Racing: Aussie superbikes going down to the wire

Josh Waters has pulled out all stops to clinch a nail-biting victory over Wayne Maxwell in the final Superbike support race at this year's Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

After three second places behind Maxwell during the previous two days, the fired-up Waters (Suzuki) was determined to break the stranglehold, and that's how it panned out as he came out on top after a typically hectic run to the finish line.

After the 0.024sec victory, Waters celebrated with gusto, knowing it was critical in his quest to win this year's Woodstock Bourbon Australian Superbike Championship as a rookie.

With championship leader Glenn Allerton (Honda) a distant third in race four, Waters is only 2 points (251 to 253) behind with just one round remaining - back at Phillip Island from November 27-29.

Maxwell is on 244pts, and is the only other rider capable of clinching the crown.

"My bike was sliding around everywhere around those last few turns, but I just kept on pushing and got the win," said a delighted Waters. "The last round is going to be a sensational battle for the championship, and I'm sure the best man will win - I just hope that I'm the one!"

Although Maxwell was pipped at the post, he was still delighted with his effort over the three days.

"The weekend was a great success. Three wins from four races and pole position certainly has me leaving Phillip Island on a high, but I know I will need to be very focused when we return to the island in November for the final round," said Maxwell.

"With Glenn leading and Josh riding as strongly as he is, it will require everything I've got to go from third place in the championship to win the title."

The race was reduced to six laps after the first attempt was red-flagged when Ducati rider Chris Knox crashed at high speed on Gardner Straight.

In a bruising few seconds, leading privateer Craig Coxhell (Honda), who was battling with the leaders at the time, also crashed out in a nasty highside at Turn Two.

That left the field two riders short in the restart, but there was only one more DNF until the end of hostilities - the distributor-backed Yamaha of Daniel Stauffer.

After a lean year, Daniel's brother Jamie showed some improved form in race two, eventually besting Shawn Giles (Suzuki) in an arm-wrestle for fifth position.

American Jake Holden (Honda) was a strong fourth, while Robert Budgen (Suzuki) and David Anthony (Honda) were seventh and eighth.

Supersport at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
Yamaha's Bryan Staring has eked out a spectacular victory in the third and final Supersport race at this year's 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

In a race where lead changes were plentiful, Staring prevailed in a typical Phillip Island drag to the finish line, defeating team-mate Jamie Stauffer by just 0.108secs with Shannon Johnson (Honda) just a whisker behind in third.

The triumvirate was a class above the rest of the pack, and all of them broke the previous lap record of 1:35.822 during the eight-lap journey.

Fittingly, the race winner now owns the new lap record of 1:35.200, which he set on a breathtaking lap five.

"Once again the racing was very close, only two of the three races counted for points and I was able to maintain the gap to Jamie at the end of it all," said Staring.

"I'd like to thank my team for all the hard work they've put in this weekend and all season long, we're very close to achieving the goal of a championship win and I'm really focused on getting it done when we come back here (Phillip Island) in a few weeks."

Suzuki's Troy Herfoss completed the finale in fourth, well ahead of the spirited argument for fifth between Kawasaki's Ben Attard and Yamaha's Scott Charlton, which went in favour of the former.

With just one round remaining in the 2009 Australian Supersport Championship, back at Phillip Island in November, Staring will take in a 17pt (275 to 258) lead over Stauffer, while Attard (189) and Johnson (176) will fight over third overall.

Historics at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
Irving Vincent rider Beau Beaton has produced the perfect weekend at Phillip Island, clean-sweeping the Glen Cameron Historic program at the 2009 Iveco Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

After two victories on Friday, Beaton completed his towering performance in Saturday's eight-lapper, again proving too polished for veteran Rob Phillis (Suzuki).

Recently-crowned Australian champion Laurie Fyffe (Suzuki) was awarded third after Scott Webster (Moto Martin), who crossed the finish line behind Phillis, was penalised 10 seconds for a jump start.

Phillis bolted from the start, but once Beaton had engineered a path through the riders in front of him, he quickly latched onto the tail of the leading Suzuki.

Beaton then swooped on lap five, before powering to his biggest win in all three races - by a margin 5.611secs.

"This weekend has just been the best fun," said Beaton. "The Vincent is an amazing machine, and racing against a rider like Rob Phillis has been a real eye-opener."

Phillis, for his part, was just happy to get through race three after his glasses fogged up in the opener, and then his rear tyre started shredding in race two.

"One of the best things I ever did was to get back into historic racing four years ago," said Phillis. "It would have been great to win this weekend, but congratulations to Beau on doing a great job."

"I had my chances, but that's racing."

Click on the following link for full results across all three classes.