Image: Russell Colvin.

This weekend’s penultimate round of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Winton in Victoria presents an opportunity for Troy Herfoss to secure the premier class crown for the second time in his career.

The Penrite Honda Racing rider holds an extensive 44.5-point advantage over Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell, and will need to extend that out to 52 markers by the conclusion of the weekend in order clinch the title with a round to spare.

With four consecutive round wins to his name, Herfoss understands that while wrapping up the championship is the goal, it will be a difficult endeavour with the circuit also favouring rival Maxwell.

“I haven’t been in this position to wrap up a Superbike championship with a round to spare before, but it doesn’t feel too much different to previous rounds at the moment,” Herfoss explained. “It’s a nice surprise to be this far ahead in the championship, heading to a track that both Wayne [Maxwell] and I do well at.

“While winning the title is the goal, it will definitely be hard to wrap it up this weekend – it would be a bonus. The lead-up has been good for us, very similar to recent rounds and we seemed to have good speed at the unofficial Winton test. We’ll see how we fare on the race weekend, because we can only judge by how our bike felt at this stage, and we are confident going in.

“Winton is a track that I like a lot, one that I’ve got good memories at from 2014 when I came back to racing and was really competitive and also when I won the championship there in 2016. It makes for good racing and I’m looking forward to getting out there again.”

The opening practice sessions of Winton’s sixth round commence today before qualifying tomorrow and racing on Sunday.