Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Waters flowing in Australian Superbike

From Team Suzuki Press Service

In a repeat performance of his 2010 domination, Team Suzuki rider Josh Waters claimed overall victory and another new lap record at the third round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway last Sunday.

In hot and humid conditions, Waters and Glenn Allerton scored a win and second apiece in the two 17-lap races to finish the day equal on 45 points, but the extra championship point he gained for qualifying fastest in the one-lap Superpole Shootout on Saturday afternoon gave the Team Suzuki rider the round advantage.

Waters, the 2009 Australian Superbike Champion, won the opening race by 5.362 secs. from Allerton, but Allerton reversed the result in race two with a narrow 1.486-sec. win over the Suzuki GSX-R1000 rider.

"I really wanted to win that second race," Waters said, "but I was lacking a bit of grip in the hotter conditions for race two and decided with two laps to run to settle for second. Pole position, a new lap record and the round win is pretty good though - I'm happy with that."

Waters' fastest lap of 1:07.269 on lap three of the opening race was 0.725 secs. under his own 2010 lap record and the fastest lap ever recorded by a motorcycle around the 2.9km Darwin circuit. The 24-year-old's new benchmark time is an impressive 1.7459 secs. faster than the V8 Supercar lap record for the Hidden Valley circuit, held by Jason Bright at 1:09.0149 in a Ford Falcon.

Waters, who missed the opening round of the 2011 Australian Superbike Championship at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in February due to 'wild card' racing commitments in the Superbike World Championship class has now leap-frogged from 10th to fifth on the points table. After three rounds, Allerton has 138 points in the eight-round series, with Team Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss second on 101 points.

Herfoss, who won last year's Australian Supersport Championship on a Team Suzuki GSX-R600, scored seventh and fourth placings in the two 17-lap races on his Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 to finish fifth overall for the round.

Kevin Curtain took the Supersport overall round victory from Mitchell Carr with Rick Olson third. After three rounds, Carr leads the series on 110 points from Christan Casella on 108, Curtain on 105 and Brodie Waters on 103.

The next round of the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championships will be held at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway on April 29-May 1.

Superbike Overall Results
1. Josh Waters
2. Glenn Allerton
3. Ben Attard
4. Craig Coxhell
5. Troy Herfoss
6. Cole Odendaal
7. Kris McLaren
8. Jamie Stauffer

Superbike Championship Points
1. Glenn Allerton 138
2. Troy Herfoss 101
3. Ben Attard 100
4. Craig Coxhell 90
5. Josh Waters 88
6. Jamie Stauffer 84

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