In a repeat performance of his 2010 domination, Team Suzuki rider Josh Waters claimed overall victory and another new lap record at the third round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway on Sunday.
In hot and humid conditions, Waters and Glenn Allerton scored a win and second apiece in the two 17-lap races to finish the day equal on 45pts, but the extra championship point he gained for qualifying fastest in the one-lap Superpole Shootout on Saturday afternoon gave the Team Suzuki rider the round advantage.
Waters, the 2009 Australian Superbike Champion, won the opening race by 5.362sec from Allerton, but Allerton reversed the result in race two with a narrow 1.486sec win over the Suzuki GSX-R1000 rider.
Said Waters: "I really wanted to win that second race, but I was lacking a bit of grip in the hotter conditions for race two and decided with two laps to run to settle for second. Pole position, a new lap record and the round win is pretty good though - I'm happy with that."
Waters' fastest lap of 1:07.269 on lap three of the opening race was 0.725sec under his own 2010 lap record and the fastest lap ever recorded by a motorcycle around the 2.9km Darwin circuit.
The 24-year-old's new benchmark time is an impressive 1.7459sec faster than the V8 Supercar lap record for the Hidden Valley circuit, held by Jason Bright at 1:09.0149 in a Ford Falcon. The Team Suzuki rider's GSX-R1000 Superbike regularly hit speeds of 300km/h along Hidden Valley's 1.0km-long front straight, some 25km/h faster than a V8 Supercar.
Waters, who missed the opening round of the 2011 Australian Superbike Championship at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in February due to 'wild card' racing commitments in the Superbike World Championship class has now leap-frogged from 10th to fifth on the points table.
After three rounds, Allerton has 138 points in the eight-round series, with Team Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss second on 101pts.
Herfoss, who won last year's Australian Supersport Championship on a Team Suzuki GSX-R600, scored seventh and fourth placings in the two 17-lap races on his Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 to finish fifth overall for the round.
The 24-year-old, who is in his rookie Superbike season, bounced back from a challenging opening race to just miss a podium finish in race two by 2.666sec.
After qualifying strongly in fifth position, Team Mack Trucks Suzuki rider Robbie Bugden had his round challenge thwarted by a technical issue, placing the three-times New Zealand Superbike Champion 10th in the series points table.
In the Australian Supersport Championship, Team Suzuki's Brodie Waters kept his 2011 Championship challenge alive with 10th and fifth places to be just seven points off the series lead after three rounds.
Caught out by a patch of wet bitumen in the opening 17-lap race, the 18-year-old remounted his 2010-model GSX-R600 after the Turn One crash to salvage 11 points. A further 16 points in race two sees Waters fourth in the Championship.
Kevin Curtain took the Supersport overall round victory from Mitchell Carr with Rick Olson third. After three rounds, Carr leads the series on 110 points from Christan Casella on 108pts, Curtain on 105pts and Waters on 103pts.
The next round of the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championships will be held at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway on April 29 - May 1st.
Phil Tainton - Team Manager:
"It's been a great weekend for Josh with the round win, pole position and a new lap record. After missing part of last season due to injury he showed he's lost none of the talent or determination that won him the 2009 Championship.
"It was challenging for the riders and the team in the heat and humidity, so to come away with the win for Josh and second in the Championship for Troy is a satisfying result. Troy is only in his third season of road racing and his first season on a Superbike - the only thing he's lacking is experience.
"It was a tough weekend for Brodie in Supersport as we weren't able to get the new 2011 GSX-R600 ready in time. The recent tragedy in Japan delayed the race parts we were waiting on. To be just seven points off the championship lead with the 2011 bike now available for the rest of the rounds puts Brodie in a good position to challenge for the Championship."
Josh Waters:
"The bike worked fantastic all weekend so a big thanks to the team. It was really hot and I had to work really hard, but to come away with the overall win, pole position and a new lap record is pretty cool.
"I lacked a little bit of grip in that second race when the track temperature was higher. My race time was nearly five seconds slower than in race one, but it was better to play safe in the closing laps and settle for second behind Glenn as I knew that would still give me the round win.
Troy Herfoss:
"I'm happy with the result in race two, but I struggled a bit early on in the weekend and in race one. This circuit has a long front straight, but the rest of the track is pretty tight and technical and it wasn't easy on the Superbike coming to grips with it. I didn't make any major changes to the bike, but things felt a lot better in race two and I felt more confident."
Brodie Waters:
"To be just seven points off the Championship lead isn't too bad I guess, as I struggled to find the pace to run at the front this weekend. The crash in race one didn't help, but fortunately I could get up and get going again. There was a patch of water at Turn One that I'd been running across okay, but I had to go in deeper on the brakes to try and get past Christan Casella. Once I touched the brakes across the wet patch I was down before I knew it. I'm looking forward to the new 2011 bike and the next round to get things back on track."
Superbike Overall Results - Round 3:
1 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000); 2 Glenn Allerton; 3 Ben Attard; 4 Craig Coxhell; 5 Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R1000); 6 Cole Odendaal; 7 Kris McLaren; 8 Jamie Stauffer; 9 Ben Henry (Suzuki GSX-R1000).
Superbike Championship Points (after 3 of 8 rounds):
1 Glenn Allerton 138pts; 2 Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 101; 3 Ben Attard 100; 4 Craig Coxhell 90; 5 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 88; 6 Jamie Stauffer 84; 7 Cole Odendaal 75; 8 Wayne Maxwell 60; 9 Ben Henry (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 58; 10 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 57.
Supersport Overall Results - Round 3:
1 Kevin Curtain; 2 Mitchell Carr; 3 Rick Olson; 4 Nicholas Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600); 5 Christan Casella; 6 Aaron Gobert; 7 Dylan Mavin; 8 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600); 9 Andy Lawson; 10 Jackson Leigh-Smith.
Supersport Championship Points (after 3 of 5 rounds):
1 Mitchell Carr 110pts; 2 Christan Casella 108; 3 Kevin Curtain 105; 4 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 103; 5 Aaron Gobert 99; 6 Rick Olson 89; 7 Andy Lawson 70; 8 Nicholas Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 66; 9 Ryan Taylor 59; 10 Chris Quinn 55.
