In Quotebook, a selection of riders detail how their races played out in the fourth round of the 2022 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship at Hidden Valley.

Image: Foremost Media.

Superbike

Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) – Fifth:
My goal is to be on the podium every time I hit the track and that didn’t happen this weekend, so that’s disappointing but there were a lot of positives to take away from it. My times were way better this year and I was able to get a bit quicker with each session and I was also able to figure out a better way to get off the line in races two and three. I made up some points in the championship through consistency so that was also a plus but with three rounds to go, I need to start racking up some race wins to really peg some points back. The weekend has been busy, but the atmosphere was great so thank you to the organisers for making it happen. Again, everyone at YRT worked hard and the warm weather was draining on all of us, so thanks to them.

Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) – First:
What an amazing weekend, I set myself for this round as I knew the opposition would be good here and with three races, the points swing can be pretty big if things go right or wrong. We were able to get on the pace quickly on Friday and found a setting in the bike that worked for us, and it set the scene for the weekend. I never envisaged going 1-2-1 and having a weekend so successful. It’s a credit to the Yamaha Racing Team who have worked hard since the Wakefield Park round. Thank you to all the team for their help and guidance over the weekend. Also thank you to the Darwin public for turning out and supporting the event. The crowd was very appreciative of the Superbike riders and its awesome to race in front of so many people.

Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) – Second:
Here we are, Darwin, one year later. Feels really good to be back here, I didn’t know what to expect coming back into it. A lot of nerves and I guess I was unsure about how my mind would react to coming back here but I’m really happy with how the team’s made me feel. I was able to get out on the track and get straight back down to where I was last year. The races were so much fun! I was competitive, and there was a possibility of fighting for a win in all three races so I’m just really happy! Obviously, we always want to win but to get overall podium second and a couple of podiums in the races and to be strong and make passes and that kind of stuff, I feel like a racer again. Now I definitely feel that we are on the way back to where we were (pre-Darwin 2021) and I’m looking forward to getting to Morgan Park, a track I really like and hopefully, I can take the fight to Mike, that would be nice.

Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW) – Seventh:
As always Darwin turns on good racing. For me, qualifying didn’t go according to plan, my feeling with the bike was good all weekend so I knew I could get up on the podium. Race one – was a good start to the weekend, finishing P5 and showing us the areas we needed to improve on. Race two – we had an unfortunate mechanical issue which held us back. Race three – I got a great start and got myself straight into the fight for the top three, it felt great to be in the battle and come out in P2. The bike improved all weekend, so big thanks to the team and it was a definite advantage to have Devis from Bitubo Race Suspension who flew out from Italy to help us refine all the small details on the bike.

Josh Waters (Maxima BMW) – Eighth:
I had the pace to run at the front and my times were there, but luck wasn’t quite on my side this weekend. We will regroup and try fix these problems.

Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati) – Third:
What a fantastic track. We did a track walk on Thursday afternoon and for a place that deals with such high track temperatures, it has an incredibly smooth surface, a fun layout and one enormous straight. Shane (data technician) tells me our top speed was just a little over 303km/h across the weekend, and I can tell you it was a lot of fun getting there on the Panigale V4 R! I felt really good on the bike right from the start, and to be honest, our best times really came as a surprise. I knew I was riding the bike fast, but I wasn’t pushing for a lap time and yet it still came to us. It was a good feeling and that led to a front-row start, two podiums and some solid points for the championship but I’m somewhat dissatisfied for sure. I felt we had the pace to be racing for the win this weekend and that’s not the way it panned out. I had some incredible battles in all three races, and I hope we proved entertaining for everyone watching, but there’s work to do if we’re going to chase down the championship lead. I’ll spend a few days here in Darwin with my wife before the team and I head to the track for testing as we shift to Morgan Park for the next round.