News 22 Apr 2018

Penrite Honda Racing's Herfoss increases ASBK advantage at The Bend

Penrite Honda Racing press release:

Penrite Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss put on an excellent display at round three of the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in South Australia, clinching victory in the weekend’s overall standings at the all-new The Bend Motorsport Park.

Qualifying second with a 1m52.629s, Herfoss started from middle of the front row in race one, and – following a brief stoppage – stormed his way into the top three during the restart despite a difficult launch, lodging the fastest lap of the race and track record at the time to wind up third.

Coming off an inspiring ride, the New South Welshman was destined for a strong finish in Sunday’s final pair of 10-lap races around the 4.95-kilometre International Circuit. Positioning himself well in the beginning of race two, Herfoss was able to steal the lead on lap seven, riding home to a hard-fought 0.220s victory.

The final outing wasn’t short of drama, as another on-track incident called for a red flag, this time seeing the race declared six laps in. It proved to be play into Herfoss’ favour however, clinching yet another narrow 0.174s victory and rewarding him with the overall while strengthening his championship lead to 23 points.

“We were really strong this weekend when people probably didn’t think we were going to be, so now we’re going to Darwin with a healthy lead and the bike is probably going to be better than what people think up there as well,” explained Herfoss, who claimed a new lap record of 1m52.939s in race two.

“We’re really happy, Shaun and the guys work really hard and it’s just exciting at the moment – the whole team is motivated and we’re getting the results – so we couldn’t be happier.

“I feel like we’re really getting some momentum going, race two especially I was completely in control – I could sit in the draft and pass. I didn’t have to make any impatient moves and I played the race how I wanted it to play out, so it was a really, really good weekend.”

Penrite Honda Racing team manager Shaun Clarke praised the team’s efforts as a whole and believes this weekend’s performance is a sign of greater things to come as the squad continues to establish itself.

“It’s a very, very strong result for the team going into a little bit of a break,” Clarke commented. “We extended our championship lead considerably, even though we probably left a few points on the table yesterday. The bike is getting a lot stronger and the team is getting a lot stronger – I think we’re really starting to get wound up.

“We’ve taken a pretty calm approach to getting our season underway, there’s a lot more we’d like to do, but we’re not quite ready to go yet being a new team. Now that we have a break, we can finish our workshop for one, and then we can get started on some pretty serious work heading into round four.”

The next stop on the calendar is scheduled for 28 June-1 July at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory. Follow Team Honda Racing on Facebook and @teamhondaracing on Instagram/Twitter for the latest updates.

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