Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M) has made the most of his pole position, taking out race one of YMI Superbike at The Bend Motorsport Park. The victory sending a huge statement to the field at the brand new circuit within the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK). The Yamaha rider finished ahead of Troy Bayliss (Desmosport Ducati, 1299 Panigale) and Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda, CBR1000SP).

There was a red flag that brought a delayed start to proceedings, this only heightened the tension and excitement on the grid for what lay ahead. Maxwell didn’t get the perfect start, as it was local South Australian Arthur Sissis (SA Demolition, Suzuki GSX-R1000R), who came from the third row to lead the pack into the first turn, with Maxwell and Bayliss hot on his heels. Herfoss had a nightmare on the start line when his bike didn’t engage into gear properly and he dropped down several places.

Sissis couldn’t hold of the fast charging Bayliss and Maxwell, who both went past the South Australian on lap one and started to pull away from the field. Josh Waters (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSX-R1000R) pushed his way into that top battle and looked to mix it with the front pair.

The front pack started to pull away from the field, but deeper in the pack there was a fast charging Herfoss pushing his way back towards the front, claiming the new lap record at The Bend with a time of 1:52.972.

Herfoss raced to fifth position before battling it out with Daniel Falzon (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M) and Waters. The trio went back and forth, but Falzon and Herfoss made their move on the defending champion and set off to try track down Maxwell and Bayliss.

Maxwell enjoyed a comfortable buffer of just over a second when he crossed the finish line to claim his third race win of the season, whilst Bayliss who has shown a liking to The Bend circuit, settled for second.

Yamaha enforcer, Maxwell sharing; “I got a pretty good start and Bayliss also got a good start, but Arthur Sisis was amazing off the line, but once I got past Bayliss I just tried to be consistent and drop him off, but I saw Herfoss recorded some good laps so there will be some more hard work this weekend. We have to keep chipping away after dropping points in the first race of the year, we are playing catch up, but we are really happy.” 

Herfoss got the better of the battle with Falzon who is desperately looking for his first podium of the season on his new Factory Yamaha.

Waters rounded out the top five, but it was an impressive ride from Sissis who put on a show for the locals, finishing in sixth ahead of Alex Phillis (Phillis Racing, Suzuki GSXR-R1000R) in seventh.

Glenn Allerton (NextGen Motorsports, BMW S1000RR) battled throughout the nine laps and settled for eighth. Jamie Stauffer (Craig McMartin Racing, Ducati Panigale R) continues to impress in his return to ASBK took out ninth and Matt Walters (Swann Insurance Superbike, Kawasaki ZX-10R) completed the top ten.

Round one overall winner Bryan Staring (BCPerformance, Kawasaki ZX-10R) had to pull out of the race on lap eight after a mechanical issue saw him return to the pits.

The action is all set to go again tomorrow with two races for the YMI Superbike paddock, kicking off at 10:05am and then 12:40pm.

YMI Superbike Race 1 Provisional Results

1. Wayne MAXWELL (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M)                          

2. Troy BAYLISS (Desmosport Ducati, Ducati Panigale FE)      

3. Troy HERFOSS (Penrite Honda Racing, Honda CBR1000 SP) 

4. Daniel FALZON (Yamaha Racing Team, YZF-R1M) 

5. Josh WATERS (Team Suzuki ECSTAR, GSXR-R1000R)      

6. Arthur SISSIS (SA Demolition, Suzuki GSX-R1000R)           

7. Alex PHILLIS (Phillis Racing, Suzuki GSXR-R1000R) 

8. Glenn ALLERTON (NextGen Motorsports, BMW S1000RR)       

9. Jamie STAUFFER (Craig McMartin Racing, Ducati Panigale R)      

10. Matt WALTERS (Swann Insurance Superbike, Kawasaki ZX-10R)