Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday topped all three sessions at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday to commence the final round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

Halliday’s eventual best lap-time was a 1m30.486s set in warm conditions during Kawasaki Superbike practice three, edging Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on combined times.

Maxwell was just 0.014s in arrears of Halliday today, in turn closely followed by second of the factory Yamaha’s in Daniel Falzon. The top five was filled by title-leader Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) and Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati).

Positions six through nine featured Mark Chiodo (Penrite Honda Racing), Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance), Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki) – each within a second of Halliday atop the time-sheets. Tenth came Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW) on the brand new S 1000 RR.

Image: Russell Colvin.

In the Motorsports TV Supersport category it was number one plate-holder Tom Toparis (Yamaha) who was easily quickest with a 1m32.655s, a full 1.677s clear of World Supersport 300 regular Tom Edwards (Yamaha). Third was another R6 in Jack Passfield (Yamaha).

Leading the way this afternoon in YMI Supersport 300 was Kawasaki-mounted Senna Agius, his 1m43.455s topping Hunter Ford (Yamaha) and Max Stauffer (Yamaha). Stauffer turned the tables on Ford in the YMF R3 Cup, with Ben Baker third. The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup top three featured Jacob Hatch, Max Gibbons and Carter Thompson.

On-track action will resume tomorrow, where the final practices, qualifying and the first races of the championship finals are scheduled to take place at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Detailed results