Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

Lead YMI Superbike qualifiers Troy Herfoss and Wayne Maxwell engaged in a heated war of words post-qualifying at Wakefield Park on Saturday afternoon, setting the tone for an intriguing pair of races in Goulburn today.

Penrite Honda Racing’s Herfoss stole pole position from Maxwell after setting a 57.269s directly behind the factory Yamaha across the line following a late game of cat and mouse on track.

Herfoss had lept to the top of the charts when he and Maxwell came across each other in the closing minutes of qualifying two, effectively forcing Maxwell to quickly retaliate as the clock ticked down. While Maxwell did better Herfoss’ initial benchmark, it was the latter who followed him for the lap to clinch the top grid position.

It’s understood Herfoss overheard Maxwell airing his frustration in the podium area straight after the session, confronting him in an explosive few moments that led to the qualifying celebrations being cut short. And it’s not the first time the pair have exchanged words upon getting off their bikes.

“It was just a normal 10-minutes post-race, with lots of adrenaline,” a calmer Herfoss explained later. “I managed to put in a good lap there for pole position and then I saw Wayne with three minutes to go, looking to get a lap in. The opportunity was there to get a look at him, so I did and ran him down on the lap.

“His lap put him into pole and then I directly followed him across the line and took it. He obviously wasn’t happy about that, but it’s part of the game. I had the upper-hand today – it goes both ways at different rounds – and you have to take it when you can get it. We have a huge amount of respect and both excel at this track.”

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

Maxwell, who had set the pace throughout the weekend including a new circuit best lap of 57.182s on Friday afternoon, also played down the incident to an extent, but stopped short of denying the intense rivalry. He’s eager to turn the tables on Sunday across the pair of 20-lap races in a bid to break Herfoss impressive Wakefield Park win-streak.

“It was just bad timing on my part,” Maxwell stated. “I came around and Troy was there, he tried to get a tow and then I let him go, but in the end I had to go – there was three minutes left. He played it very smart and managed to get a tow, so that’s racing. I wouldn’t have beat the time that he just did if I didn’t go, so smart-play by him.

“At the end of the day, it’s nice to get a point for pole, but tomorrow’s going to be a long day and I feel like it is going to be a race of two between Troy and I. We’ve had some great battles around here, so hopefully we can do that again and come out on top to try and close down the points a little.

“He’s always really bad in that first 10 minutes when he gets off the bike and I probably baited him a little bit… but we’ve spoken since then and all okay. We’ve got enough respect, have been racing each-other long enough so we get over it and move on pretty quick.”

Herfoss’ single point scored for the pole position now has him tied for the title lead with Kawasaki BCperformance’s Bryan Staring ahead of today’s second round of the 2018 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli.