Features 17 Aug 2015

Breakdown: 2015 FX-ASC Rd4 Queensland Raceway

The vitals from Queensland's fourth Australasian Superbike round.

With the fourth round of the 2015 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship complete, CycleOnline.com.au breaks down the specifics from race day Sunday in Queensland.

Superbike

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Pole position: Glenn Allerton (via Saturday AFX-SBK round win)

Race one results:
1. Glenn ALLERTON
2. Cru HALLIDAY
3. Wayne MAXWELL
4. Troy HERFOSS
5. Jamie STAUFFER
6. Matthew WALTERS
7. Sean CONDON
8. Mathew HARDING
9. Ben BURKE
10. William DAVIDSON

Race time: 18m28.316s
Margin of victory: 0.181s
Laps completed: 16
Fastest lap: Glenn ALLERTON 1m08.633s

Race two results:
1. Mike JONES
2. Glenn ALLERTON
3. Wayne MAXWELL
4. Troy HERFOSS
5. Jamie STAUFFER
6. Sean CONDON
7. William DAVIDSON
8. Evan BYLES

Race time: 18m39.415s
Margin of victory: 3.153s
Laps completed: 16
Fastest lap: Wayne MAXWELL 1m08.841s

Superbike overall results:
1. Glenn ALLERTON 48
2. Wayne MAXWELL 40
3. Troy HERFOSS 36
4. Jamie STAUFFER 32
5. Sean CONDON 29
6. Mike JONES 25
7. William DAVIDSON 25
8. Evan BYLES 23
9. Cru HALLIDAY 22
10. Matthew WALTERS 15

Superbike championship standings:
1. Troy HERFOSS 185
2. Wayne MAXWELL 182
3. Glenn ALLERTON 165
4. Cru HALLIDAY 150
5. Mike JONES 139
6. Sean CONDON 133
7. Jamie STAUFFER 123
8. Matthew WALTERS 106
9. Evan BYLES 91
10. Ben BURKE 79

Verdict:
Allerton was the class of the field all weekend at Queensland Raceway, using his braking abilities to their maximum and making the most of a dialled in YZF-R1M. It’s the most comfortable we’ve seen the triple Australian champion on the Yamaha to date, leaving the round with a huge smile on his face despite the penalty upon restart in race two on Sunday. Jones was also impressive and benefited from his light weight on that powerful ZX-10R, winning race two, but finishing down the order after crashing out of the first. It was a similar story for Halliday, featuring at the front all weekend until a mishap in race two bumped him down the results sheets. Maxwell managed to make ground in the championship even though he was struggling with his forearms, while Herfoss maintains the lead with another podium. The Hondas were there or thereabouts on Sunday, but never really factored at the end, so they will be looking for more at the upcoming twisty circuits. Aside from that, Matt Walters was far better than the results indicate on paper, forced out of the lead in race two with a broken quickshifter.

Supersport

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Pole position: Rick OLSON 1m12.328s

Race one results:
1. Callum SPRIGGS
2. Michael BLAIR
3. Rick OLSON
4. Brayden ELLIOTT
5. Troy GUENTHER
6. Jay PRESEPIO
7. Luke MITCHELL
8. Paul YOUNG
9. Kyle BUCKLEY
10. Brad SWALLOW

Race time: 9m46.661s
Margin of victory: 0.610s
Laps completed: 8
Fastest lap: Michael BLAIR 1m12.132s

Race two results:
1 3 Callum SPRIGGS
2 20 Rick OLSON
3 65 Troy GUENTHER
4 5 Jay PRESEPIO
5 78 Michael BLAIR
6 7 Brayden ELLIOTT
7 96 Paul YOUNG
8 6 Luke MITCHELL
9 68 Mitch LEVY
10 83 Kyle BUCKLEY

Race time: 9m47.799s
Margin of victory: 0.063s
Laps completed: 8
Fastest lap: Jay PRESEPIO 1m12.486s

Race three results:
1. Rick OLSON
2. Brayden ELLIOTT
3. Troy GUENTHER
4. Callum SPRIGGS
5. Jay PRESEPIO
6. Mitch LEVY
7. Luke MITCHELL
8. Paul YOUNG
9. Kyle BUCKLEY
10. Cambridge OLIVIER

Race time: 9m47.923s
Margin of victory: 0.372s
Laps completed: 8
Fastest lap: Rick OLSON 1m12.547s

Supersport overall results:
1. Callum SPRIGGS 68
2. Rick OLSON 67
3. Troy GUENTHER 56
4. Brayden ELLIOTT 55
5. Jay PRESEPIO 49
6. Luke MITCHELL 41
7. Paul YOUNG 40
8. Michael BLAIR 38
9. Kyle BUCKLEY 35
10. Mitch LEVY 31

Supersport championship standings:
1. Brayden ELLIOTT 231
2. Callum SPRIGGS 221
3. Troy GUENTHER 211
4. Michael BLAIR 190
5. Rick OLSON 171.5
6. Jay PRESEPIO 171
7. Paul YOUNG 161
8. Mitch LEVY 151.5
9. Brad SWALLOW 122.5
10. Cambridge OLIVIER 118

Verdict:
The Supersport field has really come on strong in 2015, producing close competition with plenty of depth and a great mixture of youth and experience. Spriggs was back to his old self at Queensland, almost winning all six races, but Olson managed to get an important win in the final race to cap off the weekend. Seeing multiple-time champion Olson amongst the newcomers adds a lot to the category and gives us a good indication that they’re all top level racers in their own right. Elliott was off the podium overall this weekend but still leads the championship, with Spriggs and Guenther close in tow. A crash on the warm-up lap for Blair in race three was a disastrous end to his round, denying him a chance at the podium and losing vital ground in the standings. Still, this title could go to any one of the front-runners, especially those inside the top five as it stands.

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