Team Yoshimura Suzuki rider Joshua Waters gave Suzuki’s 2007-model GSX-R600 a stunning maiden win at round five of the Australian Supersport Championship at Launceston’s Symmons Plains Raceway at the weekend. With a crowd of 5000 attending the Tasmanian event, Waters claimed a dominant 5.188sec win over defending Australian Supersport Champion Jamie Stauffer in the second of the day’s two 20-lap Supersport races, moving to third overall in the eight-round national series. It may well have been a double race win for the 20-year-old, as he held the early lead in the opening Supersport race when it was red-flagged by race officials. A slow start by Waters in the restarted opening race saw him finish a determined fourth as he chased the leading group, the combined points from the two races giving the Victorian second overall for the round. Waters joined Team Yoshimura Suzuki at the start of the 2007 season; Sunday’s win was the first for the ex-Australian 125GP Champion in his new colours and the first for the Suzuki GSX-R600K7 in what was only its sixth race meeting for the team. There was further success for Team Yoshimura Suzuki in the Superbike class where Craig Coxhell finished the round third overall on his GSX-R1000K7 after recording two second placings in the two 20-lap Superbike races. Coxhell, the 2003 Australian Superbike Champion, finished just 1.050sec adrift of reigning champion Jamie Stauffer after a spirited charge in the closing laps of race one. In race two, the 24-year-old was again second, 1.906sec behind race winner Glenn Allerton. The Victorian’s results were all the more impressive as unlike his opposition he had not raced at the daunting 2.41km Symmons Plains circuit previously. It was only Coxhell’s second race meeting on the new 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000, which he debuted at the previous round of the series at South Australia’s Mallala circuit with a race win and new lap record. Three times Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles carded two top-10 results at Symmons Plains – eighth in race one and ninth in race two – although the experienced Giles admitted it was taking longer for him to find a confident set-up on the new 2007 bike than he would have liked. Team Yoshimura Suzuki satellite rider Robbie Bugden recorded ninth and seventh placings to end the round eighth overall on his 2006-model Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike and give the team three riders in the top nine for the round. Phil Tainton – Team Manager: “It’s been a good weekend for us and I’m extremely happy with the results – a race win for Josh in the Supersport class on the GSX-R600 and two podiums for the new 2007 GSX-R1000K7 in only its second race meeting. “Josh rode two great races in the Supersport Championship on a bike that’s still being developed and now that he’s got that first win under his belt I’m sure there are more to come. “Craig’s two second placings on a circuit he’d never raced at before was a superb effort too and backs up his results at the previous round at Mallala. We only got the race-kit parts for Craig’s and Shawn’s 2007 bikes a few days before that Mallala meeting so it’s still early days for the GSX-R1000K7. “Congratulations to Jamie Stauffer and Glenn Allerton on their Superbike race wins today. Joshua Waters: “That win in race two was just the best feeling – not just for me, but I was so happy for the team. The guys made some minor changes to the bike’s set-up after the first race and I had a fresher rear tyre in the second. Once I got in front I was confident I could stay there as I knew the bike was strong. “My bike had good speed all weekend and I was able to brake late because it was so stable, two things that are important on this circuit. To have jumped to third in the points with three rounds still remaining is a position I’m happy with, especially as it’s the first season for the Suzuki GSX-R600. There’s more to come, I’m sure.” Craig Coxhell: “I’m happy to come away with two strong results on a track I haven’t raced at before, but in some ways I’m a bit disappointed too as I thought we could have taken the win. On the slow-down lap after the last race I actually thought I’d won the meeting overall with two second placings and it was only when I got back to the pits I found out I’d missed out by two points. “The pace was really hot in the opening laps of the second race and I couldn’t stick with the front guys when I had a full fuel load as I couldn’t brake as hard as I wanted to. Once the fuel burned off I could up the pace and chase them down, and then when Dan and Jamie ran wide at the hairpin, I said ‘Thank you, I’ll take that’. “I’ve quite enjoyed this circuit, and trying to go through the fast sweeper on full throttle is a real challenge on a Superbike. I managed it on my qualifying lap, which was pretty exciting.” Shawn Giles: “It’s good to come away with points in both races, but I’m disappointed with my results. I had some problems getting a fast lap in qualifying and that put me back on row three for both