Strong start for Giles

From Team Suzuki

Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Shawn Giles showed he's lost none of the skill and bravado that has earned him three Australian Superbike Championships when he finished second overall at the opening round of the 2008 Australian Superbike Championship at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway at the weekend.

Giles engaged in two thrilling high-speed duels in the two 13-lap races with defending champion Jamie Stauffer, missing victory in race one by just 0.252sec and 0.927sec in race two.

In race one the duo swapped positions throughout, Stauffer later commenting that he'd never seen the Suzuki rider in better form than he was at Eastern Creek.

Stauffer and Giles continued their battle in the second 13-lap heat, Giles' Suzuki GSX-R1000 hitting 290km/h down the front straight.

Such was the pace at the head of the field that in the second 13-lap race the top six riders all lapped faster than the Superbike lap record for the 3.93km Sydney circuit. The new mark eventually went to Stauffer at 1:31.057 with Giles' best lap just 0.048sec slower.

Stauffer's two race wins and bonus championship point for pole position gives him a 51-point tally and an 11-point lead in the seven-round series over Giles.

"I'm really happy with results - although I wanted to win, not come second," Giles said. "But this is a track that Jamie Stauffer has always been strong at, so to push him so close in both races is a great start to the season. I'm hungry for another title, and I'm injury free and fitter than I've been for a couple of seasons.

"It was a pretty fast pace out there; I don't think Jamie and I could have ridden any harder. I never gave up to trying to get past him in that final race - I was lucky on the last lap as I lost the front between turns 11 and 12, but was able to save it."

In the opening round of the 2008 Australian Supersport Championship, Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Joshua Waters secured two fourth places on his brand new 2008 Suzuki GSX-R600 to lie fourth on the points chart.

Superbike Overall Results - Round 1: 1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 3 Jason O'Halloran, 4 Robert Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1100), 5 Glenn Allerton, 6 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 7 Daniel Stauffer, 8 Kevin Curtain, 9 Shannon Johnson, 10 Scott Charlton.

Superbike Championship Points (after 1 of 7 rounds): 1 Jamie Stauffer 51, 2 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 40, 3 Jason O'Halloran 36, 4 Robert Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1100) 34, 5 Glenn Allerton 29, 6 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 28, 7 Daniel Stauffer 28, 8 Kevin Curtain 27, 9 Shannon Johnson 27, 10 Scott Charlton 23.

Supersport Overall Results - Round 1: 1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Jeremy Crowe, 3 Bryan Staring, 4 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 5 Judd Greedy, 6 Wayne Maxwell, 7 Scott Charlton, 8 Shaun Geronimi, 9 Chris Quinn, 10 Grant Hay.

Supersport Championship Points (after 1 of 7 rounds): 1 Jamie Stauffer 51pts, 2 Jeremy Crowe 38, 3 Bryan Staring 38, 4 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 34, 5 Judd Greedy 32, 6 Wayne Maxwell 29, 7 Scott Charlton 27, 8 Shaun Geronimi 23, 9 Chris Quinn 22, 10 Grant Hay 21.