ASBK 2024
Round Three – QLD Raceway
Australian Superbike Race One
If formulating a form guide based on what we saw on Saturday, Mike Jones would have to be the odds-on favourite. His nine-lap string of 1m07s in succession in FP4 was something no rider got remotely close to when it came to long-run pace. Then, in Qualifying, Mad Mike lowered the lap record to head the field by four-tenths of a second.
Max Stauffer had earned second place on the grid, and Glenn Allerton rounded out that front row.
It was an all-Ducati second row, headed by current King of the Baggers, Troy Herfoss. Alongside him were Josh Waters and Broc Pearson.
Cru Halliday hadn’t really fired this weekend the way we know he is capable of. He headed the third row alongside Bryan Staring. The West Australian showed more pace this weekend than his eighth place in Qualifying suggested, but the qualifying session didn’t go his way.
Between those two on that third row was Arthur Sissis. The South Australian is off to a promising start on a freshly built Stop & Seal Yamaha he only threw a leg over for the first time on Friday.
Anthony West had rounded out the top ten in Qualifying ahead of young rookies, Cam Dunker and John Lytras.
Max Stauffer got the jump and the inside line to take an early lead ahead of Mike Jones and Glenn Allerton. Allerton went up the inside of Jones at Turn Three to move up to second position. Troy Herfoss was fourth, followed by Josh Waters fifth.
Stauffer recorded a 1m12.554 from a standing start to have three-tenths over Allerton as they crossed the stripe to start lap two. Herfoss got the better of Mike Jones early on lap two to move up to third place. The two traded places again, and yet again throughout the course of that lap, they eventually tripped each other up enough for Waters to get on terms with them.
The first flying lap for Stauffer was 1m07.544, his lead over Allerton out to almost eight-tenths. Once clear of Herfoss, Mike Jones got his head down with some clear air to lower the lap record further to 1m07.498, bringing him onto the back of Glenn Allerton. It took Jones no time to get the better of Allerton and slot himself up to second position. Jones then left Allerton in his dust as he tried to chase down Stauffer, after improving again to 1m07.434. At the front, Stauffer was still lapping around record pace, a 1m7.629 on lap five.
Further back, Troy Herfoss had caught and then passed Glenn Allerton on lap six. At this juncture, Herfoss was 2.3 seconds behind Stauffer and Jones.
Jones made his move for the lead at Turn Three, but ran wide, taking Stauffer with him, and preventing the youngster from being able to cut back underneath.  Once in the lead, Jones immediately pulled eight-tenths over Stauffer as the race passed the halfway mark. Would Stauffer be able to regroup and come back at Jones?
A little further back, Troy Herfoss and Josh Waters were battling hard over the final step on the rostrum. On lap nine, Jones, Stauffer, Herfoss, and Waters all did 1m07.7s.
Max Stauffer was not giving up the chase to Jones. The gap stayed just under a second for quite some time. Troy Herfoss put in his fastest lap of the race on lap 12 to get a little breathing space over Josh Waters, and was starting to edge a little closer to Stauffer.
Cru Halliday took fifth place from Glenn Allerton as they started lap 13, with that battle unfolding just over four-seconds behind the race leader.
Stauffer had now started to drift back into the 8s. With two laps to go, Jones’ buffer was out to two-seconds, and Herfoss was within half-a-second of second placed Stauffer. Coming along for the ride was Josh Waters….
A small mistake by Herfoss gave Stauffer a little time for air on the penultimate lap, but the gap at the last lap board was four-tenths, with Waters only two-tenths behind Herfoss.
Troy Herfoss then ran wide again at turn three, costing him his chance at that second place. That mistake also allowed Waters to get on terms with him. Waters made his move into the final turn to steal that third place on the rostrum. Those 18-points extended Waters championship lead over Halliday out to 100-points.
It turned out Herfoss had some problems throughout the race with the tank overflow issues, or something around the fuel system the team are still investigating. The fueling issue caused Herf some problems under brakes, which led to what looked like mistakes on track. The bike also cut out exiting the final turn as it was running out of fuel! That will seriously light a fire under Herfoss for this afternoon’s race two, not that Herf generally needs much winding up!
1. Mike Jones
2. Max Stauffer +2.443
3. Josh Waters +3.057
Max Stauffer survived the pressure to hold off that pair of three-time champs to take a seriously impressive second place.
Up front, though, taking the victory by 2.4 seconds was a peerless Mike Jones. The YRT man had not been able to train for a couple of weeks due to illness and found it tough going. The competition must be glad he is crook!
Cru Halliday took fifth ahead of Glenn Allerton. Broc Pearson crossed the line three-seconds further back in seventh.
Anthony West steadily worked his way up to eighth place, ahead of Arthur Sissis, Bryan Staring, and Cam Dunker. West and Sissis brushed fairings as they battled on lap 11.
John Lytras 16-seconds further back in 12th place but with 21-seconds over Eddie Lesson.
Paris Hardwick retired early with technical problems. Ty Lynch crashed on lap 12.
Superbike Race One Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | M Jones | Yam | 18m10.012 |
| 2 | M Stauffer | Yam | +2.443 |
| 3 | J Waters | Duc | +3.057 |
| 4 | T Herfoss | Duc | +3.789 |
| 5 | C Halliday | Yam | +4.507 |
| 6 | G Allerton | BMW | +5.093 |
| 7 | B Pearson | Duc | +8.493 |
| 8 | A West | Yam | +10.123 |
| 9 | A Sissis | Yam | +10.647 |
| 10 | B Staring | Yam | +11.539 |
| 11 | C Dunker | Yam | +18.529 |
| 12 | J Lytras | Yam | +34.041 |
| 13 | E Leeson | Yam | +55.417 |
| 14 | J Soderland | Yam | +1m04.141 |
| 15 | M Edwards | Yam | +1m04.161 |
| 16 | P Linkenbagh | Yam | 1 Lap |
| 17 | M Kemp | Yam | 1 Lap |
| DNF | T Lynch | Yam | 4 Laps |
| DNF | R Yanko | Duc | 11 Laps |
| DNF | P Hardwick | Kaw | 13 Laps |
ASBK Superbike Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | J Waters | 127.5 |
| 2 | C Halliday | 100 |
| 3 | M Jones | 87.5 |
| 4 | B Pearson | 85.5 |
| 5 | H Voight | 82 |
| 6 | M Stauffer | 80 |
| 7 | C Dunker | 71.5 |
| 8 | A West | 71.5 |
| 9 | B Staring | 69 |
| 10 | T Herfoss | 64 |
| 11 | G Allerton | 56 |
| 12 | A Sissis | 50.5 |
| 13 | J Lytras | 43 |
| 14 | P Hardwick | 37 |
| 15 | J Soderland | 36.5 |
2024 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 23-25Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Mar 22-23- Round 3: Queensland Raceway, QLD Apr 26-28
- Round 4: Morgan Park Raceway, QLD Jul 12-14
- Round 5: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC Sept 7-8
- Round 6: One Raceway, NSW Oct 4-6
- Round 7: The Bend Motorsports Park, SA Nov 8-10
