A hot and windy day greeted the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) contenders at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway with temperatures well over 30 degree’s and winds of over 30 knots throwing even more challenges at the GSX-R1000 mounted pair with Josh Waters taking home some solid championship points with a 3-3 finish for 3rd overall while Markus Chiodo had a challenging day with a crash and 18th place finish.
Josh Waters: “Last year in the wet was the first time I’d ridden a Superbike at Wakefield so we don’t have a lot data, but coming into the weekend after testing we were heading in the right direction, but still had some work to do. Qualifying 3rd and being one of only 4 riders to go under 58 seconds showed we were on track, then finishing 3rd in race 1, I was happy with the improvements. In race 2 though, I managed to close the gap to Wayne(Maxwell) and Troy (Herfoss), walking away with some more confidence and some critical championship points” a positive Waters said.
Team Owner, Dale Brede: “What a weekend! Markus had some bad luck with a crash on Friday setting the tone for a tough weekend while Josh continued to show why he’s the reigning champion, taking consistent steps forward from practice to qualifying and through both races” said Brede. “It’s a learning year for Markus on the Superbike and weekends like this, where he doesn’t feel like he took steps forward, are tough on the rider but we know what he’s capable of and we’re behind him. The team continues to work incredibly well under pressure and we’ve come away from what could be considered a weak track for us with a solid points haul”.
Markus Chiodo: “It was a really difficult round for me after the test here last week went reasonably well, so I thought that this weekend may have gone a bit differently” said Markus. “My crash on Friday meant we lost some critical track time putting me back in 18th place on the grid for both races. Another crash in the first race put me on the sidelines while in race 2 I just wanted to finish and move on to Tailem Bend. I’m going to forget about this round and put all my focus on the new track at the next round”.
Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia now begin preparations for round 3 at Australia’s newest race track, The Bend, in South Australia on April 18-22, where no rider has had the opportunity to race to date and will present a whole range of opportunities and challenges for the entire ASBK paddock.
