Honda riders tame the heat in scorching conditions
Eastern Creek set for final round action
21 November 2014: Eastern Creek, NSW
Team Honda Racing riders Jamie Stauffer, Wayne Maxwell and Tory Herfoss proved that the weather is no barrier to performance at the final round of the 2014 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek.
The trio recorded the fastest lap times in Superbike class qualifying at Sydney Motorsport Park at Eastern Creek on Friday.
A full day of practice and qualifying took place in hot conditions in Sydney, as riders and officials prepared themselves for the Grand Finale of the series – beginning with racing in the YMF-Loan Australian Superbike Championship on Saturday.
Riders and officials will be scurrying back to their rooms tonight for some cool relief – with temperatures at the venue reaching 39-plus degrees and a track temperature north of the 60-degree mark.
Superbikes
Riders were keen to conserve energy and machinery for the weekend, and half the field put in five laps or less over the course of the session.
The top-five riders all posted their fastest times in the second lap of qualifying, with Stauffer coming close to the circuit lap record (1:31.578) by posting a 1:31.706 on lap two of his five laps.
Maxwell was not far off the mark, also completing five laps – with his fastest time of 1:31.810 coming on lap two.
Herfoss, Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) and Glenn Allerton (NextGen Motorsports) all put in three laps each in the session, and finished qualifying in third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
Supersport
The 18-minute qualifying session for Supersport was also an exercise in conservation with riders again opting to put in minimal laps due to the conditions.
Only nine-points separate Aaron Morris (Maxima Yamaha) and Aiden Wagner (Wagner Soil Testing) in this category with a brand new R1 the prize for whoever comes out on top at the end of the weekend.
It was series challenger Wagner who posted the fastest time of the session with a 1:34.258 ahead of Morris, who clocked his fastest time of 1:34.603 on his third lap of three completed.
Callum Spriggs (Allsite Concrete Cutting) posted the third fastest time in the session.
Pro Twins / Nakedbikes
In the opening qualifying session of the day it was comeback king Kevin Curtain (Trinder Aprilia Racing) who had tongues wagging finishing the Pro-Twins class in second position.
He posted a fastest lap time of 1:35.952 on the second of his three qualifying laps, to finish just behind Ducati pilot Craig McMartin (Racers Edge Performance) who clocked a best lap time of 1:33.781.
McMartin posted five laps in the 18-minute qualifying session, and registered the fastest time on his opening lap.
In the Nakedbike class, KTM Racing rider Angus Reekie posted the fastest qualifying time with a 1:36.886 to finish ahead of Luke Follacchio (Lukey Luke Stuntrider) and Rennie Scaysbrook (LTR).
After a horrendous fifth round of the championship at Wakefield park a month ago, Reekie will be out seeking redemption and will do whatever it takes to come home with the round and series win.
Ninja FX 300 / Ninja FX 250 / eFXC
The combined qualifying for the Ninja classes and Electric Bikes threw up some surprising times, as Danny Pottage (O’Hanlon Electric Motorsports) clocked the fastest lap time of the session with a 1:47.423.
Jason Morris (Varley Electric Vehicles) recorded the third fastest time for the session abord his electric bike with a 1:50.657, while Daniel Ripperton (Ripperton Racing) rounded out the top-three in the eFXC class.
In the Ninja 300 category, it was Brandon Demmery (Noise Guard Racing) who will start from up front posting a 1:49.945 lap time on his fifth lap.
Demmery made his intentions clear for the weekend by completing nine laps in the session – the most of any rider out on the track.
Kyle Buckley (Bcperformance Motogo) and Bailie Perriton rounded out the top three for the class, posting times of 1:50.945 and 1:50.999 respectively.
The top-three times posted in the Ninja 250 category were by Grant Jordan, Stuart Smith and Stuart Green.
Formula Oz
Mathew Harding was the quickest out in the Formula Oz qualifying session clocking the fastest time of 1:33.548 on the second of his four completed laps.
Harding currently sits second in the championship – 12 points adrift of Ben Nicolson (NextGen Motorsports) but will have the ideal start on Saturday at the front of the grid.
Nicolson nabbed the second fastest time of the session with a lap time of 1:33.654 – just two hundredths of a second faster than Chris Trounson (Gas Honda Racing).
For a full list of the practice and qualifying results, head to: http://www.computime.com.au/meetings/index.aspx?M…
Stay tuned to www.fxsuperbikes.com.au or the fxsuperbikes Facebook page all weekend, to get minute by minute coverage of the final round.
More, from a press release issued by Team Honda Racing:
Team Honda Racing Qualify 1-2-3 on Grid
21st November 2014 – Things are definitely heating up for the Finale of the Australasian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park with Team Honda Racing qualifying 1-2-3 on the grid heading into tomorrow’s races.
With track temperatures close to 60 degrees Celsius and an ambient temperature close to 40 degrees Celsius today it was hard going for all involved, but #27 Jamie Stauffer rose to the challenge, recording the fastest lap time of the Qualifying session, a 1:31.706 sec with #47 Wayne Maxwell a close second fastest with a lap time of 1:31.810 sec. Rounding out the top 3 Qualifying positions today was #17 Troy Herfoss, his fastest qualifying lap a 1:32.062 sec with team mate #16 Josh Hook qualifying in 7th position on the track heading into tomorrow’s races.
Stauffer is keen to back up today’s effort in tomorrow’s FX-Supebikes races. “Apart from the heat today it was a good day on the track. We made some progress in the practice sessions and we were able to make the most of it in qualifying. P1 heading into tomorrow’s races is a good start so let’s see if we can continue that through the weekend.”
The current series leader, Maxwell is ready to get down to racing, saying “P2 in Qualifying today will take me into tomorrow’s FX-Superbike races well. The Motul Honda is handling the conditions well so we’ll wait and see what tomorrow’s 3 races bring.”
Herfoss rounds out the top 3 on the grid heading into tomorrow’s event and is happy with the way the weekend is taking shape. “I am feeling really strong on the CBR1000RR SP this weekend; the team has delivered yet again. The field is really tight and the heat is fierce so it will definitely be interesting racing over the weekend. My focus for tomorrow is to put myself in the best position possible for Sunday’s final races.”
Josh Hook will start tomorrow’s races from 7th place on the grid and feels confident of a strong result. “We tried a few things today and found a really good direction for tomorrow’s races. The bike feels great and I’m really happy with the set up. I’ll start from the second row tomorrow in P7 so we will see what happens.”