Cru Halliday Takes the First Elite Roads Pole Position Award of 2019 in Kawasaki Superbike Qualifying

Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1M) topped the timesheets here at Wakefield Park, Goulburn NSW for Round 2 of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (March 22-24). The 2018 Supersport champion scored his first Elite Roads Pole Position Award of the 2019 season, ahead of Team Suzuki ECSTAR’s Wayne Maxwell (Suzuki GSX-R EL R 57.754, and Penrite Honda rider Troy Herfoss (Honda CBR RR SP, 57.455).

A new qualifying format for 2019 would see the field split into two qualifying groups, with the morning’s timed practice deciding who was in what group. The top nine riders in Timed Practice would be guaranteed entry into Qualifying 2 (Q2), the exclusive second qualifying session yielding the least traffic, the quickest riders, and hopefully the fastest times. Everyone else would have to battle through Qualifying 1, with the top three riders from that session scoring a second-chance place in Q2 to battle it out for pole.

Timed Practice

Mike Jones (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati 1299 Final Ed.) was looking comfortable early in timed practice, as he opened the session with a 57.647. Troy Herfoss then went quickest with a 57.444 to send him to the top of the session, and that’s where he stayed as time ran out ahead of Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1M, 57.602) and Jones (57.647). Top riders to miss out on a free pass into Q2 were Damon Rees (Carl Cox Motorsport, Honda CBR RR SP 58.665) in 10th and Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 58.716) in 11th, who would all be looking for a bump-up into Q2 from Q1. 

Qualifying

Walters came out on top in Q1 to progress to Q2 with a 58.279, ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Phillis (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, Suzuki GSX-R EL R, 58.386) and Rees (58.443). Those riders earned their way into the second session, with the remaining riders’ positions set by their Q1 qualifying times. 

In Q2 Jones set the standard early on with a 57.638 to stake his claim on pole position. Halliday then knocked Jones out of top spot with a blistering 57.138, the fastest lap ever recorded by a Superbike at Wakefield Park. Previous all-time fastest lap holder Maxwell was sitting in second spot on a 57.190, also under the previous best but not quick enough to catch Halliday. 

As the chequered flag came out to end the session Halliday was in top spot, ahead of Maxwell, who will score his 50th front-row start in the ASBK. Goulburn local Herfoss completes the front row.

“I’m just glad for our first pole position for this year” said Halliday. “To be honest my goal was to start on the front row, because the track bottlenecks into turn two, hopefully I can just get away well.”

“This bike’s just working flawlessly, Kevin (Marshall) and I are working a lot more closely this year and it’s paying dividends. I have had very mixed results here, I’ve been fast and I’ve always done well in a race but never been able to string two races together. Hopefully this is the more mature Cru Halliday you see here.”

The action from Wakefield Park concludes tomorrow with Round 2 of the Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship taking place this weekend (March 22-24). Follow all the ASBK action from Wakefield Park on Facebook and Instagram. 

Watch live coverage of the ASBK on Fox Sports and SBS, check your local guides for details. For live, online extended coverage available worldwide, head to ASBK.com.au

Combined Overall Qualifying Results:

1 Cru HALLIDAY (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1M 57.138 )

2 Wayne MAXWELL (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, Suzuki GSX-R EL R 57.190)

3 Troy HERFOSS (Penrite Honda Racing, Honda CBR RR SP, 57.223)

4 Mike JONES (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati 1299 Final Ed. 57.638)

5 Daniel FALZON (Yamaha Racing Team, Yamaha YZF-R1M 57.698)

6 Josh WATERS (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, Suzuki GSX-R EL R 57.805)

7 Aiden WAGNER (Landbridge Racing, Yamaha YZF-R1M 57.904)

8 Matt WALTERS (Kawasaki Connection, Kawasaki ZX10RR 58.009)

9 Bryan STARING (Kawasaki BCperformance, Kawasaki ZX10RR 58.226)

10 Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports, BMW S RR 58.260)

Images courtesy of Andrew Gosling – tbg sport