Bryan Staring was out for redemption after his unfortunate demise while in contention for victory in this morning’s opening 16-lap bout.   Staring had taken it right up to Mike Jones in Race One only to go down just over halfway through the race and from thereon Jones was in a race of his own. The YRT rider eventually crossing the finish line 5.7-seconds in front of defending champion Wayne Maxwell.

The BMW Alliance squad also took a blow this morning when they were subsequently disqualified from the results of the opening Superbike race at Queensland Raceway earlier today. Lachlan Epis had finished 14th in that opening stanza and bagged seven-points for his efforts, only for those points and his race result to be cancelled after race scrutineers deemed them to have non homologated firmware loaded into the ECU of the BMW M 1000 RR.

Conversely, the Maxima Oils BMW squad got some good runs on the board with Josh Waters third in Race One and his team-mate Glenn Allerton in fourth. After a shocker of a start Cru Halliday eventually worked his way forward to catch the BMW pairing but ran out of time to mount a challenge.

Troy Herfoss was making progress but after 16-laps was 13.3-seconds behind race winner Jones, so Herf’ is still not back up to race winning speed on the Penrite Honda. However, if he can find half-a-second a lap over race distance, easier said than done, then he can potentially get in the battle for a podium.

The track temperature was about the warmest it had been all weekend as the riders formed up on the grid for Race Two, Computime registering 51.4-degrees for the start of the race.

Wayne Maxwell scored the holeshot, the front wheel of the Boost Mobile Ducati climbing into the air as he clicked second gear before he tipped into turn one.  Maxwell leading Jones, Staring and Sissis through the infield section for the first time. Epis fifth, Halliday sixth, Allerton seventh, Waters eighth, Herfoss ninth and Metcher back in tenth. A yellow flag appearing in the corner of Allerton’s eye just before the lights went out had baulked him at the start.

Mike Jones took the lead on lap two, the YRT man passing Maxwell under brakes into the final turn. Once in front he started pulling away instantly, a 67.924 on his first flying lap half-a-second quicker than Maxwell and Staring. In fact the next quickest man to Jones on that second lap was fourth placed Arthur Sissis.

By the end of lap three Jones had 1.25-seconds on the Ducati duo fighting for second place alongside Arthur Sissis. That trio running virtually nose-to-tail while Cru Halliday tried to chase them down from fifth.  Followed by a BMW triumvirate headed by Waters from Allerton and Epis.

Once Staring had got the better of Maxwell he left the defending champion and Arthur Sissis in his wake.  A little further back Halliday had made a mistake that had allowed Josh Waters to get the better of him and steal that fifth place.

With ten laps to run Jones had a two-second lead, Staring had 1.3-seconds over Maxwell, but the defending champion was still being shadowed by Sissis and Josh Waters was also looking to gatecrash that party…

Mikes Jones was simply metronomic on the YRT machine.  He continued to run laps that the rest of the competition could not contend with. Staring could pull a tenth back here and there at certain points, particularly the middle sector, but Jones would then pull them back and then some in the other sections of the circuit.

Whilst first and second looked decided by half-race distance, the war over the final step on the rostrum was being waged in earnest. Sissis and Waters continued to shadow Maxwell and were ready to pounce if the Boost Mobile Ducati rider made any mistake. Cru Halliday was not completely out of that picture either.

A little further back Troy Herfoss was right on the tail of Glenn Allerton as that duo contested seventh place.

Just when it looked as though Halliday might join that battle for third place he rolled to a stop on the circuit at turn five with some sort of mechanical failure. He could only look on dejectedly as his team-mate romped home to a convincing double victory.  Shortly after Halliday’s failure Jed Metcher also went out of the race after crashing at turn two.

At the last lap board Jones led Staring by 4.3-seconds, who in turn had five-seconds on Maxwell.  The defending champ though still had Sissis and Waters right on his tail, he held on though to secure that third place, Sissis fourth, Waters fifth.

We really must underline the dominance and consistency here this weekend of Jones.  And to be fair, also make a statement regarding the speed of Bryan Staring, as he was the only one with enough speed to have half a chance of taking the battle up to the #46 YZF-R1M. Over the 16-lap race distance Jones was more than a second a lap quicker than everyone from eighth place back. Half-a-second a lap quicker over full race distance than Maxwell in third place. And this on a relatively short track with lap times of only 68-seconds. That is a demolition job really.

Mike Jones celebrated his brilliant double victory with an impressive burnout in parc ferme. Good on him, the world always needs more wheelies and burnouts… Staring and Maxwell rounding out the Race Two podium.

A perfect 51-points for the round for Jones a huge boost to his championship credentials and a shot in the arm for the Yamaha Racing Team, who in recent times have not had all that much to celebrate.

Despite never having the speed to run with Jones, Wayne Maxwell will be buoyed by his second place for the round after having no real testing here ahead of this round, unlike the vast majority of the competition. I think he will take that as a significant positive from the round.

