Toparis earns Supersport overall victory in Sydney
Section: Competition
Agius lifts 2019 ASBK Supersport 300 crown at season-finale.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Supersport champion Tom Toparis claimed yet another overall victory in the category at Sydney Motorsport Park’s seventh and final round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
It was WorldSSP300 regular Tom Edwards (Yamaha) who once again got off to an exceptional start in race two with Toparis quickly making his way into second position.
Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing) and Aidan Hayes (Yamaha) crashed together on lap two before they both remounted and continued racing, while by lap four Toparis briefly hit the lead.
Edwards and Toparis tussled for the top spot, but once the 2019 champion made the pass stick on lap six, he stretched out a comfortable 2.595s advantage as they crossed the line.
Jack Passfield (Yamaha) claimed third ahead of Broc Pearson (Yamaha) and Jack Hyde (Yamaha), as the top 10 was completed by Nic Liminton (Yamaha), Rhys Belling (Yamaha), Avalon Biddle (Cube Racing), Ty Lynch (Yamaha) and Dallas Skeer (Suzuki).
Overall it was Toparis from Edwards and Passfield, while in the championship standings, Toparis topped Pearson and Liminton.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Kawasaki-mounted Senna Agius lifted the Supersport 300 crown by one point over Max Stauffer (Yamaha) after capturing victory in race three, the youthful contender defeating Hunter Ford (Yamaha) and Seth Crump (KTM) during the final outing. Overall, it was Agius from Luke Jhonston (Yamaha) and Ford.
Zac Levy emerged with the Yamaha R3 Cup overall win and race three victory, while Ford earned the championship. The final encounter saw John Lytras (Yamaha) and Stauffer join Levy in the top three, while overall it was Levy from Ford and Lytras. Ford topped the standings ahead of Lytras and Stauffer.
In the Oceania Junior Cup, Marianos Nikolis (Yamaha) made two-consecutive races in the final outing to secure the overall, edging out Tom Drane (Yamaha) and Archie McDonald (Yamaha) – the trio finishing in that order for the round.
In the championship, Carter Thompson (Yamaha) claimed the title after race two, joined in the top three by Angus Grenfell (Yamaha) and Drane).
Jones crowned 2019 ASBK champion with Sydney victory
Section: Competition
Herfoss claims runner-up honours following race two thriller.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Mike Jones has earned the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) after capturing an incredible overall victory at Sydney Motorsport Park’s finale, the DesmoSport Ducati rider overcoming Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) in a thrilling race two.
It was Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who hit the front in the opening stages, as both Herfoss and Jones made strong starts to position all three title contenders within the top three.
Jones made his way into P1, and Hefosss followed in second. The next 11 laps consisted of the duo breaking away from the field and putting on an incredible display, where they traded the lead on numerous occasions – each making their own mistakes along the way.
It came down to the final lap with Jones in front, and just like the entire race, they each held the top spot for moments throughout the last time around. Herfoss made a costly error in the dying stages while attempting a pass, allowing Jones to ride to a 1.050s victory and the title.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) was able to edge his way by Maxwell for third, while Jamie Stauffer (McMartin Racing) claimed an impressive fifth.
Mark Chiodo (Penrite Honda Racing) was sixth, followed by Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Damon Rees. Pole-sitter Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team) crashed out eight laps in, while Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCpeformance) crashed out two laps later.
Overall, Jones claimed the round win ahead of Herfoss and Maxwell – the trio finishing the championship in that order.
It didn’t last long. A few corners later the Malaysian swept back around into the lead, and that left Nishimura with the work to do. Could he keep the pace? As Azman stretched his legs even further in the lead, the number 3 machine in second instead started looking behind him. And for Azman, that was enough to reward his impressive ride with a first win of the year. Nishimura’s second, meanwhile, was enough to reward him the title of 2019 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup Champion.
Race one was an exciting battle that ended up going down to the wire between Mike Jones and Troy Herfoss.
It was the Ducati man that had the power to take the victory but the Penrite Honda looked incredibly strong around the corners, even when the tyres were shot, Herfoss looked to have supreme confidence as the Fireblade SP slithered around underneath him.
