Features 6 Oct 2016

Quotebook: 2016 ASBK Rd6 Winton

Racer comments from Winton's final round of the year.

A selection of riders detail their day at Winton’s sixth round of the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

Superbike

Image: Russell Colvin.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Jamie Stauffer (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) – sixth overall:
Today wasn’t a bad day for me, and for the team it really was a bit of a fairy tale with Troy wrapping up the championship. It’s been a bit of a hard year personally with injuries, but in the past two rounds I have started to feel like myself again and we managed to get some better results, which is a nice way to finish the year. I can’t thank the Crankt Protein Honda Racing team enough for their support throughout the season. We have had plenty of highs and lows together and it’s been a pleasure being a part of such a dedicated team of people.

Troy Herfoss (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) – first overall:
It’s so hard to explain my emotions at the moment. I know I wanted to win the championship and I could have finished last in race two and still won the title, but the feeling of winning races makes this victory so much better and I really wanted to stamp my authority on the championship and show that I deserve it. I managed to take out the round and the championship, which is exactly what we were here for this weekend. It’s been such an amazing turn of events this round and it’s hard to explain the pressure that comes with winning a championship, so to have wrapped up today with the title is very special. I am just really proud to win this championship for Honda especially with this bike. To get another Championship for them is really a proud moment for me. Thanks to the whole Crankt Protein Honda team.

Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team) – 12th overall:
I knew we we’re going to be on the back-foot from the word go as we didn’t have a lot of dry time. After the test in August we had a bit of work to do, but I was hoping things would go our way and we could get the job done, but it just wasn’t the case. Two years in a row we have dropped the ball at the last minute, so we need to have a look at what we are doing and come up with some answers. To win as many races as anyone else and have two DNFs and to lose the championship by 22 points is not ideal. In saying that, I guess we just have to try and take the positives out of it. I can look at the negatives and get all down about it, but I still have the drive to win. We just have to work on what let us down and then come back next year with all guns blazing.

Glenn Allerton (Yamaha Racing Team) – fourth overall:
I came here to win this championship, so it’s a bitter pill to swallow not to win. Congratulations to the other guys – it’s motor racing and things happen – we’ll just move on to next year. Hopefully we can iron out a few issues that we have, just little things here and there to make the bike better as the Yamaha YZF-R1M is such a great bike, but I believe we can make it better.
Overall I’m really thankful that the team has stuck by me, no matter what. We had some tough times there at Morgan Park, but thanks very much to Yamaha Racing Team for all their support in 2016.

Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) – second overall:
It wasn’t a bad run in Superpole. I went from third to fifth position, which is not really what we wanted as we would have liked to have qualified on the front row. In saying that, I gave it everything I had, but ended up in fifth. You can only do what you can do. I just wanted to bring the bike home and collect the points to make sure I had enough to finish on the podium. To finish second is really good, as it’s a good way to finish the year off with a podium finish to repay back the team for all their hard work in 2016. It’s been a roller-coaster of a ride this weekend. There has been a lot of emotions within the team with the championship and all. As I said, you can only do what you can do. It’s a shame to see Wayne crash out in race two, which cost him the championship, but that’s racing. I knew Wayne was going to give it 110 percent. I gave it 110 percent, as did Glenn. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t and that last race just didn’t, but the overall round did. It’s an up and down year, but I have to say a massive thanks to Yamaha Racing Team and all of our sponsors for this year. There is a lot of work that goes into running a race team and all three bikes, so hats off to everyone in the team and everyone behind the scene as well.

Brayden Elliott (Knobby Underwear Suzuki) – fifth overall:
What a way to finish off the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship with third place and my first-ever Superbike podium. I managed to finish race one in sixth place with the magnificent third place result in race two, placing me sixth overall for my rookie season in the Australian Superbike Championship. Crossing the line in third position after a hard-fought race was an amazing feeling, battling it out and standing on the podium with riders I have looked up to growing up. I have to extend a huge thank you to my family, Phil Tainton and Shawn Giles for their consistent hard work, effort and belief shown throughout the whole season, always giving me the best opportunity to succeed. Also a huge thank you to everyone that made the trip to be apart of the BELIEVE51 hospitality area, seeing you all on the hill cheering me on was extremely humbling and something I will remember for a very long time.

Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) – seventh overall:
We’ve had some ups and downs here at Winton’s final round. The high point was qualifying on the front row of the grid in the Pirelli Superpole, where I managed to go in third position. I had some issues during the races and couldn’t quite convert that pace into a podium result, but overall it’s been a very good year for gaining experience. When everything is on track, we’ve definitely been quick, it’s just a matter of achieving that consistently. That’s the tricky part at this point, but I think if we keep working at it and if we’re able to have another crack at it in 2017, we’ll be able to get that consistency and be fast for the whole year.

Supersport

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Callum Spriggs (Cube Racing) – second overall:
It was an awesome final round. I managed to get pole position and then in the first race I led, but struggled toward the end with some tyre wear, so I finished third. In race two we tried a few things with suspension and it worked a lot better, so I was able to control the race. I’m really happy to finally get this race win.

Robbie Menzies (Cube Racing) – 10th overall:
The weekend was really good for me. I was able to run at the front for a while, but we just need to work more on being able to last there for the race distance. It was really good to finish off my first year on the 600 on two wheels and moving forward, so thank you to everybody who has helped us this season.

Luke Mitchell (Yamaha) – third overall:
Its massive credit to the JNL Racing team as they got the Yamaha R6 working really well. We finally had dry conditions on late Saturday afternoon, so I knew what I could do in the dry. I just missed out on pole position, which was a bit disappointing as I knew I had the speed for that. In race two when Callum checked out, I used all my grip to try and catch him and I wasn’t making any inroads. Credit to both Sam and Troy as they were both riding with a lot of heart there in the end, so well done to them on the championship. We’ll regroup and look towards next year. I’m going to be ready for next year, so bring it on.

Troy Guenther (Yamaha) – first overall:
To get a result like today is a surreal feeling and it hasn’t sunk in yet. The team worked hard and we managed to bounce back yesterday in qualifying. This championship wouldn’t be possible without all the hard work from my team and the support from everyone. This year has been really incredible. Words can’t describe it right now.

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