2015

Hall and Marais claim Production honours

News

Justin Hall (The Boltbarn) and Michelle Marais (SP Racing) have claimed the 300cc and Women’s Production class championships respectively at the 2015 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli.

Hall took advantage of his big lead in the class coming into the final round at Phillip Island, to finish the series 17 points ahead of Race Centre’s Drew Sells with Marais a further 29 points back in third.

In the Women’s class, Marais edged out Ilish Ross (Chas Hern Racing), who despite taking maximum points at the Island, lost the overall championship on a countback.

Race 2

Sells got the ideal start off the line and moved into the race lead as series leader Hall moved into second, Robbie Menzies (Australian Outdoor Living) into third and Josh McHenry (Peter Stevens – Geelong) into fourth.

Zack Johnson (Johnson Racing) moved up into fourth by the end of the opening lap as the battle between the top riders remained tight and intense.

On the second lap of the eight-lap race, Johnson moved into the lead – as Hall dropped back to fourth behind Sells and Menzies.

The Women’s championship in the Production class really began to heat up in this race with Ross three positions ahead of series leader Marais.

Sells passed Johnson on lap three of the race and at the half-way mark less than half a second separated the top four riders.

As the battle intensified it was Johnson who made the first mistake, as he went down on the penultimate lap at the bottom of Lukey Heights.

Sells held on for a well-deserved race win making it two from two for the weekend, with Menzies claiming third spot and McHenry holding on to fourth.

Ross finished the race in fifth position, and with Marais only managing ninth overall (and second in the class), the gap in the Women’s Championship heading into the final race was reduced to five points.

The race result handed Hall a 20-point series buffer over Sells leading into the championship decider.

Race 3

Sells started on pole position in race two but got off to a poor start as both Menzies and Hall moved past him and into the top two positions.

However, when Hayley Green (Chas Hern Racing) crashed at turn two, the red flag was drawn and a full race restart was called.

At the restart it was McHenry coming off the second row and moving into the lead, from McHenry, Hall and Sells.

Menzies moved into the lead on the opening lap but there was only 1.7 seconds separating the top seven riders through the opening lap.

At the end of the second lap in the seven-lap race, Sells had settled into second with Hall in sixth – the latter looking content to just finish the race knowing it would clinch him the title.

Menzies, Sells and Johnson finished three laps with a 0.086 gap between them, and the trio swapped positions numerous times over the next few laps.

Hall moved up into fourth, while Ross and Marais were in a battle for the women’s championship in eighth and ninth.

At that point in the race, Marais only needed to hold her position to claim the Production outright third place on the podium, as well as the Women’s title.

Sells moved into the lead on the final lap of the race but had to settle for second place as Menzies rode through to claim the win – Johnson in third and Hall in fourth.

Marais did manage to do enough to not only claim the 300cc podium place, but also beat Ross to the Women’s title on a countback.

300cc ROUND 5 RESULTS

1          Drew SELLS (VIC) – Kawasaki                     (25, 25, 20)   70
2          Robbie MENZIES (QLD) – Kawasaki                        (18, 20, 25)   63
3          Zackary JOHNSON (VIC) – Kawasaki           (20, 14, 18)   52
4          Justin HALL (NSW) – Kawasaki                    (17, 18, 17)   52
5          Josh McHENRY (VIC) – Kawasaki                (15, 17, 15)   47
6          Riki LANYON (QLD) – Kawasaki                   (16, 13, 16)   45
7          Iilish ROSS (NSW) – Kawasaki                     (13, 16, 14)   43
8          Hayden SPINKS (NSW) – Kawasaki                        (14, 15, 13)   42
9          Michelle MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki             (12, 12, 12)   36
10       Lachlan KEOGH (WA) – Kawasaki               (11, 11, 10)   32

OVERALL 300cc CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1          Justin HALL (NSW) – Kawasaki                    242
2          Drew SELLS (VIC) – Kawasaki                     225
3          Michelle MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki             196
4          Iilish ROSS (NSW) – Kawasaki                     189
5          Josh McHENRY (VIC)            – Kawasaki                 183
6          Hayden SPINKS (NSW) – Kawasaki                        115
7          Riki LANYON (QLD) – Kawasaki                   100
8          Lara MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki                    94
9          Robbie MENZIES (QLD) – Kawasaki                        63
10       Tim BOUJOS (WA) – Kawasaki                     62

WOMEN’S ROUND 5 RESULTS:

1          Iilish ROSS (NSW) – Kawasaki                     (25, 25, 25)   75
2          Michelle MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki             (20, 20, 20)   60
3          Lara MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki                    (18, 18, 18)   54
4          Hayley GREEN (WA) – Kawasaki                 (17, 17, 0)      34

OVERALL WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1          Michelle MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki                         260
2          Iilish ROSS (NSW) – Kawasaki                                 260
3          Lara MARAIS (WA) – Kawasaki                                143
4          Hayley GREEN (WA) – Kawasaki                             69
5          Sophie FOX (WA) – Kawasaki                                  49