Image: Keith Muir.

Team Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss has claimed opening round honours in the Superbike class at the 2015 ASBK Championship held at Phillip Island today.

Herfoss claimed a second place and a race win from the two races on offer to finish ahead of teammate Josh Hook with Cube Racing Kawasaki’s Mike Jones finishing the day in third.

The opening race of the day on Sunday was the rescheduled first Australian Superbike race, and with an 8:25am start, riders were greeted with much cooler conditions than on Saturday.

Jamie Stauffer’s injury from Saturday meant there was no-one ahead of Herfoss on the grid and the Team Honda rider took full advantage by coming off the line into the lead.

Hook tucked in behind Herfoss into second, with Linden Magee, Daniel Falzon and Jones settling into top-five positions.

After the opening lap, the top three riders of Herfoss, Hook and Magee had put nearly a second gap to Falzon and on lap two he was overtaken by Jones into fourth spot.

Hook came round the final corner on the second lap and moved into first place ahead of Herfoss, while Magee managed to put more space between himself and Jones.

The Honda duo settled into a nice race rhythm – the pair within touching distance of each other for much of the race – and it was Hook who spent most of the race in front.

The pair soon pushed clear of the chasing riders, with Magee comfortably holding on to third with a measured ride, but he was still almost five seconds behind Herfoss with two laps to go.

Behind Magee, Jones was working hard to edge his way into third, sitting comfortably in fourth with a four-second gap to Falzon.

But all eyes were on the front pair, and while Herfoss desperately tried to get past Hook heading down the straight and to the finishing line, the younger Honda rider held on to edge out his teammate by 0.099 of a second.

It was a thrilling finish, with another enthralling battle for third, which saw Jones pip Magee on the line to take the final podium spot by nine-hundredths of a second. Falzon finished the race in fifth.

Race two of the was the last event on the schedule and this time riders took to the track in warm and muggy conditions.

Herfoss got a great start off the line to keep hold of first place from Hook and Magee, before Magee moved past the race one winner and into second on the second corner.

Falzon and Jones rounded out the top five as they settled in through the opening lap, with the pair switching places a number of times.

Not much changed amongst the top group through two laps and as they completed the second lap of the race the top four were separated by less than a second.

Jones worked his way ahead of Falzon into fourth, and at the end of lap three, moved up into third place with a nice pass on Magee.

That was short-lived as the BMW rider moved back into third two turns later, at which point Herfoss and Hook had stretched the gap at the front of the field.

At the halfway point of the 12-lap race, Hook made his move when he passed Herfoss coming down the straight and into turn one.

Rookie Falzon then crashed at turn four, but luckily he got up pretty quickly rejoining the race in 11th spot. That moved Sloan Frost up into fifth as the battle between the Honda pair continued up front.

The duo had put a two-second gap on Jones who was now nearly four seconds clear of Magee in fourth, with Frost a further six seconds behind in fifth.

Hook was doing all he could to keep the persistent Herfoss at bay, but he surrendered his lead early on lap 10 and was never able to get it back.

It all came down to the final straight where Hook tried in vain to get past, but Herfoss was able to hold on for his first ASBK overall.

Jones finished the race in third place, with Magee comfortably back in fourth and Frost holding on to fifth spot.

The second round of the 2015 ASBK Championship heads to Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland from 10-12 April.

2015 Australian Superbike Championship
Round one – Phillip Island, VIC

Superbike overall results:
1. Troy HERFOSS 45
2. Josh HOOK 45
3. Mike JONES 36
4. Linden MAGEE 34
5. Sloan FROST 31
6. Daniel FALZON 29
7. Mathew HARDING 27
8. Ben BURKE 24
9. Ryan HAMPTON 24
10. Nathan JONES 20

Click here for detailed results