowbank (Qld) for the third round in late April. Yamaha shone there last year, and it was where the title charge of Jones really gained momentum, and where the McMartin squad had difficulties. Halliday gave it a good shot last time out at QLD Raceway until an electrical gremlin cruelled his charge.

There were a few positives for many in the field in Sydney that they can take to Queensland.

Bryan Staring has put that vastly improved MotoGo R1 closer to the front than it has ever been. Herfoss has got the Penrite Honda doing what he wants. The Yamahas are not far off the pace. Allerton is right on it, and is also determined for that fourth ASBK title.

Sissis is always bagging points but just needs that little more speed to get on the podium, and Pearson is inching closer as the demons get exorcised from the DesmoSport Ducati.

Max Stauffer perhaps didn’t fulfil the potential he signalled during testing but is chipping away.

Ted Collins was never outside the top ten and with 68-points to his name from the opening two rounds, two-points ahead of Bryan Staring, and four-points in front of defending champ Mike Jones, the Warrnambool 23-year-old is currently sixth in the championship.

Matt Walters is enjoying the Aprilia and learning how to get the best out of it while Sydney teenager Paris Hardwick is a fresh new face in the paddock that brings BCperformance Kawasaki back into ASBK mix.

We might end this recap with some kudos for Leanne Nelson who can lay claim to being the fastest lady Superbike rider in the land. Leanne has been racing on and off for a few decades now, and first made a name for herself way back when the 250 Proddies were hard at it. Leanne went oh so close to cracking a 1m34 on the Motocity Wollongong Kawasaki.

The 50-year-old contested the opening race but didn’t trust her eyes to race the later night event.

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Alpinestars Superbike Round Points

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Alpinestars Superbike Championship Points

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2023 ASBK Calendar

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Source: MCNews.com.au