Image: Foremost Media.

Maxima BMW’s Glenn Allerton has been ruled out of Sunday’s action at the Winton round of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), still recovering from ongoing injury dramas.

Three-time title winner Allerton hasn’t been able to line-up since suffering a broken right wrist at The Bend in April and, despite qualifying 14th in Q1, he won’t compete tomorrow.

“I just don’t feel like I’m able to ride the bike at 100 per cent,” Allerton explained to CycleOnline.com.au. “I’m not able to pull the brake on and turn at the same time. I don’t want to be out there trying to conserve energy and last the distance – that’s not why we race.

“We had a good talk and decided I won’t be racing tomorrow. I worked really hard to be here, but sometimes it’s not meant to be and this is just one of those occasions where it hasn’t worked out. It’s safer and better for me not to race here… we’ll move onto Phillip Island and try again.”

After recently splitting with Ted Collins, the Victorian-based Next Gen Motorsports organisation is fielding Aaron Morris for the second-consecutive round this weekend and it appears he will complete the year. Morris qualified in 11th position this afternoon.

Collins, meanwhile, entered aboard a borrowed BMW at round five, but ‘unresolvable issues’ have sidelined the youthful privateer for the remainder of the weekend and very likely the rest of this season.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Penrite Honda Racing’s Troy Herfoss was forced to eject himself from the factory Fireblade on lap one of Q2 at Winton this afternoon when his brakes failed into turn 10.

Herfoss crashed toward the end of timed practice earlier in the day (pictured), which caused an issue with the front brake lever on the out lap in qualifying.

It was a major scare for the 32-year-old current Australian Superbike champion, eventually returning to the track for a single lap on his back-up bike with wet weather settings and fitted with slick tyres.

“I had no brakes…” Herfoss confirmed to CycleOnline.com.au after eventually posting a 1m22.520s. “The first crash in practice was on my own when it was getting a little bit misty and I asked too much of it into the fast left and went down.

“The team got that same bike ready in time for qualifying, but unfortunately coming into turn 10 there were no brakes and I had to bail off the side of it. It was definitely scary and I could feel in the lever that there was a problem with it.

“We know what happened – it was a result of the earlier crash. We got the wet bike going with slicks and got a lap in, but it didn’t feel great with a wet set-up, as you could imagine.”

Herfoss is remaining composed despite his difficult day of qualifying, now aiming to reset for Sunday’s pair of 16-lap races. He’s currently fourth in the standings, now 16 points from pole-setter and series leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati).

“We were really strong on the hardest option tyre in practice and I was comfortably in the top three,” he reflected. “I never really went for one lap, so I was looking forward to trying the soft tyre in qualifying, but I created a little bit of bad luck for myself and then had some more from there.

“If we can roll out for warm-up in the morning and the bike’s running as good as it has been, I don’t think the end result will be too much different, even starting from 12th because I know that we definitely have really good pace here.”

Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday has expressed the importance of starting from the front row in tomorrow’s pair of races at Winton’s fifth round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), as rain is expected to fall in what has already been a weekend of mixed weather conditions.

Halliday, who currently sits second in the championship standings, set the third fastest time in today’s Q2 session in dry track conditions.

The New South Welshman suggested racing in the wet isn’t his biggest strength, although starting from third on the grid will play a critical role in achieving a strong result.

“That was the plan to get on the front row,” Halliday explained to CycleOnline.com.au. “I would’ve like to get pole and get that extra point, but it just wasn’t meant to be. We’re in for two exciting races tomorrow – it’s going to be pretty full-on with the weather front coming in – we don’t know yet if it’s going to be two dry races or two wet races.

“We just have to take those two races as they come, hopefully get as many points and stay on the bike. I’m a little bit on the back leg in the wet weather, so the front row start will give me a bit of head start being a bit further forward.

“Some riders haven’t been out there in the wet – even though I crashed, I know how slippery it is. It’s going to be interesting tomorrow – I’m not sure what the race pace will be, but if it’s fine weather, I’m sure it’s going to be up there.”

Points leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) earned pole position over Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia), setting a new lap record with a time of 1m19.994s.

