Yamaha Racing Team's Mike Jones put up an almighty fight but ultimately came up just short in his quest to win round five of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Queensland Raceway, over the weekend.
Run in conjunction with the Supercars, a huge crowd filed into Queensland Raceway for the event and the Superbikes provided some of the best action and racing on the weekend with .1 of a second the difference between the round win and second place.Slated down for three races, the opening leg had to be cancelled when one of the cars in a support category lost more oil the Exxon Valdez between turns five and six. Combined with a rain shower that swept over the venue around the same time meant oil was smeared across the surface and with little time to have it cleaned, the race was cancelled, and the round was back to a two-race affair.
Jones qualified in second place, just .1of a second behind championship leader, Josh Waters, but with a small bike tweak overnight, felt confident that he could run the pace for 15 laps and throw out the challenge to the series leader.
He started well but was shuffled back a spot on the opening lap madness, then lost another when he ran wide into turn three a lap later. He was back to fourth and needed to lock in to get back in the race. And that’s what he did. He made two aggressive moves to get back to second and then peeled of three fast laps in a row that bought him to the back wheel of Waters as the race hit the halfway point.
The pair engaged and within a couple of laps, Jones had pushed his R1M down the inside of Waters and forced his way to the lead. He kept his head down all the way to the end to take a well-earned victory.
It was back to the grid for race two and again a similar scenario started to play out. Waters bounced clear as Jones overcome some early lap carnage to move his way back into second and the pursuit of the leader. The lap time ebbed and flowed, as did the gap between the pair. It was constantly under one second, but the laps were winding down and Jones needed a race win to grab the round victory as Waters earned the bonus point for Pole Position.
Jones gave it his all but couldn’t replicate his race one heroics and was forced to settle for second place. His 1-2 results gave him second on the day and consolidated his second position in the championship.
“I left it all on the track,” Jones said at race end. “In the first one I was able to get a real flow going and make some passes that got me to the front but in race two, Josh was able to pick up his pace a little and we were just matching each other’s speed.
“I would gain a little on some sections, he would draw it back out in others and it went that way for the majority of the race.
“It would have been nice to get the round win here as I had so many family and friends come along. The atmosphere of racing with the Supercars was awesome and to have such a big crowd in attendance can only help motorcycle racing in Australia.
“Thanks to the Yamaha Racing Team on a big effort over the weekend. We had dry tracks, wet tracks, oil tracks and all kinds of conditions thrown at us, but the guys stuck at it and did a great job,” Jones ends.
The weekend proved to be a challenging one for Max Stauffer, but he never gave in and continued to push and fight all the way to the finish to record 8-7 results and finish the day in seventh place.
Fresh off racing the Suzuka Eight Hour and only 10 days from getting his collarbone plated, Stauffer lined up again at Queensland Raceway and went to work.
Stauffer is searching for some feel on corner entry and on a point and shoot track like QR, it is vital to produce fast lap times. Max and the team tried a number of set up solutions but weren’t able to hit the sweet spot for him.
“I felt my corner speed wasn’t where it needed to be, and I just couldn’t settle into a flow that produced consistently good lap times. The guys kept trying and we made plenty of changes, but it’s something we need to keep working on and improve for the final few rounds.”
Stauffer sits in seventh place in the championship after five round and just three points outside the top five.
The next round of the ASBK will head back to Phillip Island on September six and seven.
ASBK Results
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ASBK Results
Round Five – QR
Superbike
1st Josh Waters – 46
2nd Mike Jones – 45 (Yamaha Racing Team)
3rd Glenn Allerton – 35
4th Anthony West – 33
5th Cameron Dunker – 31
6th Jonathon Nahlous – 29
7th Max Stauffer – 27 (Yamaha Racing Team)
8th Jack Favelle – 24
9th John Lytras – 23
10th Arthur Sissis – 22
ASBK Championship Standings
1st Josh Waters – 261
2nd Mike Jones – 207 (Yamaha R1M)
3rd Anthony West – 191 (Yamaha R1M)
4th Glenn Allerton – 161
5th Cameron Dunker – 150 (Yamaha R1M)
6th Broc Pearson – 147
7th Max Stauffer – 147 (Yamaha R1M)
8th Jonathon Nahlous – 142 (Yamaha R1M)
9th Jack Favelle – 137 (Yamaha R1M)
10th John Lytras – 126 (Yamaha R1M)