The Winton Motor Raceway round of last year’s Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship was a turning point in the season of sorts, as Wayne Maxwell took the Sunday series lead from then Team Honda Racing teammate Jamie Stauffer with a victory on his way to the crown.

However the form rider of the weekend last year during the round in rural Victoria was Troy Herfoss in his comeback season to racing. He started from pole position and won races one and three, but a crash in the second outing bumped him down the overall order to third. Regardless, the races were tight and entertaining between he and Maxwell.

Image: Keith Muir.

“The strength of Herfoss at Winton was another step forward in his comeback season and, other than a mistake in race two, chances are he would have edged out Maxwell for the overall win,” we wrote in our post-race Breakdown feature last August.

“But you can’t deny Maxwell of doing what he had to and with his round win, he’s regained the series lead from fellow Honda pilot Stauffer – seventh on Sunday despite a broken ankle. The Yamaha’s were back on the pace and led by Halliday in fourth and Bugden in sixth, with Allerton sandwiched in between them.”

Image: Keith Muir.

Just over one year on, things have changed entering the penultimate round this weekend. Herfoss has more current experience to his credit, this time in a primary role at Honda, and he’s led the ASC series from the outset in 2015.

Maxwell meanwhile defected to the Yamaha Racing Team with Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance (YRT with YMI), trailing Herfoss 16 points in the standings. Yamaha, with the old R1, had a positive round there last year, so armed with the all-new R1M things should be hard-fought for victory come Sunday.