FORMER Goulburn resident Troy Herfoss set an impeccable pace during the second day of the official Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) test at Winton Motor Raceway last Thursday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Herfoss, who trails Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell by seven points in the ASBK championship fight guided the Crankt Protein Team Honda Racing CBR1000RR SP machine to a 1min 20.405sec lap time in the fourth and final session, which was an official new best lap of the recently-resurfaced 3.0km circuit for the Superbike class.
Herfoss’s lap time was 1.032 seconds faster than the former two times Australian Superbike champion Josh Waters, who posted a 1min 21.437sec.
After copping a rain soaked test on Wednesday, which saw Herfoss hitting the deck in the first session at turn eleven, Herfoss said it was great to get a full dry day on Thursday.
“This test worked out ideal really, as our main worry was rain at Winton,” Herfoss told the Goulburn Post.
“We managed to get the wet test day out of the way on Wednesday, and we can definitely say we improved the bike in the rain, compared to where we were at Sydney Motorsport Park in April.”
Herfoss admitted that his confidence is sky high at the moment, and that is thanks to the SCX Pirelli tyre which was the big ticket item for his dominant pole position and double race win at the previous round at Morgan Park at the beginning of August.
“Carrying on from Morgan Park, the SCX Pirelli tyre just offers so much grip, especially early in the stint which will help us in the early stages of the race come this weekend. I can simply go straight from pit lane and feel really good on the bike.”
“I can say we have a really good tyre. It’s not doing what we thought it would do. In fact the tyre has a lot of durability and a hell of a lot of grip, so it’s the best of both worlds at the moment.”
To underline Herfoss’ outright lap speed, the 29-year-old completed seven laps in the final session all in the record-breaking 1min20sec bracket.
Completing the top five in the combined Thursday times was Herfoss’ teammate Jamie Stauffer (1min21.767), DesmoSport Ducati’s Mike Jones (1min21.973) and Knobby Underwear Suzuki’s Brayden Elliott who posted a 1min22.500sec.
Meanwhile Cube Racing’s Top Toparis made his debut outing at the rural Victorian circuit. Just like Herfoss, Toparis also had a few offs in the wet conditions on the Wednesday. However in the dry on the Thursday the 16-year-old clocked the third fastest lap time overall (first 300 Production rider) after he posted a 1min34.047 in the fourth session.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get the two days in the dry to try and go even faster,” said Toparis, who sits in second place, 33-points behind the Australian Up to 300 Production championship leader.
“It’s ok but, as we have Friday to try a few more things. Hopefully I can lower my times a bit more come the final round.”
If you can’t make it to the grand finale this weekend, you can watch every single race live this Sunday with live streaming by heading to the official website – www.asbk.com.au.
