From a press release issued by Radar’s Team Yamaha:

26 August 2001
For immediate release

2001 Shell Australian Superbike & Supersport Championships
Round 5, Oran Park Raceway, NSW – Race Report

GILES TAKES ORAN PARK SUPERBIKE VICTORY AHEAD OF STAUFFER, AS BAIRD CLAIMS SUPERSPORT WIN

The fifth and final round of the Australian Superbike Championship proved to be a difficult one for the trio of Radar’s Team Yamaha riders, but they were able to leave the Oran Park circuit with an overall win in the Supersport Championship and second in the Superbike Championship.

After qualifying their Yamaha YZF-R1s in fourth and fifth places, Jamie Stauffer and Craig Coxhell were involved in frantic battles at the head of each of the three 12-lap races.

Recently crowned Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles took the overall round win with two wins and a second (on a Suzuki GSX-R1000), while Stauffer claimed second overall with a third, a win and a second from the three races.

The opening race was shrouded in controversy, as Coxhell and Stauffer were both penalized for allegedly passing Shawn Giles at the final corner on the last lap. An accident on the penultimate lap had brought out the yellow flags at the last turn, but Coxhell in particular felt that he had made the pass prior to the yellow flag area. Officials relegated Coxhell and Stauffer to second and third behind Giles after a number of protests were heard.

The second race saw Stauffer take a flag-to-flag win ahead of Giles and Coxhell. The final race was shaping up as another battle between the top three, but Coxhell crashed at high speed at the end of the straight on lap four, ending a frustrating weekend for the 18-year-old. Giles took the win ahead of Stauffer who, after seeing his teammate crash in front of him, settled for a safe second and more importantly third overall in the championship.

“The first two races were great, but after Craig (Coxhell) crashed in front of me in the last, I just buttoned it off and took the points,” said Stauffer. “I saw Craig go down and then the rear of my bike did the same thing and had me off the side. I managed to hold onto it, but Craig’s crash was huge. I was thankful not to be a part of it. With regards to the season, I have a good year, in particular the second half. It’s my first year on the Yamaha YZF-R1, so to come away with second in the Formula Xtreme Tri-State and then third overall in the Australian Superbike Championship has been as good a result that I could have expected for the year.”

“I changed down to fifth at the end of the straight and just tipped it into the kink and the front just let go,” said Coxhell, who was nursing a possible broken left finger or hand after the fall. “I’m not sure what I hit, whether it was oil or debris, but it just let go. I suppose it would have been up around 250 kph. It was pretty big. As for race one, I can’t believe the decision made. I felt that I had got past Shawn (Giles), but the officials seem to see it differently. I’m not sure what the final outcome will be with regards to that.”

In contrast to his teammates, Queenslander Robbie Baird had the perfect weekend. Pole position with a time under the existing Supersport lap record was backed up with two brilliant race wins. The second 12-lap race was red-flagged after rain began to fall and a number of riders crashed as a result of the slippery conditions. Having crossed the line in the lead, Baird was in good position for the restart which he led until the final corner when newly crowned Supersport Champion Josh Brookes made a bold move to grab the lead. The combined aggregate of the race showed that Baird had enough to clinch his second win of the day and the overall round win.

“We worked hard for that result,” said Baird. “After last weekend, we went away and had a good think about things and came up with a completely different package which worked extremely well during qualifying. The track conditions changed sufficiently for today’s racing to be slower than what we were able to do yesterday. We’ve done a lot of work on the dyno in recent weeks and it has shown in the good results that we have achieved. It’s just a shame that we didn’t have this speed earlier in the season.”

Team Manager Dave `Radar’ Cullen was happy with the weekend’s results, even though there was controversy in the Superbike class.

“Some very positive things came out of the weekend,” said Cullen. “It was a major boost for Jamie to beat Shawn fair and square in race two, while both Jamie and Craig showed that they can challenge Giles for the race lead. The boys have done a great job this year. Both Craig and Jamie have ridden well and have given the team second and third in the championship. As for Robbie, he had a great day. Setting pole yesterday and then winning both races is a great result. He led from the front and showed the superior speed of his Yamaha YZF-R6 in each race. All-in-all I think we ended with the Championship with some strong results under what were at times difficult situations.”


Race 1, 12 Laps (Provisional)
1. Shawn Giles, Suzuki, 14:23.8145
2. Craig Coxhell, Yamaha, 14:24.0270
3. Jamie Stauffer, Yamaha, 14:24.4718
4. Wayne Maxwell, Kawasaki, 14:25.2795
5. Tony Rees, Yamaha, 14:25.3497
6. Alistair Maxwell, Suzuki, 14:47.4584
7. Clayton Landells, Suzuki, 14:51.4234
8. Chris Ognenis, Yamaha, 14:57.6014
9. Rodney Davis, Yamaha, 14:57.8056
10. Stephen Tozer, Yamaha, 14:58.3566
Fastest Lap: Shaun Giles (Suzuki) 1:10.8160 on lap 3.

Race 2, 12 Laps
1. Stauffer, 14:21.0906
2. Giles, 14:22.9488
3. Coxhell, 14:23.1916
4. Maxwell, 14:26.2313
5. Rees, 14:29.0930
6. Maxwell, 14:45.7890
7. Landells, 14:50.5501
8. Tozer, 14:50.9946
9. Davis, 14:56.5140
10. Fisher, 14:59.8297
Fastest Lap: Shaun Giles (Suzuki) 1:10.8800 on lap 3.

Race 3, 12 Laps
1. Giles, 14:24.1985
2. Stauffer, 14:31.2307
3. Rees, 14:39.1293
4. Maxwell, 14:49.0128
5. Landells, 14:50.8083
6. Davis, 14:50.9715
7. Fisher, 14:52.8175
8. Tozer, 14:55.9479
9. Normoyle, 15:28.8876
10. Gray, 15:30.0956
Fastest Lap: Shaun Giles (Suzuki) 1:11.2393 on lap 4.


2001 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship
(Provisional points after 5 0f 5 rounds)
1. Giles, 352
2. Coxhell, 219
3. Stauffer, 190
4. Rees, 184
5. Cudlin, 127

Supersport Race 1, 12 Laps
1. Robert Baird, Yamaha, 14:51.7798
2. Ben Attard, Honda,14:52.0425
3. Daniel Stauffer, Suzuki, 14:54.0157
4. Mark Aitchison, Suzuki, 14:54.0926
5. Josh Brookes, Suzuki, 15:00.9901
Fastest Lap: Ben Attard (Honda) 1:13.1866 on lap 7.

Supersport Race 2, 12 Laps (Provisional) Merged times after restart
1. Baird, 15:10.3298
2. Brookes, 15:10.6985
3. Stauffer, 15:14.2948
4. Attard, 15:15.2712
5. Cameron Donald, Suzuki, 15:15.5104
Fastest Lap: Daniel Stauffer (Suzuki) 1:13.4040 on lap 11


2001 Shell Advance Australian Supersport Championship
(Provisional points after 5 0f 5 rounds)
1. Brookes, 198
2. Stauffer, 149
3. Baird, 148
4. Clarke, 113
5. Charlton, 107