Daniel Falzon was very strong early on before losing the front at turn nine and going out of contention. Maxwell was also strong in the first half of the race but ultimately lost pace as the race progressed and his tyres were cooked.
Bryan Staring and Cru Halliday never really figured in the fight but were never far off, so close, but yet so far. The gap at the flag was five-seconds but it was only in the last two laps that gap had been that large and if they managed to improve their set-up between races were likely to be a larger factor in this final battle that would decide the war.
Only half-a-point between Herfoss as they lined up on the line. The forecast thunderstorms were still yet to appear and it looked like we would have a fully dry race to decide the championship.
Wayne Maxwell led the field through turn one from Herfoss while Jones had a brilliant start from the third row to be up to third place by turn two and tussling with Herfoss on exit, the Penrite Honda man making the Ducati pilot stand the bike up a little on exit to avoid contact.Falzon fourth, Halliday fifth, Waters sixth, Staring seventh.
Mike Jones overtook Herfoss down the main straight and held on to that position through turn one and then stood Maxwell up at turn two in an aggressive pass.Herfoss then got Jones on the change of direction between turns four and five, holds on around the back of the circuit, Jones looks up the inside at turn nine but no need to take any risk, he can just wait for the main straight and pull the trigger on that big 1299 Ducati and blow past him on the straight, which is exactly what happened.
Jones held on to that lead for the entire next lap but closely shadowed by Herfoss throughout. Maxwell was right behind them in third, Halliday and Falzon still in close touch also.
By half-race distance Maxwell had started to lose touch with that leading duo and was starting to come under attack from Cru Halliday.
Herfoss was continuing to shadow Jones for the next couple of laps before going up the inside at turn one with five laps to go.
Jones came back at him a lap later but ran wide and Herfoss took the lead right back. Again on the next lap the move happened at turn two, this time Herfoss in a little deep and Jones allowed through to the lead with just under three laps to run.
Wayne Maxwell had drifted back to fifth but Staring then went down, promoting Maxwell back up fourth. Cru Halliday was a somewhat lonely third place.
Jones and Herfoss side by side at turn two with just under two laps to run, Herfoss through at turn three and into the lead, Jones looks up the inside at turn four but can’t do it.
Last lap board and Herfoss led past it but Jones powered up the inside to take the lead into turn one, the Ducati man holds sway at turn two, maintains the lead at turn three and four. Herfoss takes him on change of direction and leads down to turn seven, Jones up the inside at turn eight, Herfoss up the inside at nine but can’t stop it, he runs wide, Jones now left with an easy run to the line and with it the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship.
What a finale, what a championship. Roll on season 2020!
In fact, the top two didn’t feature a Petronas Yamaha SRT machine as Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales managed to get closest to the Spanish rookie, eventually ending up a quarter of a second adrift of Mir. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) finished third on the timesheets ahead of a resurgent Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), with the World Champion motivated to bounce back from Saturday’s disappointment.
Second fastest was FlexBox HP40’s Augusto Fernandez, who successfully bounced back from his worst Saturday of the year having qualified on row six of the grid for the first time in 2019. Ahead of potentially claiming the Moto2™ World Championship later today, EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Alex Marquez ended up third. The top five was completed by ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team’s Tetsuta Nagashima and Dynavolt Intact GP’s Marcel Schrötter.
Pivotal race one ASBK victory and points lead for Jones in Sydney
Section: Competition
Herfoss and Maxwell complete the top three as title race tightens.
Image: Russell Colvin.
DesmoSport Ducati’s Mike Jones has claimed a pivotal victory over Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) in a thrilling race one at Sydney Motorsport Park’s final round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), the Queenslander now leading the points with the title to be decided in this afternoon’s race two.
It was Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who got out to the lead at turn one, leading pole-sitter Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team) and reigning champion Herfoss.
Falzon made the pass on Maxwell as they entered lap two, while Jones progressed to third. Falzon’s time at the front was short-lived as Maxwell regained the lead on lap four, the Yamaha pilot going down one lap later.
It was at the same time Jones stole the lead from Maxwell with an excellent pass, the Ducati rider setting his sights on a pivotal victory.