After some serious setbacks in the lead-up to this round and over the course of the race weekend, both here and at the season opener, the Maxima Oils BMW squad will be absolutely stoked to take third and fourth for the round with Josh Waters and Glenn Allerton.

Likewise Unitech Racing and Arthur Sissis will be pumped to bounce back off what was somewhat of a sub-par performance at Phillip Island for the South Australian. 31-points here good enough for fifth in the round.

And some light at the end of the tunnel for Penrite Honda and Troy Herfoss. 29-points on the board for Herfoss will be quite a relief after the trevails that seemed to be never ending after his crash in Darwin last year.

Anthony West seventh for the round by a point over Bryan Staring also a significant milestone for West after a disastrous last year or so for him and the MotoGO squad.

Mike Jones leaves Queensland Raceway with a 16-point lead in the championship over Bryan Staring.  Josh Waters moved into third place, only three-points adrift of round one winner Bryan Staring.  While defending champion Wayne Maxwell added 38-points to his tally to move up to fourth place in the championship standings, three-points ahead of Glenn Allerton.

ASBK next reconvenes on the weekend of April 24th at Wakefield Park. That’s Herf’s home turf, will that be the scene of his return to the front of the pack…?

Scott Nicholson, Johnny Lytras and Olly Simpson took Tom Edwards to task in the opening laps of this morning’s opening Michelin Supersport race but once he got some clear air Edwards cleared out to what ended up being a fairly dominant victory.

Johnny Lytras was lightning quick out of the blocks once again in this second and final Supersport bout of the day but both Tom Edwards and Olly Simpson slipped past him early on that opening lap to push Lytras back to third. Coming along for the ride early on was Tom Bramich, Tom Drane and Scott Nicholson.

Edwards, Simpson and Lytras eventually pulled away from Bramich, Nicholson and Drane though to set up their own private tussle over which step who would take on the rostrum. That trio were nose to tail at half race distance and had two-seconds over fourth placed Bramich.

Over the course of the final laps though Edwards showed his class by stretching away from his pursuers and went on to take a victory by 1.5-seconds.

John Lytras recorded the fastest lap of the race on his way to a great second place while Olly Simpson rounded out the podium. The South Australian suffered a fault with the auto-blipper system on his YZF-R6 in that bout, while Lytras raced without a steering damper after snapping it in the opening bout this morning.

Scott Nicholson again finished faster than he started to take fourth place ahead of Tom Bramich and Tom Drane. Ty Lynch a further ten-seconds behind in seventh.

Despite his spectacular DNF at Phillip Island caused by a rear tyre failure that saw him bag no points in the opening race of the season, only three races later Tom Edwards has now moved into the championship lead.  Edwards on 71-points to Simpson’s 69. Ty Lynch third on 60-points with a single point advantage over John Lytras, who took second place for the round by a point over Nicholson.

Henry Snell was the early leader in the third and final Supersport 300 bout of the day here at Queensland Raceway but both Glenn Nelson and Cam Dunker slipped past him halfway through that opening lap.

Jonathan Hahlous then moved into the race lead while Hayden Nelson slipped out of the race after he was baulked by another rider in the middle of a turn which saw him clip his rear wheel and lose the front. That clash had given Glenn Nelson some significant breathing room, his lead almost a full-second over Cam Dunker by the end of lap two after his pursuers were tripped up by the demise of Hayden Nelson unfolding in front of them at turn six.

Cam Dunker then put in a new fastest lap of the race (1m22.431) to pull a few tenths back on Glenn Nelson. Dunker then went quicker again on the next lap (1m22.186) to move to within striking distance of the race leader.

It was that pair doing battle all the way to the flag but it was Nelson with his nose in front at the flag to take victory over Dunker. Henry Snell rounding out the podium ahead of Jonathan Nahlous and Sam Pezzetta.

Glenn Nelson the round winner by four-points over Dunker while James Jacobs rounded out the round podium but Henry Snell retains the overall championship lead on 120-points to Dunker and Jacobs who are joint second on 109 points apiece.

Race Two victor Cam Rende went down at turn four in the third and final OJC bout of the weekend which left Harrison Watts, Marcus Hamod, Hudson Thompson, Hunter Corney and Ryan Larkin to tussle over the lead in the second half of the race.

Harrison Watts the eventual victor by a nose over Ryan Larkin while Hudson Thompson was half-a-second further back in in third rounded out the podium.

Harrison Watts also the round winner by two-points over Ryan Larkin while Hunter Corney completed the podium for the round. Watts the championship leader on 113-points to Cameron Rende’s 101 and Hudson Thompson’s century.

Motojourno - Founder of MCNews.com.au - Australia's leading resource for motorcycle news, reviews and race coverage for over 20 years.

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