Six of seven rounds of the ASBK are in the books, and wasn’t it an eventful weekend in Darwin!

First up, the change of date meant there was no rain around, and according to some of the riders, the humidity was less intense. That makes for a different dynamic but I did see a number of novel ways to cool off as usual, including a popular blow-up pool in the Lovett pits and Next Gen’s ice water wheelie bins!

Two different winners in the Superbike class really adds some variety into the mix. Race one went the way of Wayne Maxwell once more, his fifth in a row following Sydney, and another solid boost to his championship hopes.

The opener also saw the resurgence in some way of Jamie Stauffer, who has been battling injury since the second point-scoring round. He grabbed second and it set him up with a lot of confidence for the final race of the day.

It was interesting to see two riders pinged with jump start penalties in race two. Both Maxwell and Josh Hook received a time penalty added to their positions, meaning they were racing the clock as much as they were the riders around them.

It fell in favour of Stauffer, who only got quicker over the course of the weekend. Previously Josh Waters has been the man to beat around this circuit but the Dunlop-shod Honda of Stauffer smashed the standing race lap record during the afternoon by nearly half a second, and in doing so, brought himself into the position for the win based upon Maxwell’s penalty.

It’s a top result for Team Honda and Stauffer, but lets not forget the efforts of Hook too. Josh received time penalties in both races for jump starts, but still salvaged a third in race one. He was on track for a podium in race two also, before the extra time was factored in.

The heat was on in Darwin, and two different race winners emerged come Sunday. Image: Keith Muir.

A man who’d be very disappointed with the way the weekend panned out is Glenn Allerton. He’s had his share of ups and downs over the last few rounds and Darwin is a track he was aiming to really turn things around.

It was a struggle for him and we’ll look at that more closely later on, but importantly, he bagged consistent points and is still in the hunt for title number three, even if he did slip back marginally from Robbie Bugden.

Glenn Scott had a horror weekend, which we touched on in this news story. It was a rollercoaster ride with a few more downs than there were ups, and in the end he did well to at least salvage some points.

Special mention goes out to Dustin Goldsmith for loaning Scott his Prostock bike so he could make the start of race two. That’s a show of sportsmanship beyond belief.

In the Supersport ranks Daniel Falzon was able to sweep the weekend, grabbing 51 points for pole and two race wins.

It’s an ideal result for Falzon, and we’ll find out a bit more about how his weekend panned out in tomorrow’s Race Recap.

Hook’s performance went under the radar due to his jump start penalties, but it was another solid showing for the Honda rookie. Image: Keith Muir.

Not being on hand at the event usually means I’d be watching via Computime’s live timing setup, but IEG has gone the extra mile and invested in a live stream setup which really was impressive.

This week they released some information on plans for a more focused effort behind the championship, and this initiative means those plans are off to a good start.

What it adds is an option for fans – to either follow live, or to be able to sit back and check out a post-produced show that will be airing sometime in the next few weeks.

The event shared split billing with the first two rounds of the Australian Supercross Championship, with dirt trucked into the infield at Hidden Valley to create a spectacular Supercross arena.

The result was a super spectacle, and importantly, added variety to the event. Such events are set to continue next year, with IEG confirming at least two of the five rounds to be run will feature both disciplines.

In other developments, we were disappointed to learn this morning (our time) of the decision made by Shaun Muir’s Milwaukee Yamaha team to replace Josh Waters for the BSB Showdown rounds.

Josh Waters is a genuine talent, and it’s sure tough to see his maiden BSB campaign come to an end early.

With Josh not knowing any of the tracks, or the Yamaha R1, wasn’t this always going to be a learning year? Surely it can be seen that his talent and ambition is genuine, and all he needs is more track time.

Josh has a strong pedigree of results in Australia, but has constantly proven himself on the world stage in World Superbikes and World Endurance, so such a decision really does baffle.

As many have pointed out, Josh Brookes’ intro to BSB was frought with crashes and mixed results, but as his experience developed, the results did too. Today he is a real contender to win the title in what must be the world’s toughest domestic series.

Even Troy Bayliss mentioned to us that he found his formative foray into international racing difficult, and that the only thing that helped him was track time.

Here’s hoping that further doors will open for Josh. If there’s one guy that deserves such an opportunity, it’s him. Fingers crossed the next chapter is about to be written, either within the BSB, or even on a greater scale within a world championship.

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