Image: Russell Colvin.

Penrite Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss has blasted to pole position at Winton Motor Raceway’s sixth round of the 2018 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in Victoria.

Qualifying quickest saw Herfoss extend his points lead to 45.5 points entering tomorrow’s penultimate race day of the season, in line to capture a second-career ASBK crown.

Herfoss’ 1m20.160s lap-time was a new circuit best of Winton, edging ever closer toward the 1m19s bracket, to top arch-rival Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team) and set up an intriguing fight for the title on Sunday. Completing the front row in third was triple world champion Troy Bayliss (DesmoSport Ducati).

No less than six riders dipped into the 1m20s, including defending champion Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) and leading rookie/privateer Arthur Sissis (Honda), who continues to display his capabilities as the year progresses.

The top 10 on combined times this afternoon was rounded out by Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team), from Mark Chiodo (Team Suzuki Ecstar), multiple champion Jamie Stauffer (McMartin Racing Ducati) and Ted Collins (Next Gen Motorsports BMW).

Image: Russell Colvin.

The Kawasaki Supersport class saw Yamaha’s Cru Halliday take one step closer in his bid to capture the championship with a round to spare, picking up a point for pole position this afternoon.

Halliday recorded a 1m23.384s to edge title challenger Tom Toparis (Cube Racing Kawasaki) to pole, with just 0.087s separating them. Joining them on the front row will be Nic Liminton (Yamaha) in what his his return to the series this weekend.

Fourth and fifth came Damon Rees (Honda) and Broc Pearson (Yamaha) respectively, the top five split by only 0.855s on combined times. Rookie revelation Max Croker (Mladin Racing Suzuki) was sixth, followed by Zac Johnson (Yamaha), Giuseppe Scarcella (Kawasaki BCperformance), Ryan Taylor (Yamaha) and Scott Nicholson (Next Gen Suzuki).

After claiming pole position earlier today, Max Stauffer (Yamaha) dominated the first Supersport 300 affair, crossing the line over three seconds clear of Hunter Ford (Yamaha) – who picked up a new lap record in the process – and Tom Bramich (Yamaha).

It was also Stauffer who starred in today’s YMF R3 Cup race, crossing the line 0.186s ahead of Ford, with Locky Taylor (Yamaha) third. The opening GP Juniors Cup race of the weekend was won by pole-setter Joel Kelso, ahead of Luke Power and John Lytras – each aboard Yamaha machinery.

Detailed results