Image: Keith Muir.

Reigning Australasian champion Troy Herfoss is determined to put a frustrating Sydney Motorsport Park round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship behind him at the halfway point of the 2016 season.

Herfoss was unable to match the outright pace set by Yamaha Racing Team primary title rivals Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton at the front of the field, ultimately ending the round fifth overall.

The turnaround saw Wakefield Park winner Herfoss bumped from the points lead to third, eight points down on Allerton following three rounds of six. All three riders have claimed overall victories to date this year.

“It was a tough weekend for us,” Herfoss explained. “We all worked exceptionally hard, but we fell a bit short pace-wise, and although we made some good progression as the weekend went on, the outright pace just wasn’t there.

“I’m thankful for the guys here at Crankt Protein Honda Racing because they put in a lot of effort. We tried a lot of things and it was quite frustrating for them, but we just couldn’t get those extra tenths of a second.

“I’ve been told that I’m only around seven or eight points off the championship lead, so it’s not dire straights and we’re still well and truly in the game. We’re going to work hard and go to the next round in Perth making sure that we’re ready to race from lap one in practice.”

Herfoss was fifth in the opening race of the weekend contested in dry conditions, before a seventh in the wet second outing confirmed his fifth overall for the weekend.