Image: Foremost Media.

Penrite Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss has claimed the 2023 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in style, scoring two race wins and the overall victory at The Bend.

Herfoss delivered a wire-to-wire victory to extend his championship lead to six points in race one.

From pole, Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) launched to the early lead ahead of Josh Waters (McMartin Racing), with Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) moving by Max Stauffer (GTR MotoStars Yamaha) for third on lap one.

The top three remained the same until lap five when Jones took Waters into turn 13 for second, with Halliday also moving past Stauffer for P4, each of the riders within a second of the lead at this point.

Herfoss started to stretch out an advantage on lap six, with a new lap record of a 1m50.529s while Jones notched a 1m51.169s before he lost P2 to the V4 R rider. With two laps to go, Waters had closed back in on Herfoss, but the championship leader withstood the pressure to claim a crucial race win, just 0.253 ahead of the number 21 at the end.

Meanwhile, Halliday edged teammate Jones for third, as Allerton found his way past Stauffer for fifth. Bryan Staring (MotoGo Yamaha), Anthony West (Addicted to Track Yamaha), Broc Pearson (DesmoSport Ducati) and Ted Collins (Livson Racing) completed the top 10.

A race two victory completed a perfect weekend for Herfoss, securing his third Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship. Waters grabbed the holeshot ahead of Herfoss in second, with Stauffer running third in the early stages before he crashed out of contention.

At the lap three mark Waters was still in front, with Herfoss and Jones in tow. Halliday recovered a mediocre start to reach fourth by this point, around 2.5 seconds back from the leading trio.

Herfoss took the lead on lap six, with the front two now two seconds ahead of Jones who was a relatively quiet third. Disaster struck for Waters on lap eight when he crashed at turn six, and from there Herfoss rode to an unchallenged victory to secure the title.

A late race shift saw Halliday finish second – instrumental to secure third in the standings, while Jones completed the podium.

Fourth was Allerton, while West edged Pearson for P5. Seventh was Mark Chiodo (Honda), as Collins, Sissis and a remounted Waters completed the top 10. Halliday and Jones completed the podium for the round, while Max Stauffer and Bryan Staring both crashed out of contention in race two.

Detailed results