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Team Suzuki Shines In Sunny Queensland 14th July 2010 7 June 2010 RACE REPORT TEAM SUZUKI SHINES IN SUNNY QUEENSLAND
Team Suzuki rider Josh Waters backed up his clean sweep at the previous round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway with a hard-fought second overall at the third round of the series at Queensland Raceway on June 4-6.
Under a bright blue sky and sunny conditions the reigning Australian Superbike Champion was second in both 16-lap races behind dual race winner Bryan Staring, finishing just 2.276sec and 2.727sec adrift on each occasion.
Waters claimed the fastest lap on race day at 1:10.424sec, set in race two, as he tried to find a way past Staring.
Waters’ tally of 40 points from the round has consolidated third in the championship at the halfway point of the six-round series, just 9.5pts off the series lead.
Three-time New Zealand Superbike champion Robbie Bugden and three-time Australian Superbike champion Shawn Giles finished fourth and fifth respectively to give Team Suzuki three riders in the top five at the round.
Giles, who celebrates his 40th birthday on the Tuesday after the meeting, was just 1.230sec off the podium in race one, while Bugden missed the podium by just 0.236sec in race two after a titanic battle with Wayne Maxwell, the latter third in each race.
There was further good news for Team Suzuki with Troy Herfoss taking overall honours in the Australian Supersport Championship on his Suzuki GSX-R600 and extending his lead at the head of the points table after three rounds of the six-round series.
Herfoss qualified in pole position, and won both races by 2.568sec and 0.645sec respectively over fellow Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Brodie Waters.
The second Supersport race didn’t go the full 16-lap distance after being red-flagged by race officials on lap 12 following an incident involving Dylan Mavin. Herfoss was in front at the time of the red flag and therefore awarded the race win.
The 23-year-old had earlier set the fastest Supersport time of the day in race one at 1:13.005sec.
Waters, who had been in dominating form at the previous round of the series at Hidden Valley (NT), admitted that the 3.12km Queensland Raceway presented more of a challenge in finding a suitable set-up for his Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.
“There are a lot of bumps on this circuit so it was a challenge finding a set-up that worked well,” said Waters.
Waters’ Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 was the fastest bike through the speed trap on Queensland Raceway’s back straight, recording a top speed of 273km/h in Friday’s opening practice session.
The fastest lap of the day, set by Waters in Sunday’s race two with a 1:10.424sec, was 0.1656sec below the V8 Supercar lap record of 1:10.5896 held by Ford Falcon driver James Courtney.
At the half-way stage Staring leads the six-round Australian Superbike Championship on 115 points from Maxwell on 110.5 with Waters 105.5. Shawn Giles is fourth on 82.5pts.
In the Australian Supersport Championship Herfoss has a 19pt lead over Brodie Waters (140 to 121), with Christan Casella third on 113.
The series returns to Queensland Raceway on August 20-22 for round four of the six-round series.
PHIL TAINTON – TEAM MANAGER
“Troy has now won all three rounds in Supersport this year, and again displayed a maturity beyond his years to take a clean sweep of pole position and both races.
“The level of competition in the Superbike class is extremely high, so to have Josh, Robbie and Shawn finish second, fourth and fifth was a great result.
“It was a challenging weekend finding a set-up for the Superbike guys that they were happy with, as the circuit is quite bumpy in parts.
“Of course we want to win every time we go out there, and winning both classes was our aim. But Bryan (Staring) got his package working a little better on the day, so congratulations to him.
“Josh is just 9.5pts off the championship lead, and we learned a lot this weekend which will allow us to come back stronger when we return for the next round here in August.”
“My team was awesome and worked non-stop to improve the bike every time I went out. We got it better each time and there wasn’t much between Bryan and I at the finish, but I just didn’t get the job done.
“We changed the bike for this meeting after the previous round in Darwin, but will have to go back to what we know. Nobody was going to beat Bryan this weekend.
“I’ve only lost one and a half points to the championship lead, so I’m looking forward to the next round.”
SHAWN GILES
“I had a few problems getting a set-up I was happy with, and I couldn’t get the confident feel in the front end I was after. That made it hard for me to pull the bike up.
“The team worked non-stop all weekend, and kept making set-up changes until I had the confidence to push harder. I can’t thank them enough.
“Those guys up front were riding elbows out and pretty aggressively, and I guess I was riding a bit placid while I chased set-up.
“I’m looking forward to coming back for the next round at Queensland Raceway in August.”
ROBBIE BUGDEN
“It would have been good to have got on the podium in that final race, but Wayne (Maxwell) just got me on the last lap by a bike length.
“It’s been a good weekend and fourth overall is a good result.”
TROY HERFOSS
“Race one was a little harder than I expected. I didn’t know who was behind me, but I knew they were close.
“I would have preferred if race two hadn’t been red-flagged and had gone the full distance, as I felt good out front.
“Once I got in front of Brodie (Waters) I felt comfortable that I could stay there. There was no luck involved with the red flag, that’s for sure.”
2010 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
Superbike Overall Results - Round 3
Superbike Championship Points (after 3 of 6 rounds)
Supersport Overall Results - Round 3
Supersport Championship Points (after 3 of 6 rounds)
Sou Fong |
