Team Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss kicked off his 2010 season with the overall win in the opening round of the Australian Supersport Championship, run in conjunction with the Superbike World Championship first round at Victoria’s Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit at the weekend.
Christian Casella, Troy Herfoss and Brodie Waters were the top three in the Supersport class at Phillip Island
In only his second full season of Supersport racing, Herfoss had a near-perfect start to his title assault with a close third in the opening race, backed up with a dominant win in race two. The 23-year-old missed victory in race one by just 0.059sec after a race-long battle with eventual winner Christian Casella and fellow Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Brodie Waters; the trio flashing across the finish line with less than 600ths-of-a-second covering all three bikes. After some minor suspension adjustments between the two 12-lap races, Herfoss powered to a 5.410sec victory in race two over experienced international competitor Kevin Curtain, with Waters third. Herfoss’s 43-point tally across the two races gives the 2008 US Supermoto Champion a narrow one-point lead over Casella in the six-round series, with Waters third (38pts) and Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Chas Hern fourth (30pts).
In the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championship reigning champion Josh Waters had a mixed commencement to the defense of his title. The 23-year-old Team Suzuki rider, who won the 2009 title in his rookie Superbike year, missed pole position by just 0.001sec to fastest-qualifier Wayne Maxwell. Third in the opening 12-lap race, just 1.293sec behind race-winner Maxwell, and only 0.123sec behind second-placed Bryan Staring, was followed by disappointment in race two when a gear lever malfunction on lap four left Waters’ GSX-R1000 stuck in third gear. He completed the 10-lap journey in third gear to secure 9pts, his tally of 27pts across the two races leaving the defending champion 24pts off the series lead.
Shawn Giles finished sixth overall on 29pts after recording sixth and seventh placings; the three-time Australian Superbike champion admitting that his tactics to combat Phillip Island’s tire-punishing high speeds did not work in his favor.
“I didn’t encounter those sort of grip problems when we tested here earlier in the year, but Phillip Island is one of the world’s most-punishing tracks on tires. The track temperature on Friday was up to 54 degrees, and the conditions were affecting the world teams as well. It was a matter of balancing fast lap times with tire conservation, and setting the bike up to cope,” added Giles.
The Phillip Island Superbike World Championship race meeting also marked the one-year anniversary of Team Suzuki’s custom-built New Breed Mack Trident transporter, the impressive rig drawing plenty of admirers from the visiting international Superbike teams.
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