News 18 Mar 2017

Herfoss claims Wakefield Park ASBK pole position

Top eight on Superbike grid separated by less than eight-tenths.

Image: Keith Muir.

Defending Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli title-holder Troy Herfoss will start from pole position at Wakefield Park’s second round on Sunday.

The rain came as qualifying two got underway initially, causing a brief stoppage, but when the session resumed it was held in largely dry conditions.

Herfoss posted a quick lap of 58.096s, which was enough to put him 0.044s ahead of fellow Pirelli rider Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team), with Dunlop-shod Cru Halliday (IPONE/YMF/YMI/Yamaha) rounding out the front row and just 0.144s in arrears.

The session saw an assortment of riders feature at the top of the leader-board, however Goulburn hero Herfoss’ 15th lap of 21 remained the benchmark when the 30-minute session concluded. The top eight all lapped within 0.763s.

In fourth came championship leader Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar JD Racing Yamaha), who will head row two from Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Bridgestone runner Beau Beaton (Racers Edge Performance/McMartin Racing/North Coast V-Twins/Ducati).

It was a challenging session for Herfoss’ teammate Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing), winding up seventh, joined inside the top 10 by Robbie Bugden (Kawasaki BCperformance), his teammate Kyle Buckley (Kawasaki BCperformance) and another rookie in Troy Guenther (Next Gen Motorsports BMW).

In a sign of just how difficult the YMI Superbike class has become, Matt Walters (Swann Insurance Kawasaki), Callum Spriggs (DesmoSport Ducati), Michael Blair (Gosford Classic Car Museum/IPONE/YMI / John Singleton Group/Yamaha), Mitch Levy (ATR Yamaha) and Josh Hook were in places 11 through 15.

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