Team Honda Racing press release:

Image: Keith Muir.

Troy Herfoss raced the Honda CBR1000RR SP to victory in the FX-Superbike Championship today, taking Round 5 honours and holding tightly to his championship lead by 16 points.

The track conditions all day were sub par due to early morning rain and many periods of drizzle throughout the day. The riders had a challenging day ahead of them.

The first of 3 wet Superbike races saw #3 Troy Herfoss and #2 Jamie Stauffer starting from P3 and P5 on the grid, respectively.

Both Honda riders got away from the starting line well, but it was Herfoss that managed to challenge for the lead. Biding his time until the final lap, Herfoss plunged up the inside of Maxwell with a couple of corners to go and crossed the finish line .288 sec ahead of Maxwell.

Unfortunately, Herfoss was relegated to 2nd place as penalty for passing under a yellow flag during the race, but still gained valuable points towards his championship lead. He also recorded the fastest lap time of the race, a 1:09.699 sec and was looking strong heading into Race 2. Stauffer finished Race 1 in 4th place.

Superbike Races 2 and 3 belonged to Herfoss. In the lead early in Race 2, Herfoss didn’t look back, taking the Honda across the finish line with the fastest lap of the race once again, a 58.357 sec. Stauffer’s day was not improving in Race 2 when he suffered a small electrical problem mid race and did not finish.

The final Superbike race of the day was hampered by red flags and rain and was finally run as a wet six-lap race. Stauffer had a better run at a podium finish in Race 3 after a frustrating day on track, but wasn’t able to make it stick and finished in 4th place. Herfoss staged a late attack on Maxwell to win Race 3 with the fastest lap of the race for the third time today.

Stauffer is eager to get back out on track tomorrow for the Swann Insurance Superbike Championship and with conditions expected to clear; he is looking forward to stronger results.

“Today just didn’t come together for me as I would have hoped, the conditions were terrible, but beyond that I just couldn’t put it on the podium today,” Stauffer said. “My DNF in Race 2 was really frustrating, but the team will sort the issue out before tomorrow so I am really happy to put today behind me and focus on the Swann Series races. I feel confident I will be racing at the front tomorrow.”

Herfoss is really pleased to have lengthened his lead in the FX-Superbike series and is feeling confident heading into tomorrow, saying, “With the exception of the yellow flag penalty, I had a very successful day today. I am really happy to have taken the Round win and increased my lead over Wayne. I felt good out on track despite the conditions. Tomorrow I have to defend the Swann Series title and I am looking to increase the points lead there as much as possible too so with the weather looking better for racing I am pretty keen to get back out there.”