VICTORY is sweet, especially when it’s unexpected.
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Troy Herfoss’s overall honours in the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championships at Phillip Island on Sunday has given the 27- year-old his best start in his short career.
It’s the first time Herfoss has raced a winner in a superbike series at the famed track.
But the victory came bittersweet.
Saturday’s racing was halted when Team Honda Racing team mate Jamie Stauffer came off his bike and shattered his pelvis. He was airlifted to hospital and racing was postponed to the Sunday.
“I was millimetres from hitting him when he crashed. I saw the whole thing,” Herfoss told the Post.
“We were coming up over Lukey Heights, which is turn nine across the top of the hill at Phillip Island.
“You’re doing 160kms per hour and the rear tyre just let go, lost grip and it high sighted him, lifted him two, two and a half metres into the air and he landed back down on his back.
“It was a real big crash.”
Shaken by the crash, Herfoss and fellow team mate Josh Hook weren’t stirred, and proceeded on Sunday morning with Herfoss in pole position.
“I’ve never really been dominant at Phillip Island which made me a little bit nervous about going with the leaders in the race,” Herfoss said.
“Hook and I escaped the other guys pretty early and we had a couple of really close battles.
“It was a real tight battle, you had to be real careful of the slip streams and stuff, it was important to get a good run in that final straight. We had a close drag to the final line so it was pretty exciting”.
Hook took honours in the first race, edging Herfoss by nine-hundredths of a second.
But it was even scores in the second race when Herfoss pipped his team mate at the line.
The victory means the Goulburn boy is in fine form ahead of the Australasian Superbike Championship next month.
“Phillip Island is the most difficult track for me on the calendar, so to get a second and a win there is real good,” he said.
“It’s a really fast track and it takes time to just learn how to go faster on there, it’s just a real unique track and it’s hard to go fast there for some reason.
“In 2011, I started with a second and a third that was great and that was a successful year, but I was in my rookie season then so I didn’t quite have the pace to win races. I was just consistent andnow I have that extra bit of speed to push the pace at the front and win some races.”