Image: Keith Muir.

Caterpillar JD Racing Yamaha’s Daniel Falzon has once again been stripped of 15 points from race one in Darwin’s fourth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.

The action comes as a result of the incident between Falzon and Kawasaki BCperformance’s Kyle Buckley, which resulted in the latter suffering a broken ankle.

With a red flag called and the race stopped as Buckley was being attended to by RACESAFE, Falzon was permitted to restart from the rear of the grid and then stormed through the pack for sixth position and a significant 15 points to his championship tally.

Afterwards Falzon was initially disqualified and then controversially won a protest to regain his points, however further investigation from Motorcycling Australia (MA) during the past week has since resulted in him being excluded from the results and his points being removed.

“Superbike race one incident that involved contact between riders Daniel Falzon (#25) and Kyle Buckley (#83) on Sunday, 9 July, has now been reviewed by independent arbiters,” read a statement from MA. “The clerk of course on 9 July made a decision allowing Daniel Falzon (#25) to restart the red-flagged race one, based on the time available, limited incident information and resources at that moment.

“Upon further evidence becoming available and according to General Competition Rules (GCR) and supplementary regulations as they stand, it has since been determined that the clerk of course made the correct decision at the time, to then exclude Daniel Falzon (#25) from race one, as per GCR 10.12.13.4.b.i. Therefore, the original penalty of exclusion is unanimously upheld. After further inquiry, it was found that the steward made an error of judgement in the subsequent protest initiated by Daniel Falzon (#25).”

The decision sees Crankt Protein Honda Racing’s defending champion Troy Herfoss now the sole leader of the 2017 championship, 13 points ahead of Robbie Bugden (Kawasaki BCperformance) – the teammate of Buckley – and a further two clear of Falzon.

As a result of the turmoil at Hidden Valley, an operational review has now commenced to improve information flow towards the clerk of course during race stoppages, according to the national governing body.

In addition, an operational review has commenced in relation to protest hearing processes and there will be an immediate review of the Manual of Motorcycle Sport (MoMS) item 10.12.12 Stopping Events to be conducted by the relevant committees/commissions to clarify and remove any ambiguities wherever possible.

MA has also announced that in separate Supersport 300 incidents in the Top End, Corey Briffa and Scott Nicholson have been reinstated following the multi-bike crash in race one, while Jack Mahaffy’s two-position penalty for reckless riding in race three has been reduced to one place.