Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters is making a habit of breaking lap records in 2011. He has only contested two of the three rounds of the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship to date he missed the season opener with World Superbike duties but this has hardly stifled his speed. The 24-year-old set a race lap record at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains in March, and today wrote his name into the record books again by breaking his own previous best qualifying mark at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway. The GSX-R1000 rider lowered the qualifying record twice in this afternoon’s session, settling on a stunning 1:07.385s lap of the 14-turn, 2.87km circuit. Waters carried this speed into a thrilling QBE Superpole session, edging out Team Honda’s Jamie Stauffer by four-thousandths of a second to snare the top spot. The Mildura-based rider heaped praise on his Suzuki squad following the feat. “All credit has to go to Suzuki today,” said Waters. “The bike was fast early on and they managed to make it even better to ride in the second qualifying session. “It’s comfortable over a single lap and I think it will be just as strong over race distance tomorrow. “I’d love to win back-to-back, but there’s a lot of work to be done yet and lots of guys who will be a factor.” Jamie Stauffer’s early benchmark looked set to stand before 2010 round winner Waters found the margin he needed. The Team Honda pilot said a few mistakes during the lap let him down. “I didn’t feel like I got the best out of the lap and there were a few small mistakes in there that probably cost us pole,” said Stauffer. “It’s a good place to start from so we’ll put our heads together and come up with some good settings for tomorrow’s races.” He fared much better than teammate Wayne Maxwell, who didn’t even make it to the end of the front straight on his flying lap, parking his bike and storming back to the pits. Mechanical problems thwarted any chance of the Victorian maintaining his perfect pole record in 2011. The iStyle Natural Aprilia Racing Team’s Ben Attard has shown a dramatic improvement this weekend and was rewarded with third place in Superpole, just ahead of Procon Maxima BMW’s Glenn Allerton who rounds out the front row of the grid. Cube Racing’s Ben Henry and McLaren Motorsport’s Kris McLaren both met with misfortune during the second qualifying session, crashing out in separate incidents. Just one of the top four riders in the QBE Supersport points standings advanced to the Motul Superpole session this afternoon. Triumph rider Mitchell Carr is looking to make up ground in the closely-contested championship this weekend and did himself no harm by scoring his first-ever Supersport pole position. “I’m stoked with this result, the Triumph is performing so well and it is all just gelling for us this weekend,” said Carr. “It’s great to get my first Supersport pole in the books and hopefully we can convert it to a win tomorrow.” Yamaha Racing Team veteran Kevin Curtain was second-fastest, with Suzuki young gun Nick Waters third and Curtain’s teammate, Rick Olson, in fourth. 11 riders ventured into the 1-minute, 11-second bracket during qualifying, setting up for a thrilling final day of competition tomorrow. Championship leader Christian Casella’s luckless run on his new Triumph continued, with the Ballarat-based missing Motul Superpole with ninth-fastest. Tomorrow’s 17-lap Viking Group Australian Superbike races are scheduled for 12.30pm and 3.30pm. QBE Australian Supersport contenders will be on track at 10.45am and 1.35pm. The BMW Prostock-spec machines of Lindon Magee and John Ross troubled Yamaha rider Cru Halliday in the category’s opening race but were unable to reel him in. Two red flags saw the race declared early, with Suzuki Racesafe quickly attending to riders involved in two separate incidents at the end of the high-speed, 1.1km front straight. Despite strong opposition in the early stages from Daniel Falzon, Mike Jones again managed to clear out on the field in the opening Suzuki Superstock race of the weekend. Today’s polesitter continued his perfect run of results in addition to further lowering the class lap record to 1:12.450s (previously 1:12.790s). Josh Hook held off Nicky Diles by 0.258s in a hard-fought Motul Superlites race today. The field will contest two further races tomorrow, with the unbeaten Hook sure to be targeted. Viking Group Australian Superbikes Qualifying including QBE Superpole (Top 8) 1. Joshua WATERS (VIC) / Team Suzuki, Suzuki GSXR, 1:07.514″ 2. