Round four of the Swann Series is in the books after a frostbitten and hard-fought weekend at Winton.

Heading into the event there was no real suggestion as to which bike would stand out. There has been plenty of chatter about parity in previous rounds but it was generally regarded as an event that would be wide open for the taking.

There were a handful of stellar rides across Saturday and Sunday but the performance of Troy Herfoss deserves special highlight.

Troy came within a few bike lengths of his first ‘Sunday’ Superbike win at Queensland Raceway and the disappointment at losing out to Glenn Allerton’s BMW in the drag to the line was only too evident.

Last weekend represented a breakthrough for Herfoss, who took wins in race one and race three. Misfortune in the form of a minor lowside crash cost him in terms of the ultimate round win, but it was a defining day nonethless.

Image: Keith Muir.

Considering Herfoss very nearly gave away the sport after a fairly harrowing experience in Germany, it’s remarkable for him to be back in this position and beating the series’ seasoned competitors.

For teammate Wayne Maxwell it was a productive event, not only yielding an individual race win but also the round. In terms of the bigger picture, the 2014 title, it was another important result, with Maxwell taking over the points lead.

Special mention to Jamie Stauffer for fronting up and running in the top seven throughout all three races. Nursing a broken ankle, it was a big ask to be competitive but as we have seen on previous occasions, he has the ability to grit his teeth and fight when it’s most required.

It was a weekend of damage limitation for Jamie who did drop the lead but still sits second, just 14 points behind Maxwell.

While it wasn’t the winning weekend they may have been hoping for, Yamaha did put together a consistent string of results on Sunday, including a race two podium for Cru Halliday.

It wouldn’t have been the weekend Glenn Allerton and the Next Gen outfit were wanting for either, with the dual race winner from Queensland Raceway toughing it out for a single podium on Sunday.

Image: Keith Muir.

In terms of the title, Team Honda are stacking the top of the table but there is never any discounting Allerton who is still easily in reach of a second national championship win for 2014.

In the Supersport ranks Aaron Morris moved further clear of his rivals with two wins and a second place, challenged all the way by Aiden Wagner who took two seconds and a win.

Like the Superbike class, the 600s were hobbled by injury to one of their main men, though Callum Spriggs put in a stellar effort to take third in all three races.

A quick look abroad before we wrap things up and there’s definitely lots of anticipation ahead of MotoGP’s resumption at Indy.

The silly season has been particularly active in the off weekends and it will be interesting to see how the remainder of the year plays out with a number of changes on the horizon after the final race.

That’s it for this week. Follow us on social media to keep updated on news as it happens. Just search ‘CycleOnline’ on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.