Yamaha Racing Team’s Daniel Falzon (Yamaha YZF-R1) has displayed his home ground advantage in Timed Practice for Round 3 of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, South Australia, for International MotoFest (April 25-28). The Adelaide-based rider topped the session with a 1:52.769 on only his first of two laps in the session to come out quickest in Kawasaki Superbike ahead of Mike Jones (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati Panagale FE, 1:52.943) and Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia, Suzuki GSX-R). 

Two sessions on track for Kawasaki Superbike today saw the riders with two opportunities to try and perfect their setups ahead of Qualifying and Race 1 tomorrow (Saturday). A wet track greeted the riders in the morning’s Free Practice 2 thanks to some overnight rain that hit The Bend, meaning all but four riders elected to sit out the session and save their runs for the afternoon’s Timed Practice.

By the time the green flag went out and the riders took to the track for Timed Practice in the afternoon, the track had mainly dried out despite the overcast skies overhead that had dominated most of the day. Each rider would be looking to capitalise on the day’s limited running to ensure their spot in the fastest ‘Q1’ qualifying group and avoid having to progress through the last-chance spots up for grabs in Q2. 

Despite only doing two laps in the 30 minute session, Falzon managed to set his own personal best on the way to topping the standings. “The team have been working flat out last night, came back to the pits at about 9:30PM they were still working on the bike” he said. “So credit to them, they’ve got something right, and it’s fantastic to be able to give them the result that they deserve so far.”

“I mean it’s only Timed Practice so I’m not going to get the confidence up too much, but it’s nice knowing I have that up my sleeve and I feel like I can go a little bit faster again.”

Jones was the only other rider to join Falzon in the 1:52’s, with Maxwell, Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance, Kawasaki ZX10RR, 1:53.473), yesterday’s fastest man Josh Waters (Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia, Suzuki GSX-R, 1:53.473), and reigning champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing, Honda CBR RR SP, 1:53.729) filling out the top six. 

Photos Andrew Gosling