Troy Herfoss Wins Great Battle With Mike Jones To Win R1 In QLD

ASBK 2023

Round Three – QLD Track

Super motorcycle race one

Heavy showers fell overnight in the Ipswich area and while the competitors woke up to a bright, sunny morning, the surface of the Queensland Racetrack was drenched. As a result, very few riders choose to hit the track during the morning warm-up, as little is gained as there is virtually no chance of any rainfall during the day.

Josh Waters got to this round with a 35-point lead but Troy Herfoss closed that gap by one point on Saturday after man Penrite Honda took first pole position since 2021.

Recently, Herfoss changed her exercise program, spending less time on the bike and more time on the motorcycle. The 36-year-old has been riding his motorcycle for the week and tells me it has helped him get up to speed faster since his first ride this weekend, as he immediately felt comfortable with the Fireblade. switch below and just continue with It.

Cru Halliday may have come out on top The opening ceremonybut Herf is at the top FP2, FP3 And eligible. More importantly, there were a lot of fast laps done during those sessions by the man Penrite Honda. Herf took down ten rounds in 67 years. His ultra-short time of 67,655 lowered the qualifying record by a fraction of the time in the process. He actually went faster in practice, Herf’s 67,582 seconds on Saturday morning, the fastest lap of the weekend, by far…

Of course, that qualifying record holder is Mike Jones. The defending champion took a while to pick up pace this weekend, but by the knockout he was flying high and was only poled by Herfoss in the dying seconds of the knockout. Jones dominated here last year with pole position and two wins, however in 2023 Jones has been somewhat overshadowed by a resurgent Cru Halliday and his YRT teammate will start with him. He’s in the front row.

Halliday looks set to be in trouble on Friday. Super healthy cyclists sweat abnormally after running even for a short distance. We later found out that the reason for it was that the 33-year-old had the flu all week but is here looking and feeling a lot better this morning.

Ducati runners have encountered some overheating issues. The V4 R ran hot, very hot, and Friday’s baking runway posed some problems for them until a late afternoon breeze blew some wires off the surface. This seems to be hindering Josh Waters’ progress somewhat but he’s starting from second row and has also been in 67th place several times this weekend.

Young Max Stauffer found some extra speed in qualifying to get through to the fifth qualifier, ahead of Glenn Allerton and Ted Collins. This is the first time that boy Max has run a lap faster than his two-time champion father. Jamie Stauffer.

Broc Pearson started in eighth on the grid on a DesmoSport Ducati, overtaking the man who drove that V4 R to set a new lap record (67,681) here last year, Bryan Staring. The Western Australian racer hit some 68.3 in practice this weekend but his record of 68,487 on MotoGP Yamaha in qualifying was just good enough for ninth on the leaderboard ahead of Anthony West.

Weather conditions were excellent by the time opponents formed on the grid for the opening 16 round of the weekend. So far this weekend there have been virtually no injuries in all categories and we expect that trend to continue throughout our busy race schedule here today. However, after overnight rain and not much rubber down this morning, track conditions were a bit sketchy. Fortune favors the brave, sometimes…

Mike Jones went very far from the center of the front row and led Herfoss into turn one for the first time. Halliday did not have a great cross and was quickly overtaken by Josh Waters, after which Glenn Allerton pushed Halliday back to fifth in the second round.

Jones led Herfoss while Waters in third looked like he was tormenting his Pirelli behind him from the start, the rear end of the McMartin Ducati protesting and vying for the helm. Glenn Allerton then overtook Waters, the Ducati man running very wide, which also allowed Halliday to pass to knock the Mildura man back into fifth place with 14 laps.

Allerton was the fastest to get on the right track early on, and he quickly became involved with Herfoss and Jones after leaving Waters. Bryan Staring dropped in third while in seventh, repeating last year when he fell at the same angle. Staring started over and managed to finish the race in 13th place to take the crucial eight points.

The top five then began to move further as Halliday began to find his footing. Then, only for him to run wide helping Waters get back to that fourth place, Halliday quickly brought him back and that battle continued. Right behind them and benefiting from their mistakes is young Max Stauffer, who is running strong in sixth place, two seconds ahead of seventh-placed Broc Pearson by 11 laps.

Mike Jones then dropped to the first 67 of the day, 67,985 within five inches of Herfoss. That pair has now split a bit, Allerton, Halliday and Waters vying for third place against each other and tripping over each other, that battle now playing out two seconds behind the race leader.

Up front Herfoss continued to stalk Jones. The Penrite Honda man also dipped in 67, 67,942 to make sure the YRT man didn’t have the space to breathe.

Herfoss almost drew with Jones when they started round ten but thought better of that. Then, the leading duo had to start dealing with the congested traffic with six laps remaining.

Herfoss rushed inside on the third turn but ran in too wide for Jones to come back. Halliday is now catching up to that pair’s pace but his slower start cost him dearly, Cru being two seconds behind but now far ahead of Waters.

Herfoss tried the exact same move in the next round, and the result was the same. But Herfoss was then trailed in the fourth round, only to have Jones take the lead once more on the track in the fifth… It was going.. Their match now allowed Halliday to get a sniff. and was closing in on them, he took four laps to do it…

Herfoss beat the Honda to Jones again on the third turn! Jones took the lead at the exit again.. Herfoss did it again on the final turn and they ran straight into the main road side by side. Halliday is now following them…

Herfoss took the lead again in round three and this time held the lead, he also held on to the lead in rounds four and five, leading up to the final round and going straight down the main lane, holding this position for a while. again on turn one. Is this the moment Herfoss brakes Jones…? It was the last round so now was the time to do it, but nothing stood between Herfoss, Jones and Halliday as they scrambled for that final round. Herfoss maintained the lead in rounds three, then four and five, Jones took the lead in round six but Herfoss took the lead and ran back to the line to take her first win at the Queensland Circuit. Mike Jones just held out Halliday on the way to the flag when it only took 0.162 seconds to cover the people standing on the podium at the line.

Josh Waters took fourth place but was more than three seconds behind the leading trio. Glenn Allerton lost a bit of pace towards the end of the race but took a fifth to keep third in the championship.

Max Stauffer picked up 15 points after a great steady run to sixth with a two-second buffer time ahead of Ted Collins, who in turn had two seconds ahead of Broc Pearson.

With that win, Herfoss cut Waters’ lead on the championship to 26 points.

Superbike Race One results

Superbike Championship Score

ASBK Calendar 2023