Herfoss increases his speed and confidence at Winton
September 22, 2016
The Official Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli, test days have now concluded successfully after two days of riders putting rubber to tarmac at Winton Motor Raceway.
Competitors today were treated to illustrious weather compared to yesterday’s rainfall for their second and final test day before the commencement of Round 6 of the YMF ASBK Championship next weekend.
With fine track conditions, and the track temperature increasing throughout the day riders were treated with ample opportunities to lay their fastest time, and gain valuable knowledge of the newly resurfaced track.
With a dry track from the first session this morning the difference in times was prominent, as Crankt Protien Honda Racing Team’s Troy Herfoss, by lap two, had already posted a time of 1 minute 27.188 seconds. Almost six seconds down of yesterday’s time of 1:33.951.
Adding another dynamic into the mix current Championship points leader Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell made appearance in the second session, however Herfoss once again found time to post another quick session time.
By the end of the day Herfoss had found his groove and continued to drop seconds to post the official fastest lap time of 1:20.405 heading in to Round 6. If times can be replicated at the grand finale round, lap records will be breaking. The current lap record held by Wayne Maxwell at 1:22.287.
“It was great to get a full dry day here at Winton Motor Raceway!” Herfoss said.
“This official ASBK test worked out ideal really, as our main worry was rain at Winton. So we managed to get that out of the way yesterday and we definitely improved the Crankt Protein Team Honda Racing CBR1000RRSP machine in the wet.
“This morning, the track was a little bit dirty, however as the day got on the track cleaned up. The team and I managed to clock a 1min20.405 on my fifth lap, which is pretty fast around here.
“It’s definitely a hell of a lot faster than I have ever been. Carrying on from Morgan Park Raceway, the confidence is high. I can go straight from pit lane and feel good on the bike.
“Now it’s time to reset and turn our attention to the final round of the ASBK in a few days’ time,” he concluded.
The Australia Superbike’s today got to witness the return of a 2009 and 2012 Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters who finished second in the Superbike class today with a time of 1:21.432. With a promising result today there is solid speculation, with the last round only a week away, that Water’s will make his Australian Championship return at Winton Motor Raceway.
Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team’s Jamie Stauffer concluded the day with the third fastest time 1:21.767 on his Honda CBR1000RRSP machine.
In the Motul Supersport class Banham’s WA Racing’s Sam Clarke (1:24.550) despite some challenges throughout the day posted the fastest overall time today over Triumph mounted Mark Chiodo only a fraction off the pace with a 1:24.597. Cube Racing’s Callum Spriggs finished off the two testing days with a total fastest time of 1:25.073.
In the combined session with Moto3, YMF R3 Cup and Production competitors, it was the two Moto 3 machines of Dylan Whiteside (1:33.115) and Locky Taylor (1:33.298) who concluded the test day today with the fastest times first and second respectively.
Kawasaki mounted Cube Racing supported Tom Toparis (1:34.047) was fastest in the Production class times, while Jack Mahaffy (1:36.078) was the fastest Yamaha R3 machine. Douglas Bloomer was once again the quickest Club Challenge competitor on track today with a time of 1:33.389.
With the test days done and dusted competitors will now turn their attention to the nail biting round in just on one week’s time. The 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli, competitors will put it all on the line at Winton Motor Raceway this September 30 – October 2.
For a full list of results from both Wednesday September 21 and Thursday September 22, head to www.computime.com.au.
To keep up to date with everything happening in the ASBK world in the lead up to the grand finale round head to www.asbk.com.au, like the ASBK on Facebook or follow @asbk on Instagram.