Aussie superbikes heading to Symmons

The 2009 Woodstock Bourbon Australian Superbike Championship (ASC) continues at Symmons Plains this weekend, in what's expected to be another sensational bout of high-speed racing at the northern Tasmanian circuit.

Symmons has only returned to the ASC calendar in the last couple of years, but the 2.4km layout always punches above its weight when it comes to showcasing all that's great about road racing: tight battles, slipstreaming and massive braking duels.

In the premier superbike class, the talent pool is deep, with all four Japanese manufacturers in with a show of winning.

In a fairytale full-time superbike debut, Joe Rocket Suzuki's Josh Waters leads the superbike title after the opening round at Phillip Island, making good on his ascension to the big league after the last few years in supersport. The former Australian 125 GP champion and former dirt track wiz has been a past winner in the supersport ranks at Symmons Plains, and he'll now be looking to continue that form in the superbike arena.

Waters and teammate Shawn Giles will again ride the 2008 model GSX-R1000 in Tasmania while they await the arrival of their updated tackle.

Defending champion Glenn Allerton (Motologic Honda) is just 1pt (43 to 42) behind Waters in the title chase, and then it's the hard-charging Wayne Maxwell (Motologic Honda, 39pts), Giles (Joe Rocket Suzuki, 33pts) and Daniel Stauffer (Yamaha Racing Team, 33pts).

Allerton was impressive in testing at Symmons on Wednesday, lapping close to Stauffer's current lap record of 53.479, set last year.

"Today has gone really well and we were pretty much on the pace straight away," said Allerton. "We've just been fine tuning, and we put a new tyre on and I did about a 53.5s so I'm pretty happy!

"It'd be great to get a big crowd in this weekend, so let's hope the rain stays away so we can put on a good show for all the Tassie fans."

Meanwhile, Maxwell was in hot form at Phillip Island in his superbike debut for Honda, and spent the last race arm-wrestling with Allerton.

Stauffer was all class at Symmons in 2008, winning the opening races from Allerton before eclipsing Jamie Stauffer in the second.

This weekend, the Stauffers will debut Yamaha's all-new big-bang engined YZF-R1, the same machine which American Ben Spies has used to win three of the opening four races in this year's world superbike title.

"Wednesday's test session saw us make some considerable improvements to the R1 with the factory package now complete, the potential of the bike is really starting to show," said Stauffer. "Our speed was good and we're at a track we've done well at in the past, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend at Symmons Plains."

Jamie Stauffer is languishing in an uncharacteristic seventh position on 28pts after a lean opening round, but the multiple champion expected to be right at the front in Sunday's two races, as are Kevin Curtain (Kawasaki Racing Team), Craig Coxhell (CJC Racing) and Robbie Bugden (Joe Rocket Suzuki), who recently won the New Zealand Superbike Championship.

In this morning's first superbike practice session, three riders dipped into the 53-second mark -- Allerton, Waters and Daniel Stauffer -- and the top eight were sperated by less than one second.

Maxwell was fourth from Jamie Stauffer, Bugden, Coxhell, Giles, Curtain and Chris Trounson (Motologoic Racing).

In the massive 31-bike supersport field, there are six standouts - Ben Attard (Kawasaki Racing Team), Troy Herfoss (Joe Rocket Suzuki), Yamaha Racing Team trio Jamie Stauffer, Scott Charlton and Bryan Staring, and privateer Judd Greedy (Bio Magnetic Suzuki).

Staring and Greedy share the championship lead after Phillip Island, with Attard in third from Jamie Stauffer and Herfoss, new to road racing after a distinguished career in dirt track and supermoto racing. Jamie Stauffer is the defending champion.

Suzuki and Yamaha have shared two wins apiece at Symmons over the last two years.

The other classes in action at Symmons Plains will be Superstock 1000, Superstock 600, 125GP/250 Mono and the single-make FZ6 battle.

In other news, the 2009 ASC will appear on Channel Ten's new dedicated digital sports channel, One. A 60-minute highlights package will be shown about two weeks after every stand alone round, starting from Symmons Plains.

A full telecast schedule will be announced next week.

For more information on the 2009 ASC, click here.

For live timing from this weekend, click here.