RACING: Herfoss stars at The Bend

Honda’s Troy Herfoss put on an excellent display at round three of the 2018 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) in South Australia, clinching victory in the weekend’s overall standings at the all-new The Bend Motorsport Park.

Herfoss went 3-1-1 across the three races in the premier class to win the overall from Yamaha pair Wayne Maxwell (1-3-3) and Daniel Falzon (Yamaha, 4-5-2), Glenn Allerton (BMW, 8-3-4) and privateer Alex Phillis (Suzuki, 7-7-9).

Herfoss also left the new 4.95km circuit with the founding lap record – 1:52.939 – which he set in race one.

FULL RESULTS ACROSS ALL CLASSES

“We were really strong this weekend when people probably didn’t think we were going to be, so now we’re going to Darwin with a healthy lead and the bike is probably going to be better than what people think up there as well,” said Herfoss.

“We’re really happy… and it’s just exciting at the moment – the whole team is motivated and we’re getting the results – so we couldn’t be happier.

“I feel like we’re really getting some momentum going, race two especially I was completely in control - I could sit in the draft and pass. I didn’t have to make any impatient moves and I played the race how I wanted it to play out, so it was a really, really good weekend.”

Meanwhile, there were dramas for defending champion Josh Waters (Suzuki), who had a DNF in race two after a front brake fault, while Troy Bayliss (Ducati) highsided in the finale and has a suspected broken finger.

Bayliss’ best result was a second place in race one behind Maxwell, while Bryan Staring (Kawasaki) was another to finish on the podium with a runner-up spot in race two.

Herfoss (173pts) has now extended his lead in the seven-round championship to 23pts, with Maxwell (150pts) and Falzon (134pts) both sailing past Waters (126pts) in the standings. Bayliss (117pts) and Staring (113pts) are next.

Round four will be held at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin from June 28 until July 1.