Maxwell, Herfoss Share Wakefield Park Spoils

Wayne Maxwell and Troy Herfoss have each taken a race victory in the Alpinestars Superbike class at Round 3 of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship, presented by Motul, at Wakefield Park today.

In the opening race, Maxwell and Herfoss ran nose-to-tail in the top two positions, gradually extending their lead over third-placed Mike Jones. However, the race was cut short after 13 laps when a nasty crash for Brendan McIntyre at turn one necessitated a red flag stoppage.

Maxwell and Herfoss were both left disappointed by the race’s premature conclusion.

“It’s not ideal, obviously with people crashing and yellow flags makes its difficult,” Maxwell said.

“But it was another great battle between Troy and I on different bikes, with different tyre brands.”

“I was disappointed by the fact we had to stop racing, when for us the race hadn’t essentially started yet,” Herfoss said.

“I could tell Wayne was in a groove there and I felt like it could have been anyone’s race. We were going really fast at the start, which was a bit scary.”

In Race 2, Mike Jones led initially, but was soon overtaken by Maxwell into the final corner. Herfoss slipped back to third off the line and spent the first two thirds of the race behind Jones, before finally passing the DesmoSport Ducati rider on the exit of turn two.

With just a handful of laps remaining, the stage was set for an epic chase between the long-time rivals. Herfoss was able to close down the margin and launched a successful attack on Maxwell at turn eight on the final lap, much to the delight of the Goulburn crowd.

With Maxwell having announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 season, Herfoss basked in the thrill of their final on-track battle at the Wakefield Park circuit.

“I always believed that in a fight to the end I could win it, but there were a few laps there, after I passed Mike, where I was struggling with grip and thought I would have to settle for second,” Herfoss said.

“I was really strong over the top of the track, Wayne was really strong in the last section. When I passed him, I was right on the inside line because he was so strong into the last turn.

“It’s a bit sad to think it’s our last battle around Wakefield – I want to say a big congratulations to Wayne because since 2014, we’ve gone toe-to-toe around here.”

Jones was again third in Race 2 ahead of Cru Halliday and Glenn Allerton.

The Superbikes next head to Hidden Valley, Darwin, for Round 4 on 18-20 June alongside the Repco Supercars Championship.