Image: Foremost Media.

Points leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) has earned pole position at Winton’s fifth round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), snatching the top spot in the dying minutes of the session from Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia).

Q1 was topped by Alex Phillis, the Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia rider advancing through to Q2 alongside Aaron Morris (Maxima BMW) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection).

Jones demoted Maxwell from P1 with a 1m19.994s time in Q2, breaking the existing lap record by going beneath the 1m20s mark, as Maxwell completed the session with a 1m20.353s lap to finish ahead of Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday, who set a time of 1m20.501s.

Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team) was a fraction behind in fourth, lodging a 1m20.785s lap, as Penrite Honda Racing’s Mark Chiodo put in a strong 1m20.920s time late in the session to secure fifth.

Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia) was sixth ahead of Arthur Sissis (Suzuki), Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance), Phillis and Walters. Defending champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) qualified 12th after a crash on lap one, the incident marking his second tumble of the day.

Image: Russell Colvin.

In the Supersport category, points leader Tom Toparis (Landbridge Yamaha) continued his dominance of the weekend so far, claiming pole position with a stunning 1m23.588s time, comfortably earning the top spot by half a second over Nic Liminton (Yamaha), who set a time of 1m24.093s.

Reid Battye (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia) locked out the top three with a 1m24.257s time, as Broc Pearson (Yamaha) and Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing) were fourth and fifth respectively.

Yannis Shaw (Kawasaki) stormed to victory in the opening Supersport 300 encounter, narrowly defeating KTM-mounted Seth Crump by just 0.060s, as Max Stauffer (Yamaha) was a close third. Angus Grenfell (Yamaha) captured victory in race one of the Oceania Junior Cup, beating Archie McDonald (Yamaha) and Tom Drane (Yamaha).

Detailed results

Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia’s Wayne Maxwell has ended a rain-affected Friday practice on top of the timesheets at Winton’s fifth round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), the premier class managing just one session under reasonable conditions.

Former champion Maxwell, who won last time out at Morgan Park, lodged the fastest time of 1m21.499s in session two, edging out Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) and defending champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) in the top three, the duo recording times of 1m21.724s and 1m21.851s respectively.

Points leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) was fourth with a 1m21.995s time, followed by Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia), who recorded a best-lap of 1m22.649s.

Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCpeformance) was sixth ahead of Alex Phillis (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection) and Aaron Morris (Maxima BMW).

The Supersport category saw championship leader Tom Toparis (Landbridge Yamaha) set the fastest over Yamaha-mounted Ty Lynch, as Aiden Hayes (Yamaha) locked out the top three. Fourth and fifth were credited to Rhys Belling (Yamaha) and Chris Quinn (Yamaha).

Yannis Shaw (Kawasaki) was fastest in Supersport 300 ahead of Luke Jhonston (Kawasaki) and Luke Power (Kawasaki), as Max Stauffer (Yamaha) led Luke Jhonston (Yamaha) and Ben Baker (Yamaha) in the Yamaha R3 Cup.

Detailed results

Image: Supplied.

Advancements made at Laguna Seca’s ninth round and testing at Portimao last month have motivated Chaz Davies for this weekend’s 10th round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Portugal, despite the British ace acknowledging it’s going to be a tough encounter

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati broke through for victory at Laguna Seca’s ninth round before the WorldSBK went into an extended break for the European summer, and after testing in Portugal, he has an extra ‘spring’ in his step for this weekend’s trio of races.

“After the summer break and about two months after my win, I know it’s going to be a tough race here at Portimao, but the gains we made at Laguna Seca and the work we did in the test have really put a bit of a spring in my step,” Davies explained.

“I feel like the bike is now a lot different to the one I’ve been racing this season and I’m looking forward to the race because I feel our pace is quite decent.

“Going on past results, for me this track is not the easiest one to get a win at, but I’m feeling optimistic because the Panigale V4 R is going better around here than the twin ever did. I’m feeling confident, even though Portimao is not an easy track and the bumps and undulations throw up a lot of different challenges.”

Davies is currently ranked seventh in the championship rankings as four rounds remain.