Falzon powers to Aussie superbike clean sweep

Privateer Daniel Falzon has made the perfect start to the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship, winning all three races on his Yamaha YZF-R1 as the major support card to the world superbike opener at Phillip Island.

The South Australian was in sizzling form from go-to-whoa after setting pole position on Friday afternoon and then continuing his rich vein of form in the weekend races.

In the opener, Falzon defeated Glenn Allerton (Yamaha) and Honda's Bryan Staring to claim his maiden ASBK victory; in race two Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha) and Robbie Budgen (Kawasaki) completed the podium; and in the two-part finale Bugden and Staring were second and third in the final classification.

“We have worked so hard to get this result,” Falzon said. “I have so many people who help and support my racing and it’s so good to be able to reward them with this win, especially at such a high profile round with the WorlSBK riders.

“This is the best result that we could ever ask for. We didn’t just win by a little bit, I felt that we could win every race quite comfortably. We proved in that last race that we were strong and I didn’t need to push it and I knew that we were going to get the three wins overall if I just kept a level head and stayed on the bike.

“My goal was to have a good weekend and just get myself in contention, but I felt great on the bike all weekend and the Yamaha was working so well."

While Falzon didn't put a foot wrong, it was a mixed weekend for a number of other top guns, with Josh Waters (Suzuki) forced out of race one when an errant stone pierced his radiator, while Maxwell and Allerton crashed out of races one and two respectively.

Two-time ASBK champion Waters, who was basically riding a stock version of the all-new GSX-R1000R, rallied to finish fifth in races two and three, while defending champion Troy Herfoss (Honda) made a solid if unspectacular start to his title defence with 4-4-8 results – but still finished third overall.

Falzon sits on a perfect 76pts, from Budgen (56), Herfoss (47), Cru Halliday (Yamaha, 44), Maxwell (41), Mitch Levy (Yamaha, 37), Staring (36) and Allerton (35).

Meanwhile, Yamaha rider Mason Coote will take a 13-point lead into round two of the 2017 Australian Supersport Championship after his 1-2-1 scorecard.

Ted Collins (Suzuki) is on 47pts from Mark Chiodo (Triumph, 44.5), Ben Burke (Yamaha, 41.5) and Ryan Taylor (41).

Chiodo started from pole position, before crashing and remounting in race one and then winning the second.

FULL RESULTS HERE, INCLUDING SUPERSPORT 300

Round two of the 2017 ASBK title will be held at Wakefield Park near Goulburn (NSW) from March 17-19.