Cycle News

IN THE WIND P46 Herfoss Doubles Up At Wakefield Australian SBK P enrite Honda Racing rider and reigning champion Troy Herfoss has earned the victory at Wakefield Park's second round of the 2019 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), mak- ing it four-straight overall wins at the technical New South Wales circuit, March 23-24. After qualifying in third place and riding in front of a hometown Goulburn crowd, 32-year-old Herfoss put on a stellar display in both premier class outings to record a perfect 1-1 scorecard, promoting himself to second in the championship standings as a result. Race one saw him make multiple maneuvers to position himself in P1 following 20 gruel- ing laps, crossing the line with a 1.189s advantage while also set- ting a new lap record of 57.525s. Herfoss couldn't be touched in a shortened race two as he secured another win, which was red-flagged at the 13-lap mark and ultimately declared by officials. "Today was so, so much fun," Herfoss said. "The new qualify- ing format this weekend with Q2 being really short made it quite intense, and I really enjoyed it doing a PB lap of 57.1s for third on the grid. I knew it was going to be a tough two races, but I knew I was the only one who had done a long run on the race tire. "It was a really solid pace at the start of race one, but thank- fully I was able to make a few passes throughout the race and pulled a bit of gap towards the end. I'm sorry to see a rider go down in race two and see the race stopped halfway, but for me, it was so much fun to get out front, get a holeshot and put my head down." Herfoss has climbed from sixth to the second position in the point standings, only five points outside of the lead despite his troubles experienced at Phillip Island's opener last month. Yamaha Racing Team's Cru Halliday, however, is the Austra- lian Superbike Championship points leader. Halliday entered the round in second place after the season opener at Phillip Island but moved into the series lead after another fast and consistent weekend at Wakefield Park. His 2-2 results gave him second for the round, but more importantly, sees him take the se- ries lead in the Superbike division for the first time in his career. "I'm really happy with how the weekend went and that we are leaving here with the champion- ship lead," Halliday said. "Getting P1 was awesome as this track can be hard to get a good feel on, but the team did a great job of getting the bike just right. "I rode a bit tight in the first race and didn't flow and link up the track as I wanted, and as a result, I struggled for speed. But, I was happy that I was able to re- bound late in the race and make a couple of passes to salvage a good result. "The second race and I was more relaxed and able to flow better. Troy was pushing the pace in front, and we were all working hard to stay with him, but I was determined to stick on him and see if I could maybe pull another late race move, but it was stopped with seven laps to go." CN Troy Herfoss won both legs of the Australian Superbike Championship at the New South Wales Circuit. PHOTO: RUSSELL COLVIN/FOREMOST MEDIA

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