Support class qualifying at 2008 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix

Superbike
Factory Honda rider Jason O’Halloran has pulled off a stunning last lap in qualifying to claim pole position for this weekend’s Australian Superbike races at the 2008 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

O’Halloran blasted around the 4.448km circuit in 1:34.295, just ahead of teammate Glenn Allerton (1:34.378), who appeared destined to start from  No. 1 on the grid until the final few seconds of qualifying.

However, it wasn’t to be, with the diminutive O’Halloran, the current lap record holder at Phillip Island, leaving his best until last on his CBR1000RR.

O’Halloran only flew back into Australia earlier this week after competing in the last few rounds of the British Superbike Championship, where he impressed seasoned observers riding 2007 model machinery.

Meanwhile, Allerton is currently in career-best form himself, and leads the 2008 Australian Superbike Championship heading into the final round at Eastern Creek in two weeks’ time.

Allerton, like all the top Superbike punters, relishes the opportunity to compete at Phillip Island, which is not a part of the regular Australian Superbike calendar.

The front row for the four Superbike races will be filled by Shannon Johnson (Kawasaki, 1:35.166) and reigning Australian champion Jamie Stauffer (Yamaha, 1:35.528).

In the last Superbike outing at Phillip Island, Stauffer shared wins with the evergreen Shawn Giles, who will miss this weekend with injury.

All four Japanese brands are represented in the top eight qualifiers, with the racing set to typically tight and uncompromising.

Just 0.656 seconds separated the top seven riders in this afternoon’s 20-minute qualifying session, with in-form Honda rider Wayne Maxwell coming out on top in the battle of the middleweight rockets, closely followed by an ensemble cast of stars – Jamie Stauffer, Jeremy Crowe, Judd Greedy, Daniel Stauffer, Bryan Staring and Josh Waters.

Maxwell’s best lap was 1:36.252, not too far shy of Jamie Stauffer’s lap record of 1:35.822, set earlier this year.

Maxwell is still chasing his first Super sport victory at Philip Island, and he’s now given himself every chance of a breakthrough in at least one of this weekend’s four-races, starting tomorrow at 4.40pm.

Maxwell will be hoping that history repeats itself in 2008, because Staring started from pole position last year, and he went onto claim his maiden race win at the Island.

Today’s Super sport bikes are highly complex pieces of machinery, featuring close-ratio gearboxes, a maze of electronic gadgetry, and MotoGP-like brakes. It’s a potent package that has them circulating around Phillip Island at an average speed of 166km/h, compared to Marco Melandri’s current MotoGP benchmark of 177km/h.

Historic
Flying New South Welshman Craig McMartin will lead away 38 booming machines in this weekend’s three Australian Historic races at the 2008 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

McMartin continued the superb form he showed in this morning’s practice session to slot his Irving Vincent into pole position with a best lap of 1:44.567, well ahead of former multiple Australian Super bike champion Rob Phillis (Suzuki, 1:44.933).

The duo will be joined on the front row by Phillis’ great rival, feisty Tasmanian Malcolm Campbell (Suzuki, 1:45.150), and historic class stalwart Scott Webster (Kawasaki, 1:45.850).

This year marks the first time historic machines have been on the support class program at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. This weekend will see Period 4 (1963-1972) and Period 5 (1973-1980) machines race together, featuring classic bike manufacturers such as Norton, Seeley, Triumph, Ducati, as well as the four Japanese marques.

Riders such as Wayne Gardner cut their teeth on Period 5 machines, which do not handle or stop like anywhere today’s Superbikes – but they nearly have the same horsepower.