Waters and Herfoss head to The Bend finale equal on points after Waters wins at Phillip Island

ASBK 2023
Round Six – Phillip Island
Superbike Race Two

The opening 12-lap Superbike bout was a cracker.

Cru Halliday took his first Superbike victory at Phillip Island, his third win in the category, and we also had a first time podium finisher in Max Stauffer.

Race One was also pivotal in the championship chase with Mike Jones going down at turn four, and the chances of successfully defending his Title ending up in the grass with him.

Josh Waters had taken second place and clawed some points back on Troy Herfoss in the championship chase.  Herfoss finished seventh after recovering from a run-off at turn one brought on by a false-neutral. Herfoss’ championship lead trimmed to eight-points heading into Race Two at this penultimate round.

Josh Waters led the field through Southern Loop for the first time ahead of Max Stauffer while poleman Broc Pearson was fourth ahead of Glenn Allerton, Mike Jones and race one winner Cru Halliday. A bad start again for Herfoss saw him back in ninth place.  A 1m37.985 from a standing start earning Waters a lead of eight-tenths by the end of lap one. Stauffer still in second place, Pearson still third while Jones had moved up to fourth.

Mike Jones up the inside of Pearson on the run to turn ten to take third place, Jones then got Max Stauffer to move up to second place as they started lap three. Jones the fastest man on the track that time around, but Waters led by six-tenths.

Cru Halliday sneaked under Pearson for fourth place as they started the next lap. He was then climbing all over Stauffer around the back of the circuit, then a wide sweeping line in turn 12 gave Halliday the run he needed to demote Stauffer to third place down the chute.

Troy Herfoss was steadily making progress. Getting the better of Allerton and Staring, before then closing in on Pearson and Stauffer with eight laps to go.

Mike Jones was now right on the tail-pipe of Waters and looking dangerous. Halliday though now half-a-second quicker than that pair and his sights firmly set on chasing them down.

Halliday got the better of Jones on the next lap and started hounding Waters, eager to make it a double here this weekend…

With four laps to run Herfoss got the better of Pearson, next target was Max Stauffer but the youngster was determined not to let the championship leader pass.

Three-tenths covered the leading trio with three laps to run. Waters a little wide in Southern Loop and Halliday thought about banging it in under him but that would have certainly shunted Waters well wide and potentially into the kitty litter so thought better of it, confident that he had the pace to wait for a safer opportunity.

Halliday all over the back of Waters around the back of the circuit, Jones coming with him now also… Further back Herfoss had got the better of Stauffer to move up to fourth.

Just when it looked as though Halliday had it all over Waters the gap between the two grew once again. At the last lap board the gap three-tenths… But it looked as though Halliday’s rear tyre may have now cried enough… Jones also now saw a sniff for that second place as his team-mate looked to now be struggling.

Waters though the winner despite a last ditch effort by Halliday to get the run on him out of turn 12, the difference at the stripe two-tenths.

Mike Jones in third place a further three-tenths behind.

Fourth for Troy Herfoss after what had been a slow start for the Penrite Honda man but he will be somewhat comforted by his late race speed.

Fifth in that bout for Max Stauffer good enough to secure him a round podium.

With that victory Waters will now head to The Bend equal on points with Troy Herfoss, setting up a final winner takes all showdown. With only 51-points still available, including the single point for pole position, no other rider can win the championship other than that pair.

Superbike Race Two Results

1. Josh Waters
2. Cru Halliday +0.224
3. Mike Jones +0.584
4. Troy Herfoss +3.488
5. Max Stauffer +5.678
6. Broc Pearson +7.170
7. Bryan Staring +8.949
8. Glenn Allerton +14.299
9. Anthony West +21.277
10. Ted Collins +21.458
11. Jed Metcher +27.957
12. Arthur Sissis +31.407
13. Mark Chiodo +44.148
14. Josh Soderland +52.092
15. Paris Hardwick +52.137
16. Michael Kemp +81.620

Superbike Championship Points

1. Troy Herfoss 293
2. Josh Waters 293
3. Glenn Allerton 226
4. Cru Halliday 222
5. Mike Jones 220
6. Bryan Staring 189
7. Broc Pearson 186
8. Ted Collins 174
9. Arthur Sissis 158
10. Max Stauffer 151

ASBK 2023 Calendar