Valvoline Superbike Team rider Glenn Allerton has described his win in the opening Viking Group Australian Superbike race at Symmons Plains today as the ultimate high after admitting the past 12 months had been the toughest of his career. From fourth on the grid, Allerton put his head down following a solid start to the 14-lap race, and faced few challenges as he fired in fastest lap after fastest lap to take victory by 1.635 seconds over polesitter Jamie Stauffer. The 2008 Australian Superbike Champion has worked tirelessly towards success this season, and while not in the title hunt this weekend, is rapt with the result. “I got a reasonable start and knew that it was going to be a race where there would be some big breaking duels between the boys,” said Allerton. “I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of that because I didn’t have the best straight line speed this weekend going off practice and qualifying. “I tried to get to the front straight away and as soon as I did just tried to do my qualifying laps each time, stringing as many perfect laps together as I could. “The gap got out to about 1.5 seconds and someone started closing but I knew I had it, I’d worked this hard and wasn’t about to let it go. “A huge thanks has to go out to Valvoline and the boys at the team who deserve this win. “For me it’s a massive relief, I train so hard during the off-season and when we’re not racing, and the last 12 months have been really hard to get my career back on track. “It paid off today and it feels absolutely awesome.” The race was an enthralling one up front, with a number of position changes as riders pushed braking limits at the high-speed approach to the hairpin and again at the end of the back straight. Jamie Stauffer’s second place finish was deserved, with the Ducati Motologic pilot putting a strong passing move on Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters on lap 6 to take over second place. Positions three to five were debated for the entire 14-lap duration, with Waters impressively holding off the two remaining championship contenders, Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing’s Bryan Staring and Demolition Plus GAS Honda’s Wayne Maxwell. Staring was able to add to his points lead today but not enough to sew up the title which will be decided tomorrow. He fought hard to finish fourth from eighth on the grid following a dramatic crash during this morning’s Motul Superpole session. On his flying lap, the 23-year-old lost the front end of his bike heading into the final corner, and was sent heavily to the ground. Symmons Plains lap record holder, The Natural Aprilia Racing Team’s Daniel Stauffer met with the same misfortune on the opening lap. His season-best qualifying position of fifth aboard the RSV4 was the only highlight today as he made an early exit in a carbon copy of Staring’s earlier incident. Suzuki riders Robbie Bugden and Scott Charlton battled for much of the race, with the former beating the latter to the line by a mere two-tenths of a second. Tomorrow’s 16-lap race will be held at 1.10pm and will see a new addition to the list of Superbike champions which includes names such as Malcolm Campbell, Mat Mladin and Troy Corser, amongst others. Team Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss was confirmed as the 2010 Insure My Ride Australian Supersport Champion following another comprehensive showing today. Herfoss won the 14-lap race from Triumph’s Christian Casella and Suzuki’s Brodie Waters, and maximum points means he cannot be beaten to the title. The championship victory completes an incredible transition from Supermoto to road racing for the Goulburn-based rider. Rapidly rising through the ranks of Australian dirt track and then Supermoto, Herfoss headed to the US to try his hand against the best in the AMA. Multiple race wins and podiums in his second season saw him secure a coveted AMA crown in 2008. He returned to Australia in 2009 to make an instant impact on debut in the Supersport class and kept the form and focus heading into 2010 aboard the factory Suzuki GSX-R600. In 2010 he has scored 6 race wins, 8 race podiums and 4 pole positions, cementing himself as one of the country’s most exciting and gifted road racers. The Insure My Ride Australian Supersport class will round out the season with a second and final 16-lap race from 1.50pm tomorrow. Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship, Round 7 Symmons Plains, Race 1 1. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Valvoline Superbike Team” 2. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Ducati Motologic Racing” 3. Joshua WATERS (VIC) / Team Suzuki” 4. Bryan STARING (QLD/WA) / Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing” 5. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) / Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing” 6. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Suzuki” 7. Scott CHARLTON (NSW) / Racer’s Edge Performance Suzuki” 8. Kris McLAREN (VIC) / McLaren Motorsports” 9. Beau BEATON (NSW) / North Coast V-Twins / Agip Racing Ducati” 10. Craig COXHELL (VIC) / CJC Racing BMW Insure My Ride Australian Supersport Championship, Round 7 Symmons Plains, Race 2 1. Troy HERFOSS (VIC) / Team Suzuki” 2. Christan CASELLA (VIC) / Aark Electrics / Peter Stevens M-cycles / Triumph 3. Brodie WATERS (VIC) / Waters Racing” 4. Aaron GOBERT (NSW) / AGR Inc / Bell Helmets / Yamaha / Dynojet 5. Ben BURKE (NSW) Yamaha” 6. Nicholas WATERS (VIC) / Waters Racing 7. Chris QUINN (NSW) / The Cannon Store / Coopers Pale Ale 8. Des DARBY (QLD) / Aark Electrics / Peter Stevens M-cycles / Triumph 9. Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) / Pakenham Yamaha / Monitor my Super” 10. Andy LAWSON Jnr (QLD) / Champion’s Ride Days Race Team / Palfinger More, from a press release issued by Ducati Motologic Racing Team: RACE 1 REPORT SYMMONS PLAINS 13 Nov 2010 The momentum continues! The Ducati Motologic Racing Team is powering through the final round of the Australian Superbike Championship in Tasmania; #27 Jamie Stauffer taking Superpole in the morning and finishing Race 1 of the event in second place. Eager to finish the season on a high note on the Ducati 1198R the team worked hard yesterday afternoon after their fruitful first qualifying session and arrived at the circuit this morning ready to throw down the challenge for a win. The track remained dry once again for the Superbikes and after recording the fastest lap time in Qualifying 2 this morning at 54.135 seconds on lap 23, Stauffer’s flying lap was precisely that as he charged around the 2.4km circuit in 54.491 seconds to take the Superpole point and start the weekend’s races from P1. The first race of the final event did not get off to a fantastic start for the Ducati Motologic Racing Team for either Stauffer or #33 Jordan Burgess. Burgess made his way through to finish in 14th. Meanwhile Stauffer’s start saw him back in fourth on the first lap. However, he made his way through to 2ndplace behind Glenn Allerton by the fifth lap and remained there to the checkered flag. #27 Jamie Stauffer: “It was a pretty good race. I didn’t get a good start and went back to 4thstraight away. The track is a hard one to pass on and it took me a couple of laps to get up to 2nd. By the time I got into 2ndGlenn had pulled a fairly comfortable gap. I tried closing the gap but didn’t quite have enough grip to catch him. He rode a great race and 2nd isn’t bad, but hopefully we can make some changes and have more grip tomorrow to take the win.” Burgess will be looking to Race 2 tomorrow to come out strong and finish his season back in the top 10 for the final race. #33 Jordan Burgess: “Race 1 didn’t really go according to plan today; I got a fairly average start and basically had a battle on my hands to get through the pack. I finished in 14thwhich makes me even more determined to crack back into the top ten in tomorrow’s race to end the season strongly.” After today’s Superpole and the result from Race 1, the Ducati Motologic Racing Team is now placed 4thin the championship. Team owner and manager, Paul Free is confident the team will indeed finish strongly. Free: “Today was an awesome day. Yesterday we learned a lot and today we were able to put what we learned into practice. Qualifying 2 for Jamie was terrific; to be fastest in the session on a used tyre and to take Superpole was quite simply an added bonus. In the race Jamie fought hard after a less than perfect start to push through to second which was a great reward for the team. I know Jamie isn’t happy with the result as he wants to win races very badly. We’ve made some very minor changes to the bike for tomorrow’s warm-up and race so I am confident that he can take the win tomorrow. It was disappointing for Jordy to stall the bike off the start, but he did fight back to work his way up to 14th. It was a good effort by him and he once again learned a great amount about racing in the premier category in the series.”