Image: Russell Colvin.

Team Honda Racing rider Troy Herfoss has won the Superbike class at the fourth round of the 2014 YMF-Loan Australian FX-Superbike Championship at Winton.

The round ended up being a two-race event, and with Herfoss equal on points for the day with teammate Wayne Maxwell – his win in the second race was enough to clinch the outright victory on a countback.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Robbie Bugden finished the day in third overall.

The opening race was initially delayed as the red flag was produced, after an opening lap crash.

At the restart it was Maxwell who shot to the front off the line from Linden Magee (LMR), Chris Seaton (Aprillia Factory Team) and Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports).

Maxwell kept hold of his lead in the early stages of the race as Allerton worked his way into second to put pressure on the Honda rider.

The battle for spots from third to sixth was hotly contested with Josh Hook (Team Honda Racing), Magee, Herfoss, Sean Condon (BikeBiz Racing), and Bugden all pressing at the front end of the field.

On the second lap Condon went down which lead to a DNF, while Team Honda Racing’s Jamie Stauffer was forced to pit and rejoined towards the rear of the field.

A lap later, Magee came unstuck and the front four of Maxwell, Allerton, Herfoss and Budgen separated themselves from the rest of the field.

On lap seven Herfoss passed Allerton into second and closed the gap on Maxwell – one lap later posting a super quick time of 1m23.612.

Herfoss then followed it up with a stunning 1m23.450 to break the Winton Superbike lap record, and suddenly with one lap to go there was only 0.711s of a second separating the top two.

On the final lap Herfoss completely backed off and settled for second allowing Maxwell to run out a comfortable winner, while Allerton finished on the podium safely in third.

Herfoss cited that being the first race of a long weekend, he did not want to push too hard and create a potential disaster for the team, with so much racing still to come.

Bugden finished the race in fourth and teammate Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) came home in fifth.

In the second race Maxwell continued from where he left off, getting a great start to take the lead from Bugden, who also got a quick start off the line.

Herfoss settled into third spot and it wasn’t long before everyone present was treated to some exceptional motorbike riding.

Records are meant to be broken, and Herfoss’ new fastest lap time of 1m23.450 was not just broken – it was smashed. First Maxwell posted a quicker time, before Herfoss then beat it, only for Maxwell to go one better again.

But three new lap records just wasn’t enough; Herfoss clocking a 1m22.778 on his second last lap to again take the mantle as having the fastest lap recorded on a Superbike at Winton.

In the race itself, Herfoss managed to pass Bugden on lap five and squeak past Maxwell on the last lap to record a well deserved race win.

Maxwell had to settle for second, Bugden claimed third, while Halliday and Chris Trounson (Gas Honda Racing) finished in fourth and fifth respectively. The third race ended up being declared, with a second red flag raised.

2014 YMF-Loan Australian FX Superbike Championship
Round four – Winton, NSW

Superbike overall results:
1. Troy HERFOSS 47
2. Wayne MAXWELL 47
3. Robert BUGDEN 38
4. Cru HALLIDAY 34
5. Chris TROUNSON 30
6. Mike JONES 26
7. Paul BYRNE 26
8. Glenn ALLERTON 25
9. Beau BEATON 22
10. Ben HENRY 19

Superbike championship standings:
1. Wayne MAXWELL 244
2. Troy HERFOSS 197
3. Robert BUGDEN 177
4. Glenn SCOTT 169
5. Mike JONES 167
6. Cru HALLIDAY 165
7. Sean CONDON 136
8. Jamie STAUFFER 111
9. Matthew WALTERS 103
10. Chris TROUNSON 100

Click here for detailed results