2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship
Round One – Phillip Island
Superbike Race Three
By Trevor Hedge
The speed of the Ducati V4 R has rivals scratching their heads here this weekend. The opinion of the riders on other motorcycles is that the Ducati is so fast that it is in a different race.
Herfoss quoted Maxwell’s quotes published in our Race Two report where the Boost Mobile Ducati rider complained of not being yet to access a Motec ECU to unlock more potential of his V4 R.
Troy Herfoss Instagram story quoting Maxwell’s quotes published on MCNews.com.au after race two on Saturday
Obviously the post was made due to the incredulous reaction by Herfoss at Wayne’s call for more improvements on the Ducati, combined with a bit of banter. Below are Herfoss’ quotes after the opening bout on Saturday.
Troy Herfoss talking to MCNews.com.au after race one
“What did I learn from the race? I learnt that Wayne’s not the man to beat. When you’re one-second faster than anyone and then you can’t drop anyone in the race, that’s not winning.”
This is going to be one little war of words that is going to be amusing to watch. Herfoss is expected to remain on the previous model Fireblade for at least the next couple of rounds as shipments of the new Fireblade are still some time away, and the time to prepare a race machine from the new platform is very limited.
If the WorldSBK Honda machines are anything to go by though, the new Fireblade is going to be very fast. Bautista has been the fastest through the speed traps here all week and set a new WorldSBK record speed here this weekend at 327 km/h on the new Honda…
But who would raise their game to take the challenge to Maxwell today..?
The closest in the previous bouts was Cru Halliday. The YRT man is looking strong while Josh Waters is smiling and happy with the speed being mustered from his new privateer effort.
Mike Jones has a V4 R beneath him and is still adapting to the new bike after racing the big 1299 to the ASBK Championship Title in 2019.
Bryan Staring had shown some glimpses of speed and Allerton has displayed some promise on the new BMW.
Daniel Falzon is making progress on his adaption to Dunlop rubber and was not far off podium pace in the first contests of the weekend…
Aiden Wagner would be looking to turn around his troublesome weekend to leave here on a positive note while Matt Walters had been impressive on the Cessnock Kawasaki and looked capable to upset some of the regular front runners.
Race Three away
Wayne Maxwell scored the holeshot and led Cru Halliday, Josh Waters, Troy Herfoss, Glenn Allerton and Bryan Staring through Southern Loop for the first time. Mike Jones had a shocking start and was ninth early on the opening lap but had worked his way up to seventh by the end of lap one.
Allerton showed Herfoss a wheel to try and steal fourth place into turn one but the Penrite Honda man held on to maintain that position.
The front runners all recorded low 1m32s on their first flying lap but no changes in the order had taken place amongst the leading quartet. Jones though was continuing his march forward through the field and by lap three was looking for a way around Allerton. A mistake by the BMW man, running a little wide, opened the door for Jones and he piloted the DesmoSport Ducati right through it to take that fifth place.
Aiden Wagner’s disappointing weekend was not turning around, the Queenslander ran wide at turn four and lost around ten positions before he rejoined the race way down in 16th place.
Superbike Race Three – TBG Image
Herfoss was starting to lose touch with the leading trio as the race approached the halfway mark. Maxwell looked in control up front as Halliday and Waters chased that Boost Mobile Ducati hard.
Both Mike Jones and Bryan Staring were lapping quicker than Herfoss in the second half of the race and it looked as though that pair would close in on the Penrite Honda before the final lap. Jones had caught Herfoss way before the final lap though and took fourth place from Herfoss with four laps to run. It looked like a matter of time before Staring would push Herfoss further back to sixth.
Halliday and Waters were still doggedly pursuing the Boost Mobile Ducati of Maxwell. With three laps to run Cru Halliday was inching closer and closer to the Ducati, the gap down to three-tenths.
The leaders started to encounter lapped traffic as they started the penultimate lap. Halliday had been baulked on the final lap in the previous encounter but this time around Maxwell was tripped up more than Halliday on their initial contact with a back-marker.
Josh Waters had now lost touch with the leading duo but Halliday was still all over Maxwell as they got the last lap board.
Maxwell though had enough left in the bag to keep Halliday at bay and took the chequered flag with a number of bike lengths over the YRT man.
Superbike Race Three Results
Maxwell
Halliday +0.752
Waters +3.923
Josh Waters a good third place finish, 2.5-seconds further behind, while Jones recovered from a shocking start to claim good points in fourth.
Staring and Herfoss were battled over fifth position on the final lap and the Honda man just held on to win that tussle.
Wagner crashed at turn two on the final lap to draw a line under a very difficult weekend for the Queenslander.
Superbike Race Three Results
Maxwell
Halliday +0.752
Waters +3.923
A perfect 76-point haul from the season opener for Wayne Maxwell and the new Boost Mobile Ducati Team.
Cru Halliday was rewarded with 60-points for his trio of second place finishes which Josh Waters completed the round podium with his 51-point haul.
Bryan Staring’s 49-point swag from his 4-4-6 results good enough to edge Herfoss from fourth place by a single point.
Daniel Falzon can take plenty of positives away from the weekend. A puncture cost him time during qualifying and then an oil leak in the final bout had him somewhat nursing the JD Racing Yamaha home but he still earned a highly creditable 41-points from the weekend. Fellow South Australian Arthur Sissis was another somewhat quiet achiever with a 37-point haul.
