7 June 2011
RACE REPORT
2011 Australian Superbike Championship
Round Five (Superbike) / Round Four (Supersport)
Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, Queensland
3-5 June, 2011
WATERS MOVES TO SECOND IN CHAMPIONSHIP
Team Suzuki rider Brodie Waters has leapfrogged from fourth to second overall in the Australian Supersport Championship after two consistent rides at the fourth round of the series at Queensland Raceway on Sunday, 5 June.
Nineteen-year-old Waters, who was having his maiden race outing on the new 2011 Team Suzuki GSX-R600, finished fifth overall with 31 points after two hard-fought 17-lap races, both of which were won by experienced international Kevin Curtain.
The Team Suzuki pilot now lies 21 points off the lead in the Australian Supersport Championship, with one round remaining to be held at Phillip Island in November.
“To come here this weekend with a brand new bike for the first time was a new experience for me,” said Brodie Waters.
“The new 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 was great straight out of the box, but we needed just a bit more track time and set-up time to get it dialled in for the races.”
Although Brodie Waters just missed an overall podium position in the Supersport class at the Queensland round by five points, elder brother Josh kept the family name in lights with a third place overall in the Superbike class on his Team Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Waters, the 2009 Australian Superbike Champion, finished a close second in race one just 2.423sec behind race winner Jamie Stauffer, then backed up with fifth in race two for a tally of 36pts and third overall.
Stauffer won both 17-lap races at Queensland’s fifth round to take the weekend’s overall honours from Glenn Allerton, the latter holding on to his series lead with three rounds remaining.
As testimony to the pace at the front of the pack Stauffer set a new Superbike lap record of 1:09.125 in the opening race, with Waters recording the second fastest time of 1:09.259. Both riders’ times were well below the V8 Supercar lap record for the 3.12km Ipswich circuit, with the new Superbike record 1.4646sec under the V8 Supercar record set in 2010 by then Jim Beam Racing Ford driver James Courtney on his way to the 2010 championship.
Josh Waters had an additional challenge to contend with at Queensland Raceway, having only arrived back in Australia on Thursday, 2 June from his ride with Team Yoshimura Suzuki at the US round of the Superbike World Championship the weekend prior.
Waters’ Team Suzuki teammate Troy Herfoss finished sixth overall from fifth and seventh placings and now lies equal on points with Ben Attard in the battle for third in the championship. The duo is just 10 points adrift of second-placed Stauffer, with Superbike rookie Herfoss showing he had the pace to run with the front-runners before a couple of minor errors dropped him from podium contention.
Herfoss, the 2010 Australian Supersport Champion, recorded a fastest lap of 1:09.600 in race two, fractionally quicker than his more experienced teammate’s 1:09.652 in the same race.
Team Mack Trucks Suzuki rider Robbie Bugden finished eighth overall after a crash in race two ended his podium charge following a sixth place in race one. The three-time New Zealand Superbike champion remounted to salvage tenth place after frustration at being pushed wide on the opening lap caused him to push a little too hard.
With Superbike privateer Ben Henry finishing tenth overall for the round on his Cube Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000, Suzuki GSX-R1000s hold four positions in the top ten on the points table.
The Australian Superbike Championship returns to the Ipswich circuit on 19-21 August where round six will run as a support category alongside the V8 Supercars.
PHIL TAINTON – TEAM MANAGER
“It’s been a challenging weekend for the riders and the team, so to come out with a Superbike podium for Josh and a jump by Brodie from fourth to second on the Supersport championship points table is a positive outcome, especially in view of how competitive both classes are now.
“It was a tough weekend for Brodie in Supersport as we weren’t able to do much testing of the new 2011 GSX-R600 before this meeting. The recent tragedy in Japan delayed the race parts we were waiting on, so set-up time has been limited. But I’m confident this new GSX-R600 will be a winner – it’s got a lot of improvements over the 2010 model.
“Getting Superbikes set up to handle the bumps at Queensland Raceway is a challenge in itself. Although the weekend’s results weren’t what we were after, we’re in good shape for when we come back here in August for the next Superbike round.”
JOSH WATERS
“I was happy with my qualifying and second in the first race was a good result as the pace was pretty hot. Jamie (Stauffer) was on fire in that one and I just couldn’t close the gap.
“I can’t thank Team Suzuki enough for not only giving me the opportunity to race overseas but for working so hard across the weekend to get me feeling comfortable on my Aussie-spec GSX-R1000.
“It took me a while to adapt to the different bike, different tyres and a totally different type of circuit layout after coming back from the US.
“I was confident I’d get faster as the weekend progressed and that’s the way it worked out right up until the last race. I was confident of fighting for the win in race two after pushing Jamie so hard in race one, but it wasn’t to be. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”
TROY HERFOSS
“I felt I had the pace to run with the front guys this weekend and I was happy with my lap times – 1:09.6 in both races. Unfortunately I made a couple of little mistakes, and you can’t afford to do that at this level.
“In race two I missed a couple of gear shifts, and that made me run wide. It’s something I’ll be working on before we come back here in August for the next round.”
BRODIE WATERS
“To come here this weekend with a brand new bike for the first time was a new experience for me. The new 2011 bike was great straight out of the box, but we needed just a bit more time to dial it in for this track.
“To move from fourth to second in the championship is a good result given some of the difficulties this weekend. I’d like to be closer to Kevin (Curtain) than 21 points, but there’s 51 points up for grabs at the final round and Phillip Island is a track I like.”
ROBBIE BUGDEN
“Not the sort of meeting I was hoping for. Friday practice and Saturday qualifying went well and I was confident we had the pace this weekend. I was getting off Turn Two real good, and the bike was fast down the back straight as a result.
“I got a good start in race two but then got pushed wide in Turn Two. I guess I was a little impatient and trying to make up ground too quickly when I lost the front at Turn Three. I’m looking forward to coming back to Queensland Raceway for the next round as I know we’ve got good pace.”
2011 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND FIVE, QUEENSLAND RACEWAY, IPSWICH, QUEENSLAND
Superbike Overall Results - Round 5
1 Jamie Stauffer; 2 Glenn Allerton; 3 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000); 4 Wayne Maxwell; 5 Ben Attard; 6 Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R1000); 7 Craig Coxhell; 8 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000); 9 Cole Odendaal; 10 Ben Henry (Suzuki GSX-R1000).
Superbike Championship Points (after 5 of 8 rounds)
1 Glenn Allerton 226pts; 2 Jamie Stauffer 170; 3eq Troy Herfoss (Suzuki GSX-R1000), Ben Attard 160; 5 Craig Coxhell 151; 6 Wayne Maxwell 136; 7 Josh Waters (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 124; 8 Cole Odendaal 123; 9 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 116; 10 Ben Henry (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 98.
Supersport Overall Results - Round 4
1 Kevin Curtain; 2 Brendan Clarke; 3 Rick Olson; 4 Aaron Gobert; 5 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600); 6 Nicholas Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600); 7 Chris Quinn; 8 Glenn Scott; 9 Christan Casella; 10 Andy Lawson.
Supersport Championship Points (after 4 of 5 rounds)
1 Kevin Curtain 155pts; 2 Brodie Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 134; 3 Christan Casella 132; 4 Aaron Gobert 131; 5 Rick Olson 125; 6 Mitchell Carr 120; 7 Nicholas Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 97; 8 Andy Lawson 93; 9 Chris Quinn 85; 10 Glenn Scott 75.
