Team Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss kicked off his 2010 season with the overall win in the opening round of the Australian Supersport Championship, run in conjunction with the Superbike World Championship first round at Victoria’s Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit at the weekend. In only his second full season of Supersport racing, Herfoss had a near-perfect start to his title assault with a close third in the opening race, backed up with a dominant win in race two. The 23-year-old missed victory in race one by just 0.059sec after a race-long battle with eventual winner Christian Casella and fellow Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Brodie Waters; the trio flashing across the finish line with less than 600ths-of-a-second covering all three bikes. After some minor suspension adjustments between the two 12-lap races, Herfoss powered to a 5.410sec victory in race two over experienced international competitor Kevin Curtain, with Waters third. Herfoss’s 43pt tally across the two races gives the 2008 US Supermoto Champion a narrow one-point lead over Casella in the six-round series, with Waters third (38pts) and Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Chas Hern fourth (30pts). In the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championship reigning champion Josh Waters had a mixed commencement to the defence of his title. The 23-year-old Team Suzuki rider, who won the 2009 title in his rookie Superbike year, missed pole position by just 0.001sec to fastest-qualifier Wayne Maxwell. Third in the opening 12-lap race, just 1.293sec behind race-winner Maxwell, and only 0.123sec behind second-placed Bryan Staring, was followed by disappointment in race two when a gear lever malfunction on lap four left Waters’ GSX-R1000 stuck in third gear. He completed the 10-lap journey in third gear to secure 9pts, his tally of 27pts across the two races leaving the defending champion 24pts off the series lead. Shawn Giles finished sixth overall on 29pts after recording sixth and seventh placings; the three-time Australian Superbike champion admitting that his tactics to combat Phillip Island’s tyre-punishing high speeds did not work in his favour. “I didn’t encounter those sort of grip problems when we tested here earlier in the year, but Phillip Island is one of the world’s most-punishing tracks on tyres. The track temperature on Friday was up to 54 degrees, and the conditions were affecting the world teams as well. It was a matter of balancing fast lap times with tyre conservation, and setting the bike up to cope,” added Giles. The Phillip Island Superbike World Championship race meeting also marked the one-year anniversary of Team Suzuki’s custom-built New Breed Mack Trident transporter, the impressive rig drawing plenty of admirers from the visiting international Superbike teams. Phil Tainton – Team Manager: “It’s been a great weekend for Troy and I’m extremely happy with his results. We were looking for a good start to the 2010 season, and he delivered. Troy’s just entering his second full season of road racing and he rode with a maturity beyond his years. With three Suzuki GSX-R600s in the top-four positions after the opening Supersport round, it shows the strength of the current model. “It was a frustrating meeting for the Superbike guys, Josh and Shawn. Sometimes those things happen in racing, but a good team will always bounce back. And we will: Josh was on his game across the weekend – as he has been in recent pre-season testing. It looked like race two was going to be his until the linkage problem. Shawn had some minor problems too – none of which we experienced in our pre-season testing. “I’d like to congratulate the Suzuki Alstare Team and Leon Haslam in leading the World Championship. With Leon and his team mate Sylvain Guintoli also getting the fastest laps in races one and two respectively, it shows just how strong the 2010 GSX-R1000 is.” Troy Herfoss: “I’m really pleased with the weekend results. My plan for race two was to get in front early and avoid the close battle that I had with Christian and Brodie in race one. It was hard to settle down and be consistent in race one as we were fighting for position all the time. Race one was a real hard scrap – nobody gave a millimetre. “The team made some suspension changes for race two which gave me more confidence in the front-end and I could push harder. The plan for race two worked and we got the result we were after. It’s great to be leading the championship.” Joshua Waters: “My bike had the pace to win both races, so it’s disappointing to be eighth in the championship after the opening round. The good news is that there are still five rounds remaining, so it’s up to me to haul back some points. “In race one I lost some rear grip in the closing laps and couldn’t challenge for the lead, but the 18 points for third was a steady start to the year. In race two I felt I had their measure – my bike had the pace, that’s for sure. I had a one-second gap after three laps, but as I went into Turn Two on lap four, the gear-linkage broke and I was stuck in third gear for the rest of the race. I managed a 1:37.9 doing a whole lap in third! “Eighth overall is not the way I wanted to start my championship defence, so it’s up to me now to knuckle down and keep winning races to close down the gap.” Shawn Giles: “Phillip Island always creates good racing – I really love the circuit – but I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say it was a frustrating weekend for me. “I had a few problems with set-up in qualifying and couldn’t get a clear run at a good time. To end up fifth fastest and leading row two on the grid was a good outcome: In race one I got a good start and my tactic was to conserve my rear tyre and then make a run for the lead near the end – but that plan didn’t work. In race two I changed the tyre pressures, but found I didn’t have the same level of grip as race one. Then I got run wide at Turn Two, and that dropped me back. “The Superbike class looks like being really competitive this year – one of the toughest yet. To be sixth overall isn’t too bad given some of the problems I had and I’m looking forward to the next round at Hidden Valley and clawing back some points.” Superbike Overall Results: 1 Wayne Maxwell, 2 Bryan Staring, 3 Jamie Stauffer, 4 Shannon Johnson, 5 Scott Charlton (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 6 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 7 Glenn Allerton, 8 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 9 Jordan Burgess; 10 Kris McLaren. Superbike Championship points (after 1 of 6 rounds): 1 Wayne Maxwell 51pts, 2 Bryan Staring 38, 3 Jamie Stauffer 37, 4 Shannon Johnson 33, 5 Scott Charlton (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 29, 6 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 29, 7 Glenn Allerton 28, 8 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 27, 9 Jordan Burgess 24; 10 Kris McLaren 24. Supersport Overall Results: 1 Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R600), 2 Christian Casella, 3 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 4 Chas Hern (Suzuki GSX-R600), 5 Ben Burke, 6 Jed Metcher, 7 Mitchell Carr (Suzuki GSX-R600), 8 Mitchell Pirotta, 9 Kevin Curtain, 10 Ryan Taylor. Supersport Championship points (after 1 of 6 rounds): 1 Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R600) 43pts, 2 Christian Casella 42, 3 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 38, 4 Chas Hern (Suzuki GSX-R600) 300,, 5 Ben Burke 30, 6 Jed Metcher 24, 7 Mitchell Carr (Suzuki GSX-R600) 24, 8 Mitchell Pirotta 22, 9 Kevin Curtain 20, 10 Ryan Taylor 20.