Herfoss also made the pass on Maxwell during lap nine and put on an incredible charge to latch onto the back of Jones – the duo fighting right down to the very last laps, although it was Jones who had the edge to capture victory by 0.341s.
Maxwell hung on for third after significant pressure from Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) and Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team), the duo finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Jamie Stauffer (McMartin Racing) was sixth, followed by Mark Chiodo (Penrite Honda Racing), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Damon Rees (Honda).
Jones leads Herfoss by half a point heading into race two, while Maxwell is positioned 5.5 points behind the leader.
Ayumu Sasaki, donning a special livery for Petronas Sprinta Racing’s home round, crashed out unhurt at Turn 5 and BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race’s Makar Yurchenko also had a tip-off after receiving a firm nudge from CIP Green Power’s Tom Booth-Amos. The lightweight class gets things started at the Shell Malaysian Grand Prix at 12:00 local time (GMT+8) and is, without doubt, not to be missed.
Troy Herfoss made it clear of his intentions to get right down to business with the Penrite Honda man putting in a series of 1m30s laps in morning warm-up, the best of which was a 1m30.280s.
Mike Jones was the only other man to record more than one lap in the 1m30s while Wayne Maxwell put in a best of 1m30.9s.
There also appeared to be a bit of gamesmanship or head games already unfolding during warm-up. Herfoss shadowing Jones for much of the session, it was unclear if the DesmoSport Ducati man knew he was being shadowed…
Jamie Stauffer had got out the right side of bed with a 1m31.020s in warm-up his fastest lap of the weekend. The McMartin Racing Team obviously making some progress overnight with their K-Tech suspension.
Bryan Staring was on the pace also with a 1m31.109s while YRT team-mate Cru Halliday and Daniel Falzon were both under 1m31.5s.
ASBK Superbike Morning Warm-Up Results
Pos
Rider
Bike
Time/Gap
1
Troy HERFOSS
Honda CBR SP
1m30.280
2
Mike JONES
Ducati FE
+0.031
3
Wayne MAXWELL
Suzuki GSXR
+0.713
4
Jamie STAUFFER
Ducati V4R
+0.740
5
Bryan STARING
Kawasaki ZX10RR
+0.829
6
Cru HALLIDAY
Yamaha YZF-R1
+1.084
7
Daniel FALZON
Yamaha YZF-R1
+1.200
8
Josh WATERS
Suzuki GSXR
+1.597
9
Mark CHIODO
Honda CBR SP
+1.655
10
Damon REES
Honda CBR SP
+1.874
11
Arthur SISSIS
Suzuki GSXR
+2.048
12
Matt WALTERS
Kawasaki ZX10RR
+2.182
13
Glenn ALLERTON
BMW S RR
+2.333
14
Lachlan EPIS
Kawasaki ZX10R
+2.438
15
Alex PHILLIS
Suzuki GSXR
+2.500
16
Sloan FROST
Suzuki GSXR
3.297
17
Ben BURKE
Kawasaki ZX10RR
+3.311
18
Brendan MCINTYRE
Suzuki GSXR
+4.763
19
Nathan SPITERI
Suzuki GSXR
+6.791
20
Michael EDWARDS
Yamaha YZF-R1
+6.846
ASBK Superbike Race One
The ambient temperature had already passed 30-degrees and track temperatures were heading towards 45-degrees as the tension rose around Sydney Motorsports Park this morning.
A full season of training effort by the riders, a year of machine preparation and tuning by the teams, all coming down to one final day of competition to decide who would be the ASBK Superbike Champion.
Some red flag incidents on Sunday morning in support category races had allowed the nerves to build further and further ahead of the 13-lap opening Superbike bout that finally got underway at 1153, half-an-hour behind schedule.
Falzon got a good jump off pole position but Wayne Maxwell was the early race leader, Falzon second, Herfoss third, Staring fourth and Jones fifth.
Mike Jones moved past Staring to take fourth late on lap one and Falzon took the lead from Maxwell out of turn one early on the second lap. Jones then got Herfoss to move up to third place.
The Penrite Honda man was already asking more from his rear tyre than it could cope with as he tried to get back past Jones. Herfoss then put stupendous loads on his front tyre through turns one and two as he battled hard to stay in touch.
