Mike Jones tops final practice session at Morgan Park

ASBK 2023
Round Five – Morgan Park Raceway
Superbike FP4

Once again it was a brisk and foggy morning at Morgan Park but the brume soon lifted to reveal a clear blue sky as the mercury steadily rose from three degrees to a very pleasant 15-degrees by the time pit-lane opened for the 40-minute FP4 to get underway on schedule at 1030. The track temperature had just broached 30-degrees.

The promising weekend for DesmoSport Ducati looked set to continue with Broc Pearson straight into the low 13s. On Friday Pearson had been quick in every session but was ultimately gazumped late in FP3 by Troy Herfoss and Mike Jones. Herfoss was well under both the qualifying and race lap record on Friday afternoon, his best a 1m12.243s scorcher.

Mike Jones was the first rider into the 12s this morning, a 1m12.846 on his third lap of the session and he backed that up with a 1m22.835 two laps later. Troy Herfoss but in a row of very low 13s before then dipping into the 12s on his eighth lap, a 1m12.882.

It wasn’t until around 20-minutes later that Pearson and Waters joined that pair in the 12s, a 1m12.756 by Pearson to go top and a 1m12.785 to Waters, that being the McMartin Racing rider’s quickest lap of the weekend up to that point. Broc immediately backed up the 1m12.756 with a 1m12.800, followed by a 1m13.456 and a 1m13.040.

Waters buttoned off for a lap or two before putting his head down again with a 1m12.881 before returning to the pits.

With 12-minutes remaining Herfoss moved up to P3 with a 1m12.816 on his 16th lap of the session then immediately backed that up with a 1m12.911.  Mike Jones exited the pits around this juncture, game on…

Jonesy immediately quickest at the first split, no need to get up to speed, just out and on it, also under at the second split but lost a little in the last sector to record a 1m12.841. He made up for that next time around though with a 1m12.618 to move into P1 on the timing monitors.

Herfoss backed up his 1m12.816 with that aforementioned 1.12.911, which was then followed by a 1m12.915. Some consistency…

Cru Halliday worked up a head of steam on his 17th lap of the session to go P4 with seven-minutes remaining. A 1m12.788 to the YRT man which was immediately followed by a 1m13.176 before he then buttoned off and returned to the pits.

With five-minutes to run Glenn Allerton left pit-lane to try and improve his standing while Troy Herfoss remained in the pits.  Mike Jones had returned to the pits only to exit again shortly after.

Josh Waters lowered his marker to 1m12.660 with three-minutes to run which promoted him to P2 ahead of Pearson. On track Jones backed up his earlier 1m12.618 with a 1m12.679 on his final exit, immediately followed by a 1m13.324 before cruising back to the pits.

Troy Herfoss exited the pits with two-minutes left on the shot clock but his out-lap was too slow and he failed to cross the line before the chequered flag was produced, that ruled out any final time attack from the Penrite Honda man which left him P5 for the session. Overall though Herf’s 1m12.243 set yesterday remains the outright quickest time of the weekend so far.

While the timing sheets haven’t always shown it, Glenn Allerton has looked and sounded very confident all weekend. This morning he dropped more than half-a-second off his Friday’s best, a 1m12.991 putting him sixth quickest for the session and the final rider in that 12s bracket.

Qualifying takes place this afternoon at 1525. The current forecast for Sunday is for tops in the low-mid 20s. The opening 16-lap bout is slated for 1125 on Sunday morning with the second contest scheduled for 1505, thus the track temperature is likely to be quite different from the morning compared to the afternoon.

Superbike FP4 Times

1. Mike Jones – Yamaha 1m12.618
2. Josh Waters – Ducati 1m12.660
3. Broc Pearson – Ducati 1m12.756
4. Cru Halliday – Yamaha 1m12.788
5. Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m12.816
6. Glenn Allerton – BMW 1m12.991
7. Anthony West – Yamaha 1m13.439
8. Arthur Sissis – Yamaha 1m13.549
9. Bryan Staring – Yamaha 1m13.689
10. Max Stauffer – Yamaha 1m14.122
11. Ted Collins – Yamaha 1m14.416
12. Scott Allars – Yamaha 1m16.366
13. Joshua Soderland – Ducati 1m17.126
14. Eddie Leeson – Yamaha 1m17.469
15. Paris Hardwick – Kawasaki 1m18.017
16. Michael Edwards – Yamaha 1m18.290
17. Michael Kemp – Yamaha 1m21.307

Superbike FP1/2/3/4 Combined Practice Times

1. Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m12.243
2. Mike Jones – Yamaha 1m12.533
3. Josh Waters – Ducati 1m12.660
4. Broc Pearson – Ducati 1m12.662
5. Cru Halliday – Yamaha 1m12.788
6. Glenn Allerton – BMW 1m12.991
7. Anthony West – Yamaha 1m13.439
8. Arthur Sissis – Yamaha 1m13.549
9. Bryan Staring – Yamaha 1m13.689
10. Ted Collins – Yamaha 1m13.915
11. Max Stauffer – Yamaha 1m14.122
12. Scott Allars – Yamaha 1m16.366
13. Joshua Soderland – Ducati 1m16.725
14. Eddie Leeson – Yamaha 1m17.261
15. Michael Edwards – Yamaha 1m17.731
16. Paris Hardwick – Kawasaki 1m18.017
17. Michael Kemp – Yamaha 1m21.109

Superbike Championship Points

Supersport Championship Points

Supersport 300 Championship Points

Yamaha Finance R3 Cup Championship Points

bLUcRU Oceania Junior Cup Championship Standings

Morgan Park ASBK Schedule

Sunday 16th July
TIme		Class	Event	Duration
0900	0905	bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup	WUP	5 mins
0910	0915	Supersport	WUP	5 mins
0920	0925	SSP300	WUP	5 mins
0930	0940	Alpinestars Superbike	WUP	10 mins
0945	0950	R3 Cup	WUP	5 mins
1000	1020	bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup ^	R2	6 Laps
1025	1055	Supersport	R1	14 Laps
1100	1120	SSP300	R1	10 Laps
1125	1205	Alpinestars Superbike *^ (Replayed on SBS)	R1	16 Laps
1215	1235	R3 Cup	R2	8 Laps
1235	1330	Lunch – ASBK Paddock Party	Paddock	55 mins
1330	1350	bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup *	R3	6 Laps
1400	1430	Supersport	R2	14 Laps
1435	1455	SSP300	R3	10 Laps
1505	1550	Alpinestars Superbike *	R2	16 Laps
1600	1620	R3 Cup	R3	8 Laps

Morgan Park ASBK Entry List

Superbike Entry List

Supersport Entry List

Supersport 300 Entry List

Yamaha R3 Cup Entry List

bLUcRU Oceania Junior Cup Entry List

2023 ASBK Calendar