Waters edges out Allerton in Darwin thriller

A battle royal raged between two former Australian Superbike champions at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway on April 17, with Josh Waters (Suzuki) claiming the overall honours by 1pt ahead of BMW’s Glenn Allerton.

Allerton finished second to Waters in the opening 17-lap stoush, and knew he would need to win the second race to have a shot at his fourth round victory in succession.

And that he did, but it was Waters who prevailed for back-to-back round wins in the Northern Territory.

“It’s been a real battle with Glenn this weekend and a lot of fun,” said Waters. “To take back-to-back wins at Hidden Valley really is all we could have hoped for.

“It was hard work in the heat but we hung in there and the pole position point ended up giving us the edge today.

“Suzuki has done an amazing job with the GSX-R1000 and I can’t thank the crew enough for its dedication.”

Waters is now rapidly moving up the championship table after missing the opening round while making his world Superbike debut at Phillip Island.

He entered the weekend in 10th and leaves in 5th on 88pts, while Allerton extended his championship lead to 37pts (138 to 101) over Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss, followed by Ben Attard (100) and Victorian Craig Coxhell (Honda, 90).

“The boys made a set-up change which made the bike a lot easier to ride in the second race,” said Allerton. “It was a lot better rolling into the turns and coming out of them and was strong from start to finish.

“It’s a great result for us and the BMW just keeps getting better. We’ve added a few points to our lead and are really looking forward to seeing how the bike does in Perth.”

Meanwhile, Attard was in superb form at Hidden Valley, with the experienced Queenslander scoring his second race and round podium for the year aboard the Aprilia V-four.

Attard led the opening lap of race one, and showed pace again this afternoon.

Attard had the measure of Waters at mid-race distance but consolidated for third place after his pace faded slightly.

“After a season of development the team has really come on strong with the Aprilia, it’s still early days but these results are really promising,” Attard said. “It’s really good to be up here racing in the top three and showing what the bike can do.”

Herfoss held onto second place in the championship with two top five finishes as he continues to come to grips with the GSX-R1000 in his rookie season.

The factory Honda Superbikes struggled in the Darwin heat, with Jamie Stauffer and Wayne Maxwell both failing to finish.

Kevin Curtain took the Australian Supersport Championship round victory with another a strong ride.

The Yamaha veteran won race two, holding off team-mate Rick Olson who had an improved showing in second.

Polesitter Mitchell Carr (Triumph) looked set to challenge the factory Yamaha team following his maiden Supersport race win this morning but didn’t have the pace to stay in touch.

The experienced Curtain said he had hoped to make a break early after falling back in the first race.

“The plan was to get out there and get as much as a gap as I could,” said the YZF-R6 mounted rider. “I knew there would be nothing in it, Rick caught me in the closing stages and I wore the tyre down trying to stay in front.

“It’s a good result for my own championship and for Yamaha this weekend.”

He may have narrowly missed the round victory but Carr accumulated enough points to overtake fellow Triumph rider Christian Casella in the title chase.

“It’s been a breakthrough weekend, everyone’s really chipped in and we’ve taken the Triumph to another level,” said Carr.

After three rounds he holds a 2pt lead over Casella, with Curtain a further three in arrears.

Team Suzuki’s Brodie Waters went from second to fourth on the standings after a problematic weekend which included a crash in this afternoon’s race.

The Australian Superbike Championships heads to Western Australia as part of the Perth Trading Post Challenge from April 29- May 1 where Superbike and Prostock classes will race as a combined field.

Click on the following link for full results and standings in the championship, including support classes.