races. “My bike had good speed all weekend and I can’t say enough about the team. But starting from row three was always going to be difficult at this circuit as it’s pretty much single file through the first three corners. “The Superbike class is so competitive this year, and less than a second covered the top 11 riders in qualifying. It’s difficult if you don’t get away in the leading group. The 2007 bike is quite a bit different to the 2006 bike I raced in the first three rounds and it’s a matter of setting it up to suit my riding style. It’s taking a little longer than I’d like, but we’re heading in the right direction.” Robbie Budgen: “It’s been a consistent weekend and I guess eighth overall for the round isn’t too bad. I was the only rider in the top 10 who didn’t attend the recent Superbike test session at the circuit, so we were playing a bit of catch-up on bike set-up. “I was happier with my second race and seventh in that one – and I was only five points off fifth overall for the round. The pace was pretty hot today, as a new lap record shows.” 2007 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP: Superbike Overall Results: 1 Glenn Allerton, 2 Jamie Stauffer, 3 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 4 Dan Stauffer, 5 Scott Charlton, 6 Russell Holland, 7 Wayne Maxwell, 8 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 9 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 10 Chris Seaton. Superbike Championship Points (after 5 of 8 rounds): 1 Jamie Stauffer 235, 2 Daniel Stauffer 185, 3 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 175, 4 Glenn Allerton 169, 5 Wayne Maxwell 140, 6 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 132, 7 Shannon Johnson 126, 8 Scott Charlton 118. 9 Russell Holland 117, 10 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 100. Supersport Overall Results: 1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 3 Jason O’Halloran, 4 Russell Holland, 5 Sam Smith, 6 Gareth Jones, 7 Jeremy Crowe, 5, 8 Nick Henderson, 9 Chris Trounson, 10 Wayne Maxwell. Supersport Championship Points (after 5 of 8 rounds): 1 Jason O’Halloran 224, 2 Jamie Stauffer 211, 3 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 176, 4 Jeremy Crowe 169, 5 Russell Holland 168, 6 Gareth Jones 109, 7 Wayne Maxwell 104, 8 Bryan Staring 97, 9 Chris Seaton 94, 10 Mick Kelly 93. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Australia: Stauffer on song at Symmons Plains for Yamaha After a wet and wild start to its Symmons Plains weekend, the Yamaha Racing Team has delivered a solid showing of results in both premier classes, with Jamie Stauffer taking the Supersport round win and coming a close second in Superbikes. Friday’s free practice sessions saw riders take to the track in extremely wet conditions, with many opting to wait out the deluge in the garages before chasing a setup. Having tested at the Tasmanian circuit prior to the round, the Yamaha Racing Team was confident its race machines, the dominant R1 and R6, were on song and risked little, setting a few “banker” laps across the course of the day but holding off their biggest attack for qualifying. And attack they did, with Dan Stauffer putting his hand up for a deserved Superbike pole position and Jason O’Halloran maintaining his electrifying form for the number one grid position in Supersport. Yamaha Racing Team Superbike Jamie Stauffer has today put the equivalent of an entire round worth of championship points between himself and second place in the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship title hunt, rounding out the weekend to finish on equal points as the eventual round victor. The points system favours the winner of the second and final race of the event, therefore Stauffer was forced to take a back seat to Glenn Allerton, after the pair recorded 1-4 and 4-1 race finishes respectively. Stauffer headed into Sunday nursing a slight soreness from a spectacular qualifying crash, but was determined not to use it as an excuse. From second place on the grid he rode a smooth opening race to take the win, pleased with the ability of his R1 to put the power down strongly and handly equally as well through the tight corners. He fought a close battle with his brother and rival manufacturer frontrunners for much of the second race, and was disappointed to have his late charge thwarted by a backmarker, having to settle for 4th. “The opening race was pretty good, I knew the bike had some good pace and I sat with Dan there for a while, mirroring what he was doing as he was having a great race,” said Stauffer. “I coasted around before making the move for first and brought it home, it all came together in the second half of the race for Yamaha and Dan was unlucky to lose out to Craig Coxhell there for second.” “The second race didn’t really go to plan, I’d gotten off to an average start and was reeling in the leaders but ended up having my run slowed in the last few laps so there was no opportunity to give the win a shot.” “It was a good weekend however and to stretch the championship