Team Honda Racing Extends Championship Lead at Round 5 ASC!
Local hero Troy Herfoss has claimed victory at Round 5 of the Swann Insurance Superbike Championship at Wakefield Park today, winning the round overall and extending his championship lead by 16 points.
Herfoss showed good pace through practice and qualifying on Friday to line up on the front row in P3 heading into Saturday’s FX-Superbike races with teammate #2 Jamie Stauffer in P5 on the grid.
Emerging as the one to beat at this event, Herfoss finished 1st in all 3 FX-Superbike races yesterday, but was penalised for passing under a yellow flag in Race 1 and relegated to 2nd place. Still, the series leader recorded the fastest lap time of each race, placed himself in Pole position for Sunday’s races and extended his FX-Superbike Championship lead by 16 points.
Stauffer is now placed 6th in the FX-Superbike series after a frustrating day out on the wet track yesterday saw him finish 4th in two races and suffer an electrical problem in Race 2 that caused him to record a DNF.
Today, the sun was shining for the Swann Insurance Superbike Championship and the Honda CBR1000RR SP of Troy Herfoss lit up the track in Superbike Race 1, staking his claim with a convincing win. Herfoss recorded the fastest lap of the race from his pole position start, a 58.069 sec and looked confident heading into Race 2.
The second Superbike race of the day saw a terrific battle at the front of the field between Allerton and Herfoss with an impressive lunge by Herfoss on the final lap almost bringing him undone as he ran off the track. Fortunately, the Honda rider was able to rejoin the race and take 3rd place.
Race 3 belonged to Herfoss from the start and he finished a terrific event with the race 3 win and the fastest lap of the race, a 58.175 sec. His weekend was complete. Taking the overall Round 5 win and extending his lead in the Swann Insurance Superbike Championship, Troy Herfoss could not be more pleased. “I am really happy to get Wakefield Park out of the way with a bag of wins and a much healthier championship lead. Now we can look forward to Winton, Round 6 and try to build on our lead going into the finale at Sydney Motorsport Park.”
Stauffer started the Swann Series races today from the second row of the grid after yesterday’s DNF cost him dearly. He fought hard in all 3 races, taking home a 4th and two 5th place finishes. His weekend not quite going to plan, Stauffer is keen to move forward to Round 6, saying “It was a tough weekend for me. Not finishing Race 2 on Saturday put me back in 8th on the grid for today’s races. The team and I worked really hard to improve the lap times in the races, but it just didn’t come together. We’ll go away, regroup and hopefully come out strong at Round 6 at Winton.”
With 2 events to go in the 2015 season, Team Principal, Paul Free is extremely happy to see the championship lead increased, commenting “Heading into the penultimate event of the season, a lot can happen, but I am really happy to come away with an extended lead in both championships after Round 5 so well done to Troy on a great weekend. Jamie had a frustrating weekend I think it is fair to say, but I have every faith in the team to come out strong at Winton for Round 6. The Honda will be strong at that circuit and I am really looking forward to the event to see what unfolds.”