Image: Russell Colvin.

Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss has stormed to the opening Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli race win at Morgan Park this afternoon.

Herfoss led from the outset and stretched away to a dominant 3.748s victory. He also claimed a new lap record of 1m14.488s on lap six.

From pole position Herfoss pulled a comfortable lead of over five seconds and controlled the 19 laps from there, winning ahead of title leader Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team) and impressive privateer Daniel Falzon (JD Racing Yamaha).

Fourth was Yamaha’s Glenn Allerton, who ran as high as third in the race after charging from seventh on the grid, trailed by Jamie Stauffer on the second of the Hondas.

The top 10 was filled by Brayden Elliott (Knobby Underwear Suzuki), Sloan Frost (Next Gen Suzuki), Brenton Hyde (Honda), Ryan Yanko (Honda) and Adam Senior (Yamaha). Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) and Ryan Hampton (Next Gen Suzuki) were both non-finishers during the mid-stages.

Meanwhile an electrical issue put DesmoSport Ducati’s Mike Jones out of the race before it even began, the team scrambling to identify the problem that’s plagued them throughout the weekend on both bikes prior to the start of race two.