Paul Free and Troy Herfoss together again

Paul Free is back with Penrite Honda

In this week’s other big news about the Australian Superbike, we can report that the Penrite Honda has also had some major changes.

The Melbourne-based squad have started this season on eight balls, with Phil Tainton called in at the last minute to Crew Chief for Herfoss in the Phillip Island season opener.

With Troy returning from a major injury and little time on the bike, the first round at Phillip Island saw the team struggling for speed and looking a bit lost about setting up a new motorcycle.

The team weathered and fought through the dark days to find their stride on their most recent outing at Wakefield Park. Herfoss finished in third with Halliday later in the race and half a second behind the YRT man in the striped position.

That’s a step up from the five seconds he was behind Halliday in the opening race that weekend.

The momentum is coming back to them, Herf’ is back in the game.

Since then, the team has tested again, taking it a step further and believe they are back where they need to be to fight for victory for the rest of the season.

Phil Tainton worked hard with the team and helped bring them back to that moment where they once again challenged for the podium.

However, Phil has his own business and more than enough to keep him busy, so as Paul Free recently became available following his separation from 727Moto, it is likely he will once again stick around. with Herfoss and Honda. Especially given the fact that both Herfoss and Free are based in Queensland, while Phil still runs his PTR workshop in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

And Phil Tainton is happy to open the door for that to happen.

Deon Coote – Team Leader

“Throughout my life in motor racing, first as a racer, and in recent years as Team Owner, I have always found Phil Tainton to be an absolute gentleman.

“He worked on my personal racing bike 20 years ago, then when I went on to race his team with a team of my own, under all the different circumstances, I always respect him.

“I thank him for going into the fray when we desperately needed his help and guidance, his rich knowledge and work with Troy have now brought us back to where we were. I need to go back to the front.

“Phil has a lot of work to do with his own business and although he still splits with us 100%, when Paul returns, it will be up to him to see if he wants to come back to join us. is very reasonable.

“I cannot thank Phil enough for his generous spirit that allowed the door to open for Paul to return to the team. I wish him every success as he now has more time to focus on his own business, and hopefully now he can have more time on the bay in his boat.”

There is still a lot of racing in the race for the title.

Despite a lackluster opening in two rounds of the season, a 34-point run at Wakefield has left Herfoss just 51 points behind championship leader Mike Jones and just 28 points behind Wayne Maxwell.

You wouldn’t count Herf’ out of the race, would you…?

Rumor has it on the street that Herf was the fastest in a recent test session at the Queensland Circuit, a test in which both YRT and DesmoSport Ducati attended… Roll on Darwin…

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