Features 1 Aug 2013

Rewind: The ASBK's last visit to Sydney in 2009

Yep, it's been that long - 1,453 days, to be exact.

It’s been a long time since the Australian Superbike Championship has raced at Eastern Creek. Very long. Three years, 11 months and 23 days, to be exact. That’s a fair while for New South Wales motorsport fans to be starved of Superbikes, I’m sure you’d agree.

The name has now changed – it’s now Sydney Motorsport Park, thank you – and the facility has been given a fresh lick of yellow paint. But in essence, it’s still ‘The Creek, and it’s definitely good to be back.

Today we rewind to the most recent round of ASBK competition to be held here – round four of the then Woodstock Bourbon-branded ASBK on the weekend of the 9 August, 2009.

A whopping 29 riders lined up for Sunday’s races, with a mix of machinery on the grid.

The first race went down to the wire between a pair of Hondas and a Suzuki, with Glenn Allerton on the Motologic Fireblade getting the nod over rookie Josh Waters on the Team Joe Rocket-backed GSX-R1000 by a slender 0.150-second margin. Craig Coxhell kept the pair honest, a further 1.347 seconds behind.

Josh Waters is the last rider to have claimed a round victory at Eastern Creek - now Sydney Motorsport Park.

Josh Waters is the last rider to have claimed a round victory at Eastern Creek – now Sydney Motorsport Park.

The second race went the way of Waters, who held out Allerton’s then-teammate, Wayne Maxwell, on the Motologic CBR1000RR. Allerton grabbed third, and the overall round victory belonged to Waters, who scraped together three more points than his competitors.

Casting an eye over the finishers list is really quite interesting.

Shawn Giles, now retired, scored a solid top five finish in the second contest of the day, while Kevin Curtain was a place behind on the factory Kawasaki ZX-10R.

The Stauffer brothers, Daniel and Jamie, finished towards the back end of the ten, continuing a season-long struggle for results on the new Yamaha R1.

Outside the ten were names the likes of Craggill, Nowland, Spence and Hepburn, reminding us just how long it has been since the last race.

If anyone’s counting, 1,453 is the exact number of days since the ASBK’s last outing hereā€¦ Bring on this weekend!

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