Yamaha report from Winton ASC
Yamaha report from Winton Australian Superbike Championship round.
A bittersweet weekend of results has seen Yamaha racers once again win both Superbike and Supersport rounds at Winton Motor Raceway today, the site of the third round of the Australian Superbike Championship.
Dan Stauffer made a deserved return to the top of the podium, easily claiming round honours after top finishes across two turbulent races in the Superbike class. His brother, Jamie, was shooting for a clean sweep of the round after a dominant pole position and race 1 win before a spectacular crash removed him from the running.
The Supersport team, already without the services of an injured Bryan Staring, took a turn for the worst when frontrunner Jeremy Crowe crashed out in the opener. Points leader and dual-class competitor Jamie Stauffer picked up the pieces for the factory R6 team, extending his lead in the championship with another solid win. Zac Davies put in an impressive performance aboard his privateer R1 entry, finishing 8th and 5th respectively to easily win his class. The points haul also saw him grab an incredible 5th outright for the weekend, upstaging the efforts of a number of factory riders.
Yamaha Racing Team Superbike. Dan Stauffer has continued his strong run of results at Victoria’s Winton Motor Raceway, winning this weekend’s third round of the Australian Superbike Championship and moving three places up the series ladder. Quietly optimistic at his chances heading into the event, Stauffer set an impressive fourth fastest time in the combined qualifying sessions, securing a front-row start for the harrowing run for holeshot into turn 1. The pace between the factory frontrunners was hot, with lap records tumbling from lap 2 onwards.
Stauffer held his own in the resulting 19-lap stoush for position, finishing fourth. Determined to shake his previous runner-up results at the technically demanding circuit, the Gold Coast-based R1 pilot stormed off the grid to take the lead. A spirited battle for P1 then began with Shawn Giles, before a spectacular crash involving Jamie Stauffer and Robbie Bugden saw the red flag waved, indicating a race restart. The duo resumed their fight for the lead over the second half of the race, with Shawn Giles sweeping the road and Dan Stauffer close behind.
The ace up the R1 pilot’s sleeve was Giles’ imminent 10-second time penalty for a jump-start. Stauffer was then forced to hold off a late charge from Craig Coxhell, who pushed hard but could not find a way past. Earning an impressive 42 points for the round, Stauffer easily held out Coxhell for the top spot on the podium.
"What a weekend, there was nothing between the riders at the front so to break through and grab a race win and take the overall victory is really satisfying, something I’ve been working towards for a while," said Stauffer. "I enjoy this track, it suits my style and coming back here we knew we had a good handle on the setup." "It’s quite bumpy in parts, the surface probably needs an upgrade, it made finding a good line each race very important. The R1 was fantastic. We were on the way to a 1-2 finish for the team, so it’s unfortunate that Jamie crashed out of the running."
Jamie Stauffer is undergoing observation at Wangaratta hospital this evening after the race 2 crash. He was knocked unconscious in the incident but appears to have escaped any serious injury.
Australian Superbike Championship Round 3 Results.
1. Daniel STAUFFER (NSW), 42
2. Craig COXHELL (VIC), 35
3. Shawn GILES (NSW), 35
4. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW), 34
5. Zac DAVIES (NSW), 29
6. Robert BUGDEN (QLD), 26
7. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 26
8. Damon BUCKMASTER (NSW), 24
9. Mark HIGGINS (VIC), 20
10. Jason O’HALLORAN (NSW), 20
Australian Superbike Championship Standings.
1. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW), 114
2. Shawn GILES (NSW), 111
3. Daniel STAUFFER (NSW), 101
4. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 97
5. Robert BUGDEN (QLD), 96
6. Craig COXHELL (VIC), 93
7. Jason O’HALLORAN (NSW), 89
8. Kevin CURTAIN (NSW), 54
9. Chris TROUNSON (VIC), 52
10. Zac DAVIES (NSW), 51
Supersport
Yamaha Racing Team Supersport. Dual-class competitor Jamie Stauffer has picked up the pieces and claimed another strong round win to maintain his championship charge for Yamaha in the Supersport class at Winton Motor Raceway today.
Adding another pole position to his name after a hotly-contested qualifying session, Stauffer was quick off the start but found himself battling for position with privtateer R6 pilot Ben Attard. The frontrunners fought a bar-to-bar battle for a number of laps before a massive highside crash from YRT gun and previous round winner Jeremy Crowe saw the race red-flagged.
Lucky to escape injury with a number of bikes in close proximity, a frustrated Crowe was quickly back on his feet but unable to continue. Regulations state that a rider who is deemed to be the cause of a red-flag is unable to continue. As the race re-ignited up front, Jamie Stauffer resumed control, and at record-pace, cruised to a comfortable race win. Stauffer finished second in race 2, another incident-packed showdown which was again shortened by time delays and another red-flag restart.
Stauffer finished on equal points with Josh Waters after two races, but the crucial single point for pole tipped the result in his favour. He now leads the Australian Supersport Championship by 24 points. Jeremy Crowe notched up another disappointing DNF in the final race of the day, taking zero points from a frustrating weekend.
"That’s racing, with the highs come the lows and I experienced my share of lows today," said Crowe. "It was incredibly frustrating to be unable to restart the first race, however the officials had made their decision and there wasn’t much I could do. The mistake in race 2 put me off early in the lap and out of the running again. To score no points in the round is a massive blow to my championship."
Crowe slips to fourth in the standings after a lacklustre weekend. Bryan Staring was a non-starter for the team this weekend, nursing a wrist injury from the previous round. A recent reconstruction will limit his time on the bike before the next round at Queensland Raceway, and it will be a race against time to determine whether he will be able to make a start.
Australian Supersport Championship Round 3 Results.
1. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 46
2. Joshua WATERS (VIC), 45
3. Ben ATTARD (QLD), 35
4. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC), 35
5. Christan CASELLA (VIC), 31
6. Mitchell CARR (NSW), 31
7. Grant HAY (NSW), 27
8. Ian ANDREWS (SA), 26
9. Jason CULLEN (NSW), 22
10. Chris QUINN (NSW), 18
Australian Supersport Championship Standings.
1. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW), 141
2. Joshua WATERS (VIC), 117
3. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC), 98
4. Jeremy CROWE (NSW), 83
5. Ben ATTARD (QLD), 80
6. Judd GREEDY (QLD), 77
7. Grant HAY (NSW), 72
8. Mitchell CARR (NSW), 65
9. Chris QUINN (NSW), 61
10. Ian ANDREWS (SA), 59
