Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday has continued his dominance in the Supersport category of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) as he captured two commanding race victories today at Morgan Park’s fifth round of the series in Queensland.

Halliday stormed to his eighth race victory in a row in the opening Kawasaki Supersport encounter, once again proving the dominant force on his factory-backed YZF-R6. The initial 14-lap race was stopped due to a crash from Giuseppe Scarcella (Kawasaki) while Halliday was out front early, making for a 12-lap restart.

Honda-mounted Damon Rees led once the race resumed, however it was Halliday who stormed through to the front of the pack by the end of lap two and sprinted away to a 4.944s victory across the line. Behind him, Rees managed to hold the returning Callum Spriggs (Yamaha) at bay for the runner-up, with Max Croker (Suzuki) claiming fourth and narrowly ahead of Lachlan Epis (Yamaha), who completed the top five.

Sixth was a disappointing result for Cube Racing’s Tom Toparis (Kawasaki) following an off-track excursion, as Broc Pearson (Yamaha) also ran off on his way to seventh. Zac Johnson (Yamaha), Brian Houghton (Honda) and Scott Nicholson (Suzuki) were the top 10. Halliday posted a new lap record of 1m15.057s in the process.

Race two of the Supersport category was a tighter affair this afternoon across the 14-lap duration, however it was Halliday who again proved too strong on his way to a 3.263s win. After a difficult first encounter, Toparis came out firing this time out and led the first three laps, going back and forth with Halliday in an entertaining dual that saw the latter lead lap four.

It was then Toparis, determined to counter-attack each time Halliday made his move, who led laps five through eight until Halliday finally took control and went off to his fourth overall win in a row.

Behind the leading duo was Spriggs in a consistent effort, fending off Epis and trailed by Pearson, Rees, Johnson, Chris Quinn (Yamaha), Croker and Rhys Belling (Yamaha). For the round it was Halliday who stood in the centre of the podium and extended his championship lead to 41 points, with Spriggs second and Toparis ultimately salvaging third for the weekend.

The Australian Superbike Championship will now head to Winton Motor Raceway on 7-9 September in Victoria for the penultimate stop of the series.

Detailed results