Image: Cru Halliday.

Cru Halliday has expressed the importance of tyre management in his consistent performance at The Bend Motorsport Park’s third round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) over the weekend.

Tyre degradation hindered a number of riders in Saturday and Sunday’s racing, with the Dunlop option utilised by winner Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) ultimately being superior over the Pirelli offering used by Halliday and majority of contenders at the front of the field.

The 2018 Supersport champion put on a strong display all weekend long, recording a 3-4-3 scorecard for third overall – his third podium in as many rounds during his return season to the premier class.

“I was a bit off the pace at the start of the week, so to finish up on the podium and be well placed in the championship is a good result for the team and myself,” Halliday commented. “I had never raced a superbike here as I was on 600s last year, so it took me a while to get my head around things and also get a set-up I was comfortable with for the full race distance.

“The team did a great job with the bike and on the track managing tyres was the key. It is a circuit that can tear tyres apart quickly, so at certain stages over the weekend I had to ride the bike a bit differently to keep tyre quality.

“The opening race I rode the track in a gear higher and was a smooth as possible on the throttle, while the last one I didn’t get a great start so I had to be patient and pick my way through the field.

A dominant performance by Staring saw Halliday demoted to second in the standings, where he sits just one point shy of the Kawasaki pilot.