lead to an even round (50 points) is a good position to be in.” Dan Stauffer had one of his most competitive showings of the year, beginning with a fantastic pole position after a day of trying conditions and uncertainty as to the track’s condition. He got away to a good start in the first race and found himself leading the pack for a number of laps, with brother Jamie shadowing his every move. Pacesetter and pioneer lap after lap, Dan revealed post-race that he had pushed the rear tyre to the limit and after falling back to third he had little grip to push ahead with. He crossed the line in third in race 1, and recorded an identical result in the second and final race of the day to finish in 4th overall for the weekend, adding a valuable 37 points to his championship standings. “It was a pretty good weekend, starting off very well with the pole position and we really showed some good pace there, enjoying a few good fights at the front,” said Stauffer. “I pushed quite hard at the beginning of both races and it probably hurt me in the long run, I might have given the tyres too much of a hard time there but Dunlop certainly gave us a good package to work with.” “Full credit to the team for a good result once again, it’s good to be up at the pointy end of the standings and still firmly in second place on the home run in the championship.” Yamaha Racing Team Supersport The Yamaha Racing Team’s Supersport trio was once again leading the charge on track this weekend, with pole position, a race win and the eventual round win all claimed by the dominant factory R6 machine. Jason O’Halloran, the form rider and championship leader got off to the best possible start, snaring pole position from Jamie Stauffer by less than a tenth of a second. This intriguing internal battle continued on track, with O’Halloran and Stauffer dicing for the race lead, both strong under brakes and producing some close and spectacular racing. Stauffer eventually found a way past, and took the race 1 win by just over a second from O’Halloran. The battle raged again in race 2, but the Yamaha duo found themselves bumped down a position by a determined Josh Waters who was the runaway winner, Stauffer second, O’Halloran finishing in third. In terms of the round, Stauffer’s 1st and 2nd placings handed him the overall Supersport win, his first for the year, and O’Halloran rounded out the podium in third. While disappointed to see his win streak come to an end, O’Halloran was pleased he had not lost much ground in his championship campaign and was looking forward to a competitive showing at Queensland Raceway. “Everyone worked really hard at it this weekend but we just weren’t quite good enough,” explained O’Halloran. “It was great to start on pole but I didn’t quite have the race pace hold on for a win, Jamie was strong under brakes in a number of corners a and managed to slip by me.” “It was a competitive class this weekend and some really tight corners and short areas to get the power down meant I was giving the rear tyre a real workout, two third placings is fairly good and means I am still leading the championship by 13 points.” After taking his maiden Supersport round win at Symmons Plains in 2006, Jeremy Crowe was confident heading into the weekend, but understandably deflated this afternoon after having struggled to make an impression on the race leaders across the course of the day. He finished race 1 in 5th place and race 2 in 9th, unable to find a rhythm and getting few opportunities to break through the tight battle pack. “It wasn’t really my weekend, the bike was running well and I went into the round pretty confident after the test and of course last year’s round win but just couldn’t find the pace to catch the front guys,” said Crowe. “It’s disappointing to drop a place in the series standings but there’s still lots of opportunities to make this back, I’m looking forward to heading up to Queensland in the next few weeks and chasing a good balance on the R6 in the initial tests.” 2007 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship Rnd 5,Symmons Plains Raceway, Tasmania Superbike 1. Glenn ALLERTON, 42 2. Jamie STAUFFER, 42 3. Craig COXHELL, 40 4. Daniel STAUFFER, 37 5. Scott CHARLTON, 31 6. Russell HOLLAND, 29 7. Wayne MAXWELL, 29 8. Robert BUGDEN, 26 9. Shawn GILES, 25 10. Christopher SEATON, 21 Supersport 1. Jamie STAUFFER, 45 2. Joshua WATERS, 42 3. Jason O’HALLORAN, 39 4. Russell HOLLAND, 35 5. Sam SMITH, 31 6. Gareth JONES, 29 7. Jeremy CROWE, 28 8. Nick HENDERSON, 26 9. Chris TROUNSON, 22 10. Wayne MAXWELL, 22 Current championship points after Round 5 of 8 Superbike 1. Jamie STAUFFER, 235 2. Daniel STAUFFER, 185 3. Craig COXHELL, 175 4. Glenn ALLERTON, 169 5. Wayne MAXWELL, 140 6. Shawn GILES, 132 7. Shannon JOHNSON, 126 8. Scott CHARLTON, 118 9. Russell HOLLAND, 117 10. Robert BUGDEN, 100 Supersport 1. Jason O’HALLORAN, 224 2. Jamie STAUFFER, 211 3. Joshua WATERS, 176 4. Jeremy CROWE, 169 5. Russell HOLLAND, 168 6. Gareth JONES, 109 7. Wayne MAXWELL, 104 8. Bryan STARING, 97 9. Christopher SEATON, 94 10. Mick KELLY, 93