Motourage

Bryan Staring crosses the line at Queensland

Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing’s Bryan Staring has rocketed from third to first in the race for Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship honors with a clean sweep at Queensland Raceway, host of round three. This morning’s race win was a career first for the 23-year-old from the Gold Coast, but he wasn’t content to stop at one, comfortably winning the second 16-lap battle and the round in the process. Staring’s stellar starts were a key contributor; he was away well from second place on the grid and once in the lead looked unstoppable. The results cap off a weekend in which rider and team went from strength to strength.

“It’s been such an unreal weekend, we kept progressing with what we knew and the bike just kept getting better,” said Staring. “I said yesterday that Wayne (Maxwell) had a clean sweep in the first round, Josh (Waters) in the second and felt it might have been my weekend to have a go too. The team deserves this victory as much as me, they put together an awesome bike in the CBR1000RR.This is my local round now so it’s good to share this with my family and friends.”

Staring collects 50 points for the round and dislodges Demolition Plus GAS Honda’s Wayne Maxwell from the top spot after the Victorian endured a frustrating day. Maxwell finished third in both races, unable to convert yesterday’s blistering qualifying pace into a result today. A despondent Maxwell said there was lots of work to be done before the series returned to the circuit in Ipswich for its next point-scoring round.

“We’ve got a lot of work in front of us, today was a constant struggle,” he said. “We were gifted a few places in that second race when a few of the other bikes dropped out, that was the only positive to come from today. Josh (Waters) and Bryan (Staring) raced hard today and are making this a really tough battle, congratulations to both. We’ll go away and regroup. The team is strong and I have to thank them for all their efforts today.”

Though consistent, Waters’ two second-place finishes weren’t enough to hold on to second place in the title race, and the defending champion said the team would most likely revert to the setup which brought them success at Hidden Valley in April.

“We made a few changes to the bike for the second race which helped, but no one was going to beat Bryan (Staring) today,” said Waters. “The bike was great and the team worked as hard as ever but it just wasn’t our day. We come back here in August and we’ll have a much better idea of where to start with setup from the outset. I’m looking forward to improving on today’s result and most importantly, staying in the hunt for the title.”

Two eventful races changed the complexion of the 2010 championship for a number of leading riders. Problems plagued Ducati Motologic Racing’s Jamie Stauffer, with the two-time winner exiting both races early and taking zero points for the round. The outcome is a slide from fourth to eighth on the standings.

Suzuki riders put in a solid performance across the board, claiming positions 4 through 6 for the round. Brisbane-based rider Team Mack Trucks Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden excelled at his home event, and makes good inroads on his 2010 campaign after missing the opening round. Team Suzuki’s Shawn Giles finished fifth followed by Racers Edge Performance Suzuki rider Scott Charlton.

Valvoline Superbike Team rider and 2008 champion Glenn Allerton launched an attack on the leaders in race two before a mishap put him out of the running and made the final few laps a salvage operation for points.

Gold Coast rider Daniel Stauffer put in his best performance of the season on the new factory Aprilia RSV4, finishing seventh for the round.
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The 2009 ASBK privateer champion, CJC-Bisley Racing‘s Craig Coxhell, is looking forward to his 2010 debut at round two of the Viking Australian Superbike Championship on board the team’s all new BMW S1000RR. Aiming to follow on from last year’s successful debut with Bisley Workwear, the team has found another exciting new partner in Southbank BMW and look forward to get back into the action.

Rob Coxhell and the CJC team make the move from Honda to BMW for the 2010 ASBK season

Craig Coxhell:
“We had a great first year last year and are looking forward to getting to terms with the exciting new S 1000 RR. Gary House is preparing the bikes as we speak and we’ll be able to give them a shakedown and some preliminary testing prior to Darwin, where we’ll be running the stock engine. That shouldn’t be an issue – from all reports and the feel from when I rode one earlier this year that should be enough to get us in the ballpark. The stock motor seriously rips. We’ve also been able to secure Dave Cullen to help us out with suspension and setup this year, so we’re looking forward to working with Dave again. We have a successful history together and it’s a pleasure to be alongside Dave again.”

Rob Coxhell:
“We’re treating this year as a development year – obviously the bikes have only just arrived and we’ve missed the first round, but we’re hoping to get up to speed fairly quickly with some great support from BMW, particularly Chris Bussenschutt and the team at BMW Southbank. We’re also extremely pleased to be continuing our relationships with Bisley Workwear and the guys from Ankermann and the support from our partner suppliers such as Sportsbike tire warmers. It’s a pretty amazing year really in the ASBK this year; with the inclusion of the all new S 1000 RR there will be 8 manufacturers going for it which makes for exceptional racing and when you throw in Darwin as a new track – anything could happen. We know there are a lot of very excited BMW riders out there who are keen to see the bikes on track and we’ll do our best to put on a great show.”