Image: Russell Colvin.

Team Honda Racing conducted a single-day test at Mallala on Tuesday ahead of round two of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship next weekend, 15-17 May.

Round one winner of the FX-ASC series Troy Herfoss regarded the day as a positive one on board the CBR1000RR SP, after finishing fifth at Mallala 12 months prior.

“Generally we try and get two days’ worth of testing in a row, so there was a little bit of pressure to try and get as much a riding as we could,” Herfoss told CycleOnline.com.au.

“The track was wet [in the morning] and it was also very dirty from the previous day’s rain. Luckily we had about 10-15 other bikes out on track, so it cleared up pretty early and by lunch time we were in full swing.”

Herfoss admitted that he and the team didn’t change the bike a lot and pretty much ran with a setting which was used at the opening round at the end of March.

“We pretty much did a circle and ended up with a setting close to what we had at Sydney Motorsport Park,” he added. “The lap times were not as fast as I would have hoped for, however I did go faster than what I did last year, so I have to be happy with that seeing the track was pretty dirty.”

Making his long-awaited return since hurting himself at Phillip Island in February was Jamie Stauffer. Stauffer said he felt a bit “rusty and stiff on the bike” upon return from a fractured pelvis.

“We just have to keep doing laps,” he said after completing 80 laps yesterday. “We were getting quicker and quicker all day. Hopefully when we come back next week we can be somewhere on the pace.”

Also in attendance was Linden Magee in his first visit to the South Australian circuit. Completing a large number of laps was the target for the Honda-mounted Queenslander.

“Considering what the other guys were doing in terms of lap times, it wasn’t too bad seeing it’s the first time I’ve been there,” Magee explained. “We managed to get a good setting yesterday, so if I can qualify well and get away with the front-runners and tag on with them, I think we will be in a shot for a top five finish.”

Sean Condon (Bikebiz/Ipone/Swann Insurance Racing Kawasaki) made his way back to the South Australian circuit, after he completed two days last week, in a test put on by SA Kawasaki Bcperformance.

“Yesterday was good weather for ducks and flying a kite,” joked Condon. “Around about midday when it stopped raining we were able to put in a few good lap times, however the wind was out of control. It was so strong and the track wasn’t there – it was dirty and cold.”

Local Liam Wilkinson (Protectaprint) debuted the all-new 2015 Aprilia RSV4; the only one in Australia at the moment. Wilkinson completed about 20 laps on his current race bike before he pulled the new bike out.

“We didn’t touch one thing on the bike apart from putting a set of slicks on and a slip on muffler and in my first session I was 0.5 quicker on it than my race bike,” said Wilkinson. “This is quite promising for us as we still have some much needed parts to bolt on before next weekend, which should see the bike improving even more.”

Supersport class contenders were also at Mallala, including Michael Blair, Callum Spriggs and FX-ASC Supersport championship leader Brayden Elliott.