Features 17 Sep 2014

Cycle Central: 37

A front row view of Australian road racing, presented by Alpinestars.

Wakefield Park’s penultimate round of the Australasian Superbike Championship is in the books and it was another dominant showing from Team Honda Racing. Troy Herfoss was once again the outright pace-setter, title leader Wayne Maxwell the winner and, almost just as importantly, the racing was stacked with action throughout the classes and fields.

It doesn’t actually seem like all that long ago we were at Wakefield Park for the season opener, and while the hype around the series isn’t quite as big as it was at round one (all season openers are massive), round five attracted a very favourable crowd of motorcyclists and fans across the weekend – no doubt assisted by the late-season form of hometown hero Herfoss.

At this point of the year with just one round of the ASC to run and the MotoGP support races (aka the Phillip Island Championship), attention is beginning to turn toward next year on a domestic level.

Despite Motorcycling Australia (MA) recently announcing it will attempt to resurrect its series in opposition to the ASC again, there’s little doubt that Terry O’Neill’s Swann Series will be the one to win come 2015 unless something major happens between now and then. It has momentum on its side, an increasingly refined structure and the runs on the board. People are enjoying it.

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

While there is always the major interest in who’s going where in terms of rider signings at factory-supported teams, what the ASC boasts is a genuine platform for riders to participate in consistently from year to year on a national level. And the quality of those competitors is ramping up each season, so it’s a real win-win for the sport.

As for the teams, none have confirmed their plans at this stage. Some are waiting to see what MA will produce, others are of course waiting to see what the ASC provides next year as well, but don’t rule out some teams (both factory and privateer) budgeting for both if feasible.

It’s looking like the Maxwell to Yamaha rumour is gaining momentum, which would be a massive boost for the team entering 2015 with the new R1 (and a lot of pressure too, if he does take home the number one plate). There’s been no sign that he’ll remain at Honda, which many are doubting will remain a four-rider stable.

So the question is, if Maxwell does jump ship to Yamaha, will YRT increase to four riders again (it started out that way this year before Kev Curtain retired), or will an existing rider lose their seat? Robbie Bugden, Cru Halliday and Rick Olson all have reasons to be retained, but we will see in due course. The pressure’s on.

The other question remains, if Honda does shrink from four riders to three, two or possibly just one, who will be included? Again, all current riders – Maxwell, Herfoss, Jamie Stauffer and Josh Hook in this case – deserve factory rides. It will cause a severe bottleneck if any of the teams reduce in rider entries.

Image: Alex Gobert.

Image: Alex Gobert.

At Next Gen Motorsports it’s almost a given each year that we will see Glenn Allerton on board the team, which could benefit from the new BMW S 1000 RR to be unveiled late this month. But he too is due for renewal and could play a leading role in the silly season if a large amount of shuffling occurs.

But at the end of it all, to be honest, until the teams and riders know themselves what the future holds, we won’t have any concrete information either. It’s still good fun sizing it all up though!

One very welcome trend we are seeing is riders gaining international experience and attention, either through the Endurance World Championship or the Asia Road Racing Championship. Between that and local competition, we’re likely to see a fresh route to the world stage on a more consistent basis as our riders gain comfort and bring in the results.

That’s it for this week; I’m flat out on various news deadlines and Toby is on holiday, so stay tuned for more to come on the site as the afternoon rolls over. Keep an eye on our social media accounts for regular updates; just search ‘CycleOnline’ on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Recent