Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1) has secured pole position for the YMI Superbike Class at the Spokes.com.au presents Round 7 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
The pole position is a huge boost for Maxwell’s title chances as he attempts to secure victories within Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK).
Maxwell was devastatingly quick on his Yamaha machine and after a solid performance in all practice sessions, it was not a surprise to see him on pole position. His fastest lap time a 1:32.587, which was set in Qualifying Two.
The greatest challenger to Maxwell’s pole position was Daniel Falzon (JD Racing, Yamaha YZF-R1) who posted a 1:32.587, to finish an extremely close .013 of a second away in second position. Falzon led with five minutes to go, but Maxwell fired back later in the session to secure pole.
Maxwell’s pole creates an interesting proposition for tomorrow’s racing. Although Maxwell sits 14 points behind Herfoss in the points standings, anything can happen on race day.
Third position went to hard charger Josh Waters (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSX-R1000R). The in-form rider will be going all out for victories tomorrow in the hope to secure a rider’s championship for Team Suzuki ECSTAR in its first year of operation.
Fourth and fifth positions were secured by Crankt Protein Honda Racing teammates, Bryan Staring (CBR1000SP2) and Troy Herfoss (CBR1000SP2). The fifth-place finish for the championship leader, makes defending Herfoss’ points lead a more challenging task.
Qualifying One was led by Herfoss as he set a benchmark of 1:32.851, ahead of Maxwell but he was unable to better his lap in the second qualifying session.
Quotes from the Riders
Wayne Maxwell
“It’s great to be able to claim my second pole position of the year, which now draws us fourteen points within the championship lead.
“Tomorrow the goal is now more than achievable. We are going to have to come out with the Yamaha R1 and try and win both races and put ourselves in a championship winning position.
“We went with the same strategy as we normally go with, which is running the hard tyre then at the end, we put the softer option in. Thankfully it had enough grip to deliver the lap time required to score pole position. Big thanks to the whole team.
“This pole position is not a massive psychological thing for me, but it does give you that extra boost. It’s more about the single championship point. For me, average starts this year means I’m on the front row. Even if I get a bit of an average start it will still mean I’ll be around the top three. If that is the case we can still try and press on and make the most of tomorrow’s races.”
Maxwell
Daniel Falzon
Tomorrow is a whole new ballgame and we’ll have to see what the conditions will be like tomorrow. We’ve shown we’ve got the dry pace and throughout the year we’ve shown we can fight at the front, we’ve just got to avoid any mishaps. I don’t think anyone will be able to break away tomorrow and Phillip Island always encourages close racing.”
Josh Waters
“To be on the front row was always the target and we managed to achieve that with third place. We will see how we fare tomorrow but I’m expecting a closely fought race. I don’t think we’ll be able to make a break from the front like we did at SMSP but I’m really confident in my long run pace. I just wanted to up as high as I could and I’m expecting all the usual suspects to be fighting towards the top. We’ll try to improve the bike for tomorrow and try our hardest.”
Falzon
Top Ten YMI Superbike Provisional Saturday Qualifying Results
1 Wayne MAXWELL (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1) 1:32.587
2 Daniel FALZON (JD Racing, Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:32.600
3 Josh WATERS (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSX-R1000R) 1:32.740
4 Bryan STARING (Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team, CBR1000SP2) 1:32.850
5 Troy HERFOSS (Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team, CBR1000SP2) 1:32.851
6 Glenn ALLERTON (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1) 1:33.145
7 Cru HALLIDAY (Yamaha Finance, YZF-R1) 1:33.907
8 Matt WALTERS (Kawasaki Australia, Kawasaki ZX-10R) 1:33.957
9 Alex PHILLIS (Apex Civil, Yamaha YZF-R1) 1:34.052
10 Michael BLAIR (Yamaha YRT, YZF-R1) 1:34.125