Staring makes it five in a row at Phillip Island The fine form of Honda pilot Bryan Staring continued this afternoon as the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship hit the track for the first of two 10-lap races at Phillip Island. The points leader snared a front row start with the third-fastest time in Motul Superpole, though it was Ducati Motologic Racing’s Jamie Stauffer who enjoyed his time in the sun early on, demolishing the competition with a 1.34.210s lap of the 4.45km circuit, .594s clear of second. Wayne Maxwell led the field away with a blistering start aboard his Demolition Plus GAS Honda. Maxwell fired off a series of quick, consistent laps, and would have been oblivious to a heart-stopping moment just metres behind him when Stauffer and Staring touched heading into the high-speed turn 1 on lap 4. Stauffer was forced to sit his Ducati up and had no option but to traverse the gravel trap as a potential win went begging. Staring continued on and was able to bridge the gap to Maxwell who relinquished the lead on lap 7 after his tyres began to wear. Glenn Allerton benefited from Stauffer’s misfortunate but ultimately suffered the same fate as Maxwell, with a lack of grip forcing the Valvoline Superbike Team pilot to simply consolidate for third. Staring’s 6.281-second win was his fifth in a row as he firms as favourite for the title. “We haven’t quite matched the pace of Wayne (Maxwell) and Jamie (Stauffer) in qualifying but I knew we’d have a good race bike,” said the Cougar Bourbon Honda rider. “I got a safe start and settled in for a few laps behind Wayne before I was able to make a move. “The team worked hard today and we took good points from the race I’m really hoping to continue this momentum tomorrow and prepare us for a strong final round.” Honda secured positions 1, 2 and 3 and Suzuki wrapped up positions three through six thanks to the efforts of GSX-R1000 riders Shawn Giles, Scott Charlton and Robbie Bugden. Craig Coxhell was the first of the Superstock-spec machines home in seventh, a commendable result given his struggle with setup across the wet and dry sessions aboard the CJC Racing BMW. “We didn’t race here at the start of the year so were behind the eight ball at Phillip Island,” explained Coxhell. “Finding a setup over the course of the few dry laps we’ve had has been tough. “We’ve made changes but they haven’t hit the mark this weekend, so it’s good to still get maximum points in the Superstock class and place seventh overall.” KTM Superbike Team rider Shannon Johnson was dealt a ten-second penalty for a jump start, relegated from fourth to eighth. The leader of the Insure My Ride Australian Supersport Championship also added a fifth win to his name today. Team Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss won from pole position on his GSX-R600, beating home fellow Suzuki rider Brodie Waters and Triumph’s Christian Casella. Yamaha pilot Ben Burke made a move on the last lap to secure fourth in a tight battle pack. Both classes will contest a second, 10-lap race tomorrow to decide round honours. Tune in to Channel 7 from 11.30am tomorrow to see the second Superbike race broadcast. Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship, Phillip Island, Race 1. 1. Bryan STARING (QLD/WA) / Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing ” 2. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) / GAS Honda Racing / Demolition Plus “3. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Valvoline Superbike “4. Shawn GILES (VIC) / Team Suzuki” 5. Scott CHARLTON (NSW) / Racers Edge Performance Suzuki” 6. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Mack Trucks Suzuki” 7. Craig COXHELL (VIC) / CJC Racing” 8. Shannon JOHNSON (VIC) / KTM Superbike Team” 9. Craig McMARTIN (NSW) / North Coast V-Twins / Agip Racing” 10. Kris McLAREN (VIC) / McLaren Motorsport Insure My Ride Australian Supersport Championship, Phillip Island, Race 1. 1 . Troy HERFOSS (VIC) / Team Suzuki” 2. Brodie WATERS (VIC) / Sunstate Waters 3. Christan CASELLA (VIC) / Aark Electrics / Peter Stevens M-cycles / Triumph” 4. Ben BURKE (NSW)” 5. Dylan MAVIN (QLD) / Mavin Industries / Jetset Alice Springs” 6. Michael JONES (QLD) / California Superbike School Race Team / Yamaha” 7. Aaron GOBERT (NSW) / Gobert Motorsports / Bell Helmets / Yamaha / Dynojet” 8. Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) / Pakenham Yamaha / Monitor My Super” 9. Des DARBY (QLD) / Aark Electrics / Peter Stevens M-cycles / Triumph “10. Andy LAWSON Jnr (QLD) / Champion’s Ride Days Race Team / Palfinger More, from a press release issued by Ducati Motologic Racing Team: Bitter Disappointment for Race 1 The day began in fine fashion for the Ducati Motologic Racing Team today at Phillip Island with the sun shining and the team positive of strong results. #27 Jamie Stauffer blitzed the field in the morning with his Superpole lap, taking the coveted Superpole point with a lap time of 1:34.210 seconds. The nearest competitor was Wayne Maxwell who was .594 seconds off Stauffer’s pace. Taking P1 for the first race of the event in the afternoon, Stauffer felt confident he could keep the pace going on his Ducati 1198R and had a good chance for a race win today. The race began well and Stauffer was sitting comfortably in 3rd place early in the race; biding his time. However, the possibility of a race win slipped from his grasp at the beginning of lap 4 when an incident involving Jamie and Bryan Staring going into turn 1 forced Jamie to run off the track. Lucky not to have crashed, Stauffer had to stand his Ducati up to avoid a major incident and ran off the track. Always the consummate professional, Stauffer re-entered the race in an attempt to gain more information for the team to lead into Race 2 tomorrow. Stauffer is understandably frustrated and disappointed. Jamie Stauffer: “The race started fairly well, I got a reasonable start and was able to come through the pack early on. I felt comfortable once I got into 3rd position and I got a good run on the straight to start lap 4. Once I passed Bryan on the inside I got slowed by Wayne at the entry to the corner. It then seemed that Bryan thought he had an opportunity to repass me, but he left me no room and I clipped his back wheel with my front before I stood the bike up and ran off the track. I managed to get back onto the track to finish the race, but obviously my race was done.” Team Manager Paul Free was full of praise for his rider. Paul Free: “The day began well; we tried some different settings in the morning’s warm up which didn’t give us what we wanted. For Superpole we went back to some earlier settings and Jamie really gave 120%. He put on an awesome display of sheer speed on his Ducati 1198R to emerge from Superpole a whopping .600 seconds faster than his nearest rival. It was a heck of an achievement. Going into race 1 we had every confidence that Jamie was going to be more than competitive in the field. I was extremely comfortable seeing him circulating in 3rd by the start of lap 4 and knew that he would easily move to the front in a couple of laps and run away with the win. But that all came to nothing when he and Bryan rubbed tyres at turn 1 and all the hard work and confidence turned to nothing when Jamie run off the track. To his credit he pushed on through the muddy grass and continued the race with the thought of testing the Dunlop control tyre over race distance. Hopefully tomorrow we have a more positive race.” The Ducati Motologic Race Team are hoping that Jamie Stauffer’s lap times are put to better use in tomorrow’s Race 2 and that his luck takes a turn for the better.