Yamaha-backed privateer Cru Halliday has set a new lap record at Morgan Park as he claimed pole position in today’s qualifying sessions for the fifth round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.

Halliday lodged a time of 1m12.808s, beating Troy Herfoss’ (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) record of 1m12.943s set in Friday’s practice.

Herfoss completed qualifying runner-up with a quick time of 1m12.861s, falling just shy of the top spot. In third was Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) with a 1m13.115s lap, as the top five was concluded by Bryan Staring (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) and Corey Turner (DesmoSport Ducati), who set times of 1m13.170s and 1m13.299s.

Daniel Falzon (JD Racing Yamaha) was sixth, however crashed out of the opening session and wasn’t granted a medical clearance for Q2, leaving him in doubt for tomorrow’s two-race format.

Seventh was Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team), as eighth through to 10th was Robbie Bugden (BCperformance Kawasaki), Matt Walters (Kawasaki) and Beau Beaton (Ducati).

In the Supersport class, Mark Chiodo (Repsol Gas Racing) was quickest with a 1m15.560s time, beating home rivals Ted Collins (Next Gen Motorsports) and Chris Quinn (Yamaha) who were second and third with respective times of 1m15.561s and 1m15.944s.

Rounding out the top five was Cube Racing Tom Toparis and Nic Liminton (Yamaha), who were fourth and fifth respectively.

The Supersport 300 division was topped by Oli Bayliss (Under 300, Cube Racing), finishing ahead of Reid Battye (Under 300, BCperformance) and Billy Van Eerde (Over 300, KTM).

The fastest time in the Yamaha R3 Cup was captured by Jack Mahaffy (Yamaha), while the top time in the GP Juniors category was set by Joel Kelso (Yamaha).

Bikes are back on track tomorrow morning from 8:30 for warm ups, with racing scheduled to commence at 9:35am.