Image: Russell Colvin.

Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss has set the pace in opening practice at Morgan Park’s fifth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.

Herfoss was quickest in both afternoon sessions, eventually setting the Friday benchmark at 1m14.594s to lead Yamaha Racing Teammates Wayne Maxwell and Cru Halliday.

Halliday had set the fastest laptime out of the gates in the opening free practice session this morning, before a late crash while at the top of the charts saw him revert to his backup R1M during the afternoon.

The top three were the lone riders beneath the 1m15s bracket as leading privateer Daniel Falzon (JD Racing Yamaha) was fourth, followed by Glenn Allerton (Yamaha Racing Team) and Jamie Stauffer (Crankt Protein Honda Racing). Each were within a second of Herfoss.

Seventh overall was second of the private entries in Brayden Elliott (Knobby Underwear Suzuki), ahead of defending champion Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati), who experienced technical dramas through much of today. Next Gen Suzuki teammates Sloan Frost and Ryan Hampton rounded out the top 10.

Supersport championship leader Sam Clarke (Kawasaki) was at the top of the timesheets with a 1m16.954s, the only rider beneath 1m17s and in front of Luke Mitchell (Yamaha), Troy Guenther (Yamaha), WorldSSP regular Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) and Callum Spriggs (Kawasaki).

Other riders to lead the way in crisp conditions on Friday included Brian Houghton (Moto3), Drew Sells (Over 300 Production), Brandon Demmery (Up To 300 Production) and Callum Alderson (R3 Cup).