Oli Bayliss Breaks Through In ASBK;
Herfoss Injured
O
li Bayliss (Ducati) broke
through for his maiden
Australian Superbike Champion-
ship race victory at Hidden Valley
in Darwin, Australia, June 19-20,
defeating current ASBK Cham-
pion Wayne Maxwell in a tense
battle over the final two laps.
A strong start from Bayliss al-
lowed him to take the lead from
Maxwell heading into the first cor-
ner, but Maxwell recaptured the
top spot a couple laps later. The
two Ducati riders continued their
contest until the race was red
flagged after four laps due to a
crash involving Matt Walters and
Corey Turner at the first corner.
The race was restarted with
eight laps remaining with Maxwell
leading the field away. He and
Bayliss each set times under-
neath Troy Herfoss' Saturday lap
record as they pulled clear of the
rest of the field.
A committed move from Bayliss
into the first corner enabled
him to take the lead two laps
from home, and he was able to
withstand Maxwell's pressure to
secure a memorable a first win in
the Superbike class.
Herfoss (Honda) had earlier
won race one, defeating Maxwell
in a lap fight with BMW's Glenn
Allerton third. However, the head-
lines were for the wrong reason as
the former series champion fell at
the start of race two, sliding under
the air fence at turn four and con-
tacting the outside wall. Herfoss,
a former AMA Supermoto Cham-
pion, as well, suffered a badly
broken right humerus (the same
injury that befell Marc Marquez in
2020) and his right femur. ASBK
organizers red-flagged the race,
electing not to restart it and award-
ing zero points to the riders.
In the championship, Maxwell
is now 26 points clear of Herfoss,
who looks unlikely to return for
the remainder of the season, 132
points to 106. Allerton is next at
100. Bayliss' win hoists him to fifth
with 88 points, one point behind
Yamaha's Cru Halliday in fourth.
CN
IN
THE
WIND
P44
Wayne Maxwell (1)
leads Troy Herfoss (17),
Glenn Allerton and Oli
Bayliss (32) in race one
at Hidden Valley.
