Image: Keith Muir.

Caterpillar JD Racing Yamaha’s Daniel Falzon has met his initial target of carrying the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) points lead into the mid-season break following Winton’s third round.

Falzon shot out of the gates at Phillip Island’s opener in February to establish himself atop the points table with a 22-point lead and, despite that buffer shrinking to nine points three rounds in, he’s satisfied with his positioning so far.

“To maintain the championship lead in such a highly-contested championship going into the winter break is fantastic,” Falzon told CycleOnline.com.au. “That was our goal at the start of this round, to still be leading. The results today, they weren’t perfect with a fifth and a fourth, but we learnt from our mistakes in race one and had a much more competitive race two. In the overall championship it’s quite good, I’m happy with it.”

After winning all three races at the opening round, Falzon has carded fifth-place overall finishes at Wakefield Park and Winton, factoring on a race podium again just once in Goulburn’s second race. He knows additional race wins will be vital in the back-half of the season.

“Considering Wayne [Maxwell] and Troy [Herfoss] are both breathing down my neck, nine points behind going into Darwin, it’s a track I’ve had really good success in Superstock 600 and Supersport, so I’m confident,” he continued. “We will have a new bike going into that round as well. We’ve been down on horsepower a bit this season, so hopefully we can iron out some of those bugs on the long straight at Hidden Valley – it’s going to be vital we have a fast bike. We’ll get back onto the podium and I want to be back on that top step sooner, rather than later.”

It’s been a breakout year of sorts for multiple national Supersport champion Falzon in the premier class, switching to Pirelli prior to Phillip Island’s first round and legitimately challenging the factories for the championship three rounds in.