That issue heading towards the grid that ruled him out of the opening race, despite turning out to be a non-issue, was costly for defending champion Mike Jones. He showed increasing speed all weekend though, and demonstrated the pace in the final stanza to run with the leaders but a poor start robbed him of that chance.
ASBK next heads to Wakefield Park late this month, the Goulburn circuit playing host to the series over the March 27-29 weekend.
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship
Round One – Phillip Island
Superbike Race Three Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap | Speed |
| 1 | Wayne MAXWELL | V4R | 18m38.013 | 309 |
| 2 | Cru HALLIDAY | YZF-R1 | +0.752 | 307 |
| 3 | Josh WATERS | GSXRR | +3.923 | 303 |
| 4 | Mike JONES | V4R | +5.570 | 309 |
| 5 | Troy HERFOSS | CBR RR | +7.800 | 303 |
| 6 | Bryan STARING | ZX10R | +7.834 | 310 |
| 7 | Glenn ALLERTON | S RR | +14.613 | 309 |
| 8 | Daniel FALZON | YZF-R1 | +17.108 | 303 |
| 9 | Arthur SISSIS | GSXRR | +20.239 | 313 |
| 10 | Matt WALTERS | ZX10RR | +22.113 | 313 |
| 11 | Jed METCHER | GSXRR | +27.315 | 303 |
| 12 | Linden MAGEE | S RR | +36.297 | 302 |
| 13 | Sloan FROST | GSXR | +37.151 | 303 |
| 14 | Max CROKER | GSXR | +37.551 | 309 |
| 15 | Beau BEATON | V4R | +37.641 | 309 |
| 16 | Brendan McINTYRE | GSXR | +58.850 | 293 |
| 17 | Glenn SCOTT | ZX10R | +1m02.378 | 304 |
| 18 | Matthew TOOLEY | YZF-R1 | +1m06.633 | 291 |
| 19 | Dean HASLERn | S RR | +1m08.886 | 294 |
| 20 | Nathan SPITERI | GSXRR | +1m09.095 | 292 |
| 21 | Evan BYLES | ZX10R | +1m09.189 | 293 |
| 22 | Adam SENIOR | YZF-R1 | +1m19.088 | 287 |
| 23 | Aiden WAGNER | YZF-R1 | +1m21.431 | 313 |
| 24 | Dominic DE LEON | ZX10R | +1m27.938 | 291 |
| 25 | Michael EDWARDS | YZF-R1M | +1m37.581 | 294 |
| 26 | Hamish McMURRAY | ZX10RR | 1 Lap | 273 |
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Points
| Pos | Name | Machine | Pole | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | Wayne MAXWELL | Ducati V4R | 1 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 76 |
| 2 | Cru HALLIDAY | Yamaha | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 | |
| 3 | Josh WATERS | Suzuki | 18 | 15 | 18 | 51 | |
| 4 | Bryan STARING | Kawasaki | 17 | 17 | 15 | 49 | |
| 5 | Troy HERFOSS | Honda | 16 | 16 | 16 | 48 | |
| 6 | Daniel FALZON | Yamaha | 14 | 14 | 13 | 41 | |
| 7 | Arthur SISSIS | Suzuki | 15 | 10 | 12 | 37 | |
| 8 | Mike JONES | Ducati | 18 | 17 | 35 | ||
| 9 | Jed METCHER | Suzuki | 12 | 11 | 10 | 33 | |
| 10 | Glenn ALLERTON | BMW | 5 | 12 | 14 | 31 | |
| 11 | Linden MAGEE | BMW | 10 | 6 | 9 | 25 | |
| 12 | Matt WALTERS | Kawasaki | 13 | 11 | 24 | ||
| 13 | Max CROKER | Suzuki | 9 | 7 | 7 | 23 | |
| 14 | Aiden WAGNER | Yamaha | 13 | 9 | 22 | ||
| 15 | Sloan FROST | Suzuki | 8 | 5 | 8 | 21 | |
| 16 | Beau BEATON | Ducati | 7 | 4 | 6 | 17 | |
| 17 | Glenn SCOTT | Kawasaki | 4 | 8 | 4 | 16 | |
| 18 | Brendan McINTYRE | Suzuki | 6 | 3 | 5 | 14 | |
| 19 | Josh HAYES | Yamaha | 11 | 11 | |||
| 20 | Matthew TOOLEY | Yamaha | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 21 | Giuseppe SCARCELLA | Ducati | 3 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 22 | Dean HASLER | BMW | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 23 | Nathan SPITERI | Suzuki | 1 | 1 |
2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Manufactureres Points
| Pos | Name | Pole | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total |
| 1 | Suzuki | 68 | 51 | 61 | 180 | |
| 2 | Yamaha | 59 | 44 | 36 | 139 | |
| 3 | Ducati | 1 | 35 | 49 | 48 | 133 |
| 4 | Kawasaki | 21 | 38 | 30 | 89 | |
| 5 | BMW | 17 | 18 | 25 | 60 | |
| 6 | Honda | 16 | 16 | 16 | 48 |
Source: MCNews.com.au