A selection of riders detail their day at Sydney’s third round of the 2015 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

Superbike

Image: Keith Muir.

Troy Herfoss (Team Honda Racing) -2nd overall:
I’m glad to finish the weekend with a few more points over my nearest rivals. It would have been great to give the Honda guys a win after all their hard work, but today I did the best I possibly could in both races. I’m proud of how well the team is going and we are getting the best out of the bike. Hopefully Jamie and I can be strong at Queensland Raceway for the next round.

Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing) – 6th overall:
It was a hard day at the office today! I won a race yesterday, but got a jump-start penalty that meant I didn’t qualify well for today and I struggled to get a clear run and struggled to pass in the races. The team worked hard to give me a great bike, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the job done today. I’m looking forward to getting to the next event and giving it our best to get back in the points.

Wayne Maxwell (YRT with YMI) – 3rd overall:
The first race wasn’t the best for me as I got a bit swamped during the first lap after I missed the start. I still felt I had good speed and was able to catch the lead group despite coming through the field so I was confident I would do well if I could get a start. I enjoyed the second race battling with Cru and Troy. I probably needed to be a bit stronger in the closing stages but hats off to Cru on his result today, he deserved the round win.

Cru Halliday (YRT with YMI) – 1st overall:
After fighting arm-pump at the last round, I really wanted to come out here and have a good weekend and get some momentum back but I never expected it to be this good. Winning on Saturday lifted my confidence and then to go 3-1 on Sunday and pass the best guys was awesome. The team did a fantastic job with the bikes and a huge thanks to everyone at YRT. It’s an amazing feeling to get this win and it makes all the hours of training worthwhile.

Glenn Allerton (YRT with YMI) – 5th overall:
Being a different rider to Wayne and Cru, I’m still trying to settle on the best set up for me but we are working hard to get it right. We obviously have a great bike but I just can’t get the grip and feel I need and in race two it felt like I had a flat tyre so I slowed down to be safe and not fall. I’m sure we will get on top of it and as always the team will work hard so we will come out firing at Queensland Raceway at the next round.

Sean Condon (BikeBiz/IPONE/Swann Insurance Kawasaki) – 9th overall:
It was a very confidence-inspiring weekend for me. Besides the last race, everything fell into place. I won my first Superbike race of the series and I’ll be heading into the next round with a boost of confidence. My body is feeling good after injuries from crashing earlier in the year. I actually injured my arm in qualifying on Friday and considering that I’m stoked to have come away with a win.

Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection) – 7th overall:
I made a lot of ground on the front guys especially in race two which I was really happy about. I secured some better lap times so we are happy with the way things are going. We have a break leading into the next round at Queensland Raceway so I’m looking forward to doing some more testing on the bike and focusing on being fitter and faster on a track where horsepower counts.

Ben Burke (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 8th overall:
I had a relatively positive weekend, my pace was closer to the leaders and now I am close enough to the pack to see our weaknesses more clearly. This is ideal heading into the next round, we know what we need to do to pick up the tenth of a second we need each lap. I had a small crash in practice but that didn’t dent my confidence. Thanks again for the support of all our sponsors and I look forward to doing an even better job next round.

Evan Byles (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 11th overall:
I had a very solid weekend on Ninja Cath, no big changes to the bike and I enjoyed every ride. I concentrated on shorter braking distances and standing the bike up more on corner exits. My lap times have plateaued but consistency is good. I enjoyed the competition and look forward to adding some speed to what is now a very solid base. I need to thank the team for the good times and my mechanic, Kirsty for all her faultless hard work across the three days.

Supersport

Image: Keith Muir.

Brayden Elliott (Suzuki) – 2nd overall:
I’m very pleased with my efforts at round three of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship. To walk away from the round with an extended overall championship lead and podium finishes in all six races was a great result for us for the weekend. The Hankook Tyres Suzuki GSX-R600 was once again performing very well and I can’t thank the team enough for their efforts as we all worked together improving bike setup throughout the weekend. I felt like the handling of the bike was great and had amazing feeling from Dunlop tyres, I would like to work on trying to increase my speed down the straight before we return to Sydney Motorsport Park later in the year. The racing was extremely tough with some of the closest battles I had experienced all year, thankfully my consistency in all races paid off to put me second overall which helped to increase our lead and puts us in a good position heading into the next round at Queensland Raceway in August.

Rick Olson (Kawasaki Connection) – 1st overall:
The guys were riding pretty well this weekend, so I’m happy with the result. It was a great day of racing for me and great for Kawasaki Connection. We all put in a lot of work and we were able to pull off these wins.

Kyle Buckley (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 13th overall:
After a weekend full of bad luck, it’s safe to say we have had better weekends. On a lighter note, we did pick up some vital information for the Queensland round. Onwards and upwards for Queensland Raceway!

Brandon Demmery (Noise Guard Racing Yamaha) – 17th overall:
Sunday was a lot less dramatic and less stressful [than the opening days]. I am the first to admit my confidence level was way down and I wasn’t prepared to push the bike as hard as I needed to run closer to the front. I just wanted to finish the day with no more work for the team, nor spend any more time laying in the gravel trap.

Paul Young (SA Kawasaki BCperformance) – 9th overall:
We struggled with suspension at the beginning of the weekend but we got to the bottom of it in race two and we got some headway. I finally felt comfortable on the bike and I was catching the leading group, but I clipped the curb in turn four with a footpeg and went down, which was a shame.