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Team Honda Racing / Oleon Oils / Motologic, Honda CBR RR, 1:07.518 3. Ben ATTARD (QLD) / The i-Style Natural Aprilia Team, Aprilia RSV4, 1:07.647 ” 4. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Procon Maxima BMW / Dynomotive / Zoom Recruit., BMW S 1000 RR, 1:07.663 5. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Suzuki, Suzuki GSXR, 1:07.974 6. Troy HERFOSS (VIC) / Team Suzuki, Suzuki GSXR, 1:08.341 7. Cole ODENDAAL (QLD) / GAS Honda Racing / NSW Compensation Lawyers, Honda CBR RR, 1:08.641″ 8. Wayne MAXWELL (NSW) / Team Honda Racing / Oleon Oils / Motologic, Honda CBR RR (no time set)” 9. Craig COXHELL (VIC) / Demolition Plus GAS Honda, Honda CBR RR, 1:08.315″ 10. Kris McLAREN (VIC) / McLaren Motorsport / Kirk McCarthy Mem. Award, Honda CBR RR , 1:09.207 QBE Australian Supersport Qualifying including Motul Superpole (Top 4) 1. Mitchell CARR (NSW) / Carr Bros M-sport / Triumph / Peter Stevens M-cycles, Triumph Daytona, 1:11.272 2. Kevin CURTAIN (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:11.342 3. Nicholas WATERS (VIC) / Arai Helmets, Suzuki GSXR, 1:11.540 4. Rick OLSON (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:11.966″ 5. Aaron GOBERT (NSW) / Yamaha / Graves / Hot Bodies, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:11.239″ 6. Brodie WATERS (VIC) / Team Suzuki, Suzuki GSXR, 1:11.295 7. Chris QUINN (NSW) / Coopers Pale Ale / The Channon Store, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:11.560 8. Dylan MAVIN (QLD) / Champion’s Ride Days / Honda / Palfinger Cranes, Honda CBR RR, 1:11.598 9. Christan CASELLA (VIC) / Aark Electrics / Triumph Aust. / Alpinestars / AGV, Triumph Daytona, 1:11.779″ 10. Glenn SCOTT (NSW) / WNR Kawasaki / Insure My Ride / Stahlwille Tools, Kawasaki ZX6R, 1:11.781 More, from a press release issued by Team Honda Racing: Team Honda Racing 2nd on the Grid for Racing Tomorrow at Hidden Valley 16th April 2011 #27 Jamie Stauffer will start from 2nd place on the grid tomorrow for both races after being pipped at the post for Superpole by Josh Waters this afternoon at Hidden Valley Raceway by merely .004 second. Stauffer’s flying lap on the Honda CBR1000RR was a 1:07.518 sec after showing consistently strong times in the first two qualifying sessions. Such a close Superpole shootout hints at some exciting racing for spectators tomorrow and with a few more adjustments to the bike Stauffer will be eyeing off a podium finish. #27 Jamie Stauffer: “I was able to find more consistency in my lap times going into the second qualifying session today and the lap times were fairly good on used tyres. I put in a solid Superpole lap and almost took the Superpole point, but missed out by .004 sec which is so close. I think it’s going to be pretty close at the front of the field tomorrow in the races.” After qualifying at the top of the timesheets in Q1 this morning with a 1:07.497 sec and then third on the timesheets in Q2, #47 Wayne Maxwell looked strong for the Superpole shootout. However, it wasn’t meant to be today and Maxwell will start in 8th place on the grid after a mechanical problem spoiled his chances of taking three Superpole laps from three rounds. #47 Wayne Maxwell: “I started the day strongly and was able to put in some good lap times, but I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to take Honda’s third Superpole for the season. Starting from 8th place on the grid is not ideal, but there are two races tomorrow and anything can happen. The team have sorted out the issue with the bike and I will start fresh tomorrow.” Team Principle Paul Free is hoping for another dry track tomorrow for the two races as he has his sights firmly set on a podium finish for Team Honda Racing.