Image: Keith Muir.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Josh Waters has delivered an incredible 1-1 performance in Hidden Valley’s fourth round of the 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.

This morning’s opening encounter saw pole-setter Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar JD Racing Yamaha) lead the field in the early stages.

Falzon lodged a new lap record of 1m06.097s before a crash on lap five saw him relegated down the order, allowing dual series champion Waters to secure the lead and take over at the front.

Just laps later a multi-rider incident including Falzon again saw the race red-flagged, as Kyle Buckley (BCperformance Kawasaki) was attended to by the RACESAFE Medical Team with suspected lower leg/ankle/foot injuries.

On the restart, Waters controlled the race with eight laps to go, taking his first win of the season with 0.453s margin over Troy Herfoss (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) on the brand new CBR1000RR SP2 and Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team).

Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) initially held third, but settled for fourth over Robbie Bugden (BCperformance Kawasaki), followed by Corey Turner (Yamaha), Matt Walters (Swann Insurance Kawasaki), Mitch Levy (Yamaha), Cru Halliday (IPONE/YMF/YMI Yamaha) with clutch dramas and Troy Guenther (Next Gen Motorsports BMW).

A dramatic affair saw a battered Falzon fight through from the rear of the grid to cross the finish-line sixth, but was disqualified afterwards after being deemed as the cause of his incident with Buckley – a major dent in his championship score for the weekend.

Come race two later this afternoon, Falzon once again shot through to the lead, but it was race one winner Waters who stole the number one spot in the opening laps, setting a new lap record of 1m05.986s in the process.

The race was red-flagged for the second-consecutive time on lap 16 of the scheduled 17 due to a track obstruction, declaring Waters as the winner with a commanding 2.868s advantage.

Herfoss moved into second early on, maintaining the position through to the chequered flag ahead of teammate Staring, marking plenty of reason to celebrate for the team. Turner and Bugden were fourth and fifth respectively, from Falzon, Halliday, Walters, Beau Beaton (Racer’s Edge Performance/McMartin Racing/North Coast V-Twins Ducati) and a gritty Guenther.

Meanwhile, Maxwell crashed out on lap 10 after losing the front-end while running third, but it was Waters who dominated the day to secure the overall, followed by new championship leader Herfoss and Staring on the overall podium.

The 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli will next be on track with Morgan Park Raceway’s fifth round in Queensland on 25-27 August.