The perfect weekend for Herfoss… Almost

Troy Herfoss (Crankt Protein Honda Racing, CBR-1000SP) almost completed the perfect weekend of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK) After two sensational races, winning overall in the Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance (YMI) Superbike Championship, Round Two at Wakefield Park Raceway.

Herfoss performed an absolute masterstroke to switch to slick tyres before the start of the race. The track dried out incredibly quickly, while the majority of the field were on wet tyres. Although Herfoss was sent towards the back of the grid for the tyre change, his gamble paid off handsomely as he made his way from the back of the field.

“During Warm up, I came in early and asked my team if the decision was mine to change from wet to dry tyres and the looks on their faces was amazing! They had no idea what the weather was doing. I just had to back myself on a track I know in and out”, Herfoss said.

The Goulburn local hero made his way towards the front and into first position incredibly quickly and proceeded to create a huge gap between himself and second position. Herfoss and his pit crew can pat themselves on the back for taking such a gamble, as it allowed him to take an easy race victory. Herfoss won by four seconds in front of Robert Bugden (Kawasaki BCperformance, Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Josh Hook (Kawasaki ZX-10R)

Riders who didn’t make the change suffered massively on the dry track, shredding their tyres, giving way to riders on slicks, who passed with ease. Bugden and Hook also chose slicks before the start of the race, giving them a podium placing.

Hook was also delighted with his decision to switch to slicks before the race; “I didn’t know what the weather was going to do. I had a little bit of bad luck in qualifying and had a crash yesterday, so I had to start at the back. That’s when I thought I might as well risk it and change to slicks. Just as well, because the track became dry within a couple of laps!” He added.

Race Two of the YMI Superbikes took place on a completely dry track. Herfoss’s Honda was stuck on the line when the lights went green as his gearbox found a false neutral. Herfoss grabbed second gear and eventually left the start line at the end of mid pack. However, that didn’t stop him from performing one of the rides for the ages.

Despite the terrible start, Herfoss was on the war-path, dicing and weaving through the field like a hot knife through butter. His unparalled strength of his hometown track advantage was evident.

Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, the order was; Maxwell, Cru Haliday (Yamaha Finance, Yamaha, YZF-R1), Daniel Falzon (Caterpiller, Yamaha, YZF-R1) and Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar, Suzuki GSXR-1000R) who were duking it out for victory.

Herfoss soon caught up with the lead, eventually catching Maxwell and passing him. However, it was at that exact moment that Haliday crashed hard on lap 16 and caused a red flag period. As a result of the red flag, Maxwell was declared race winner relgating Herfoss second place by default as results reverted to lap 15.

The podium for race two included Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell, Crankt Protein Honda Racing ‘s Troy Herfoss and Caterpiller/JD Racing’s Daniel Falzon.

Maxwell shared his thoughts on the race win; “With the mixed weather all weekend, we really had no idea what was going to be thrown at us. The Yamaha worked really well on the track and we can really take away some positives from the weekend. It’s nice to come away with a race win. I can’t wait to get to Winton for Round Three!”

Herfoss can at least take solace in the fact that he has dramatically cut the overall championship points deficit to Daniel Falzon, (now only 13 points) as he finds himself well into the championship fight.

2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship Presented by Motul Pirelli Calendar:

Round 3 Winton Motor Raceway, VIC                          28-30 April
Round 4 Hidden Valley Raceway, NT                            7-9   July                                  
Round 5 Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick, QLD          25-27 August
Round 6 SMP Eastern Creek, NSW                               8-10  September  
Round 7 Phillip Island Circuit, VIC                                6-8  October

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ENDS

Media Contact:
Max Rogers
Media and Public Relations Assistant
p: 03 9684 0526
mediaprassistant@ma.org.au