Maxwell went up the inside of Falzon to take the lead with ten laps to run. Herfoss lost close touch with the leading trio down the straight but then made all that ground back up into turn one.
Jones took second place from Falzon at turn four to move up to second place. Herfoss quickly followed suit to push the South Australian back to fourth place. Bryan Staring and Cru Halliday were also not far behind.
Mike Jones through to the lead at turn nine with nine laps to go. Daniel Falzon then slid out of the race at the same point.
Mike Jones, Wayne Maxwell, Troy Herfoss, the top three in the championship and the top three in this race… Eight laps to go… Staring looked strong in fourth and we know how those Dunlops hang in all the way to the chequered flag. Cru Halliday was in fifth, and still close enough to work his way into the podium fight if he had enough tyre left at the end.
Little changed over the next few laps apart from Staring and Halliday starting to creep towards that leading trio.
Herfoss up the inside of Maxwell around the back of the circuit with 4.5 laps to run… Jones had a half-a-second buffer now and it would be interesting to see if the Penrite Honda man had any tyre left to mount a late challenge. He had been sliding around since the opening lap so if asked to predict I would have said it was highly doubtful he would have enough rubber left to hang on to a podium, let alone challenge for a win.
Herfoss though left nothing in the locker in his quest to try and chase that Ducati. With two laps to go he had narrowed the gap down to under three-tenths and showing how inaccurate my prediction had been. Herfoss simply didn’t look to care as that Fireblade SP danced around underneath him, obviously comfortable with the set-up of the bike when grip was gone.
Herfoss was all over the back of Jones around the back of the circuit for the final time, you could tell how much he wanted it, but ultimately it was Jones that took the win. Power was perhaps the telling factor in that battle.
Wayne Maxwell had run out of tyre and in the closing laps was behing shadowed by both Bryan Staring and Cru Halliday, but just managed to keep them at bay for the final step on the podium.
ASBK SMP Superbike Race One Podium – TBG Image
With 13-laps left this afternoon to decide the title, Jones will take a half-point lead into that final battle to decide the war. Herfoss the man in second. Maxwell five-points further back in third.
Toparis fends off Edwards for Sydney Supersport race one win
Section: Competition
Edwards and Bayliss lock out the podium in the opening encounter.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Current champion Tom Toparis (Landbridge Yamaha) has fended off WorldSSP300 regular Tom Edwards (Yamaha) in a thrilling opening Supersport encounter at Sydney Motorsport Park’s seventh round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
Supersport race one was reduced to nine laps after the initial start was red-flagged due to a multi-rider incident at turn two.
On the restart, it was Yamaha-mounted Jack Passfield who secured the hole-shot, however ran wide into turn two, allowing Edwards to steal the lead.
It was a matter of laps before Toparis was able to find his way by Passfield as Edwards stretched his lead, although he made the manoeuvre and set his sights on the debutant out the front.
Slicing the gap, Toparis and Edwards duelled for a number of laps – Edwards fighting back every time Toparis attempted a pass. It was lap six where the 2019 champion made his move stick with a crafty outside pass, where he then went onto capture victory over Edwards by 0.753s.
There was an intense battle for third, although it was Cube Racing’s Oli Bayliss who secured the final spot on the podium, edging out Aidan Hayes (Yamaha) and Passfield. Broc Pearson (Yamaha) was sixth, followed by Jack Hyde (Yamaha), Nic Liminton (Yamaha), Callum Spriggs (Yamaha) and Rhys Belling (Yamaha).
It was another thrilling Supersport 300 outing in race two, as Luke Jhonston (Kawasaki) edged out Senna Agius (Yamaha) by a mere 0.034s for victory, while Zac Levy (Yamaha) locked out the top three. Max Stauffer (Yamaha) and Brandon Demmery (Yamaha) were fourth and fifth respectively.
In race two of the Yamaha R3 Cup, Levy emerged victorious over points leader Hunter Ford and John Lytras (Yamaha), while in the Oceania Junior Cup, Carter Thompson (Yamaha) was crowned the inaugural champion of the category, as Marianos Nikolas (Yamaha) claimed victory in race two over Tom Drane (Yamaha) and Jacob Hatch (Yamaha).
