Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday put forward an unrivalled performance today in Darwin’s fourth round of the 2018 Kawasaki Australian Supersport Championship at Hidden Valley.

The opening 14-lap Kawasaki Supersport encounter of the round was dominated by pole-setter and current points-leader Halliday.

It was rookie Max Croker (Suzuki) who shot to the front when the lights went out, but Halliday quickly took control of proceedings and went on to win by 4.162s. He also set a new lap record of 1m08.243s in the process.

While Halliday appeared to do it relatively easy at the front, Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis (Kawasaki) worked his way into second, but had his hands full with Croker for much of the race’s duration. He eventually asserted himself in P2 and that’s the way the podium ended, with Halliday topping Toparis and Croker.

Kiwi Damon Rees (Honda) rode solid for fourth, as Zac Johnson (Yamaha) got the better of Giuseppe Scarcella (Kawasaki) for fifth in the closing laps.

The top 10 – and field – was completed by Ty Lynch (Yamaha), Rhys Belling (Yamaha), Dallas Skeer (Suzuki) and Graeme Smith (Kawasaki). One notable casualty was Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki), going down early while running in position four.

Race two of the Kawasaki Supersport class was once again all Halliday, going on to score another perfect double for the weekend and to extend his championship lead in the process.

The 30-year-old stretched away to a three-second lead at the conclusion of 14 laps, however it was the battle behind him involving Mladin Racing’s rookie talent Croker and Toparis that stole much of the attention.

In the end it was Croker who displayed his development by getting the better of Toparis by 0.245s, while Rees and Johnson again filled the top five. Local Mick Heffernan (Kawasaki) bounced back from an incident in race one to claim P6, with Nicholson, Skeer, Belling and Lynch the top 10.

Epis once again went down in another disappointing race, while BCperformance’s Scarcella also crashed out. Overall for the round it was Halliday with the perfect 1-1 score, joined on the rostrum by Croker and Toparis.

Detailed results