Over three spectacular days at the picturesque Phillip Island Circuit, the Australian Superbike Championship roared to life in conjunction with the opening round of the World Superbike Championship. In a slight twist to the usual ASBK format, the domestic Superbike riders had three races instead of two and the YRT men leave round one well placed.
Mike Jones finished the round in second place with 3-2-2 results, showing plenty of grit and fighting spirit every time he hit the track. Phillip Island hasn’t been a favourite of Jones in terms of results, so to finish the weekend with a strong result and improve his pace over previous years leaves him feeling good about what’s to come.
In each and every race, Jones and fellow Yamaha mounted racer, Ant West engaged in battle for the final two spots on the podium and every time the victory of the dual was only decided metres before the finish line. They were never further than a few bikes lengths apart for the majority of the weekend and it proved to be the battle to watch in the ASBK race.
“It’s good to start the year with a podium, but more importantly, to ride well and minimise the points damage to Josh Waters, who rides so well here,” Jones begins.
“I have struggled a bit here in the past but have worked hard on some technique and watched a lot of footage to see where I have been lacking and where I could improve. Today was a small step forward in that regard so a nice reward for the work done behind the scenes.
“The team worked well all weekend, and we got the bike dialled in quickly. So, a huge thanks to them and we can take this momentum onto round two,” he ends.
For Max Stauffer, it was a nervous weekend as he was limited for seat time leading into the opening weekend with a hand injury and first time in race conditions with his new team. But he handled it well and leaves the Island in fourth place on the back of 6-7-7 results and feeling much better after getting round one under his belt.
Stauffer showed he is growing in maturity on the track as he kept a cool head in all three races and logged consistent finishes to bring home his fourth position. He knows the speed will come and can still take a lot of positives from the weekend.
“I was aware that I was coming in a little under prepared but at least I was riding pain and injury free,” Stauffer offers. “My goal now is to build some continuity in my riding that will allow me to improve every time I get on the track.
“The weekend was good to get more used to the bike and learn some things that can only be done in race conditions. I need to work on my starts as two of them weren’t great on the weekend, but I know the speed will come and I look forward to getting to SMSP for the next round as I have done plenty of laps around there and confident I will be riding better,” he said.
The team’s attention now moves to Sydney Motorsport Park for round two of the championship with the day night event set to light up on March 28-29.
