Saturday went as planned for Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss at Winton’s Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli finals, taking the Pirelli Superpole and the point that goes with it.

That result sees Herfoss move from seven points outside of the title lead to six, but he will still essentially have to win both races tomorrow to ensure the championship victory.

Herfoss has been on a mission since the Morgan Park test and he’s carried that form all the way through the Queensland race weekend, into testing at Winton and now into the title-deciding round.

Image: Russell Colvin.

For former two-time champion Josh Waters to grab second on the grid upon debut with Apex Motorsport Yamaha, that was a typically strong showing that will do wonders for his confidence. We’re looking forward to seeing him race on Sunday.

And as for Mike Jones and DesmoSport Ducati, after the weekend they endured at Morgan Park, it was inspiring to see them push through for a front row starting place in Superpole at Winton. Those three were split by just 0.209s in the Superpole session toward the end of the day.

For championship leader Wayne Maxwell and factory Yamaha teammate Glenn Allerton to fall short of making Superpole this afternoon, their bid for the title this weekend couldn’t have started much worse.

The Yamaha Racing Team test was held back in August and they opted not to take part in last week’s official ASBK test despite being unable to find truly ideal settings, so in some ways they’ve started on the back foot to begin with. Momentum isn’t on their side.

Having a wet Friday and also morning session today didn’t help, but regardless, the times are that close (the top nine within a second during regular qualifying) that they’re not that far outside on the ballpark for a good result on race day – as long as they can get off the line.

What will be the most difficult is, with three riders per row, both Allerton (seventh) and Maxwell (ninth) are starting from the third row, separated by Suzuki-mounted rookie Brayden Elliott. They need good track position or qualifying will prove very, very costly.

Image: Russell Colvin.

So what will play out on Sunday? Like we’ve maintained all along, it’s hard to pick, but right now the shortest odds have to be on Herfoss for both the races and championship. And that would be an absolutely huge result for him and Honda.

What we do know though is this is motorsport and anything can happen – that’s why they line up on six Sundays per season to determine this championship. Anything can happen and, as onlookers whether it be us as fans or otherwise, the racing’s going to be unreal.

Aside from the three in the battle for the championship, it was a closely-contested battle today that will make for a really interesting tussle tomorrow further down the order. Only 23 points separate fourth through ninth in the standings.

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