ASBK 2023

Round Two – Sydney Motorsport Park

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There was a lengthy break between the practice sessions and the opening Superbike qualifying session that got underway under lights at 2030 on Friday night. The top 12 from the 20-minute QP1 session would then proceed through to a 15-minute Q2 session to finalise the first four rows of the grid for Saturday’s opening 13-lap race at 1620 on Saturday.

The bikes looked incredible rolling out of pit-lane under lights on Friday night at SMP. The forecast heavy rain had gone around the area and thus we had dry qualifying sessions.

Could Cru Halliday surpass his 1m28.895s effort from FP3?

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Superbike QP1

Mike Jones was the first man in the 29s, a 1m29.903 on his first lap and Troy Herfoss immediately put in his fastest lap of the day, a 1m30.496 on his first flyer.

Broc Pearson also put in his fastest lap of the day early in this session, a 1m31.443, another indicator that the DesmoSport Ducati squad are making progress with the bike. He then bettered that with a 1m31.269.

Josh Waters then, 0.451 under Jones’ marker at the first split, 0.704 at the second split, and then crosses the stripe to go P1 with a 1m29.071.  Cru Halliday had yet to turn a lap…

Max Stauffer then another to improve on his practice times, the teenager putting a 1m31.080.

Halliday rolled out of the pits as the session approached the halfway mark…  Cru’s first flying lap a 1m30.065 before returning to pit-lane with six-minutes left in the session.

With two-minutes remaining the top ten riders were all in the pits…  They only needed to finish in the top 12 to progress through to Q2, and of course with them already now eating into their tyre allocation they wanted to do as few laps as possible to earn their place in Q1. And the pits is where they stayed as the clock ran out…

Superbike QP1 Results

Superbike QP2

What had the likes of Halliday, Waters and Jones left up their sleeve for this final shootout…?

Halliday had set the benchmark for the day during practice at 1m28.895 but it was Waters that set the new qualifying lap record at 1m29.071 in the QP1 session, as of course qualifying records can only be set during qualifying sessions.

They had 15-minutes to decide the final four rows of the grid for tomorrow’s opening 13-lap bout that is scheduled to get underway at 1620.

Cru Halliday reeled off a 1m29.750 on his first lap, then backed that up with a 1m29.347 before returning to the pits.

Waters recording a 1m30.035 on his first lap, followed by a 1m30.002, Jones a 1m30.105 and Glenn Allerton a 1m30.449.

Troy Herfoss then puts in his best lap of SMP, a 1m29.952. Jones improved to 1m29.672.  Herfoss then improved further to 1m29.776.

At the halfway point it was Halliday, Jones, Herfoss, Waters, Allerton, Staring filling the top six positions.  At this juncture Broc Pearson was yet to record a time, he had gone out early but immediately returned to the pits, presumably with a technical problem.

Halliday headed out again with just over five-minutes left on the shot clock…  Pearson also headed back out.

Bryan Staring leaped up to fourth, a 1m29.837 throwing his hat in the ring… With four-minutes to run all riders were on track or heading out of the pits for a last crack at it…

Broc Pearson put in a 1m30.778 to get himself provisionally on the third row.

Josh Waters put in a 1m29.227 to put himself into P1 with two-minutes remaining in the session.  The McMartin Racing rider then went fractionally under that time at the first split on the next lap, Cru Halliday even further under at the first split, Mike Jones also under at the second split and by the biggest margin, 0.217… Jonesy does it, a 1m29.019 to go P1 with 30-seconds remaining…But not for long…

Cru Halliday a 1m28.970 on his seventh lap of the session just before the chequered flag to set a new qualifying lap record and complete a clean sweep of every session held here today. The 34-year-old topping FP1, FP2, FP3 and also qualifying.

Superbike QP2 Results

Superbike Combined Qualifying Results

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Supersport Qualifying

Sean Condon was happy to sit in pit-lane for QP2 after setting a pace in Q1 that none of his competitors could get near.

The Q2 session was red flagged with 11-minutes remaining when Jack Passfield went down, he walked away but his stricken bike posed a danger to other riders.

After a delay the session got underway but nobody could get any closer to Condon. Olly Simpson was one of the only riders to improve in the second session, moving up to fourth but still over a second slower than Condon’s benchmark.

Then in the dying minutes Tom Bramich also managed to improve his standing from 10th up to seventh so he will head row three of the grid when the opening 11-lap Supersport race gets underway at 1540 on Saturday afternoon.

Defending champion John Lytras will start from the fourth row.

Supersport Combined Qualifying Results

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Supersport 300 / YMF R3 Cup Qualifying

Brandon Demmery saved his best for last, knocking Cameron Swain out of top spot at the chequered flag to take pole position and with it a new Supersport 300 Qualifying lap record, 1m42.871.

Supersport 300 / YMF R3 Cup Qualifying Results

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bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup Combined Qualifying Results

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Superbike Masters Qualifying Results

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2023 ASBK Calendar

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Source: MCNews.com.au