YRD/Carbon Imports & Accessories Yamaha rider Cru Halliday has positioned himself in the box seat for the 2011 Australian Prostock Championship following a third place finish at Queensland Raceway’s penultimate round on 3-5 June.

Halliday, 23, had enjoyed a perfect season to date with victories in the opening rounds of the series, however he had his work cut out for him in Queensland and rose to the challenge with a hard-fought third overall after clinching pole position on Saturday.

Saturday’s opening race saw Halliday finish third, just 0.398sec off the win after a chaotic 10 laps, before he again captured another pair of consistent third place finishes on Sunday.

“We went into this round thinking about the championship, just trying to ride smart and to maintain the series lead,” Halliday explained. “I was going for the win but just didn’t quite have the pace on the weekend. There were no silly mistakes and I managed to keep it on two wheels, which was good.

“I’ve been on the podium at every round so far, so hopefully I’ll put it back up on the top step next time. We have some things we need to work on to improve after this round, but consistency is the key for the title and I’m happy enough with third and the points that go with it.”

Halliday now enjoys a healthy 64-point lead in the championship with a single round remaining, now in the box seat to add the Prostock title to the Superstock 1000 Championship that he captured last season.

“I obviously want to win the final round at Phillip Island, so we’ll see how it goes and it’d be nice to get that number one plate with another round win to finish out the season,” Halliday concluded.

Halliday is supported by Calypso Travel Systems, YRD Yamaha, GYTR, Berik Leathers, Shark Helmets, Bel-Ray Oils, Capit Tyre Warmers, MWR Air filters, bike-photos.com, Carbon Imports, G.M.D Computrack, Go Boating, Xsportz.com.au and Whites Racing Products.

The final round of the 2011 Australian Prostock Championship will take place at Phillip Island in Victoria on 18-20 November.