Yamaha Racing Team’s Mike Jones made a stunning return to form winning all before him at round three of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Queensland Raceway over the weekend.
After riding well at the opening two rounds but not getting the results he was after, Jones bounced back to his best at his home circuit, taking maximum points from the weekend and moving his way to third in the championship. The weekend started positively for Jones, posting good lap times in the free practice sessions and fine tuning his bike for the two, sixteen lap races on Sunday. He was able to turn that practice speed into a scorching lap in qualifying when he posted a 1.07.1, beating the current lap record as well as his rivals by nearly .5 of a second. But as Jones knows, it’s no good being fast on Saturday, if you don’t turn that speed into results on Sunday.
Jones was determined to make the most of his speed and in race one, despite not getting the best jump, settled into third place on the opening lap. He quickly fought off a challenge from Troy Herfoss and then focused on Glenn Allerton and Max Stauffer ahead of him. He made quick work of Allerton and set off in pursuit of Stauffer who had built a small lead.
He quickly closed the gap and by the midway point of the race, made his move down the inside of turn three and took control of the race. Stauffer didn’t give up without a fight and hounded Jones for the next couple of laps until the YRT rider was able to break free and race to a two second win, his first race win in 18 months.
Race two and things were looking the like the opening race. Stauffer out front and Jones zeroing in from behind. He pounced on lap four and took the lead from Stauffer. Again, the field remained tight at the top with just over a second separating the top four until the later stages, when Jones relentless lap pace came to the fore and again, he was able to break out to a three second victory.
“It’s been a while since I have won a race, so it’s a good reward for myself and the team as we have continued to work hard even through the results haven’t gone our way,” Jones commented after the race.
“I needed a good weekend here at Queensland Raceway to get myself back in the championship and get some momentum going for the next few rounds so its awesome to make that happen and the goal is to do at again at the next round at Morgan Park.
“The team did a great job and the bike was amazing to ride all weekend. To be able to generate the speed we did, for as long as we did is a credit to Kev, Dyllan and Liam and I just really enjoyed racing it this weekend.
“It was also great to have so many friends and family here this weekend and here them cheer me on all around the track,” Jones ends.
It was a challenging weekend for teammate, Cru Halliday, but he didn’t stop fighting all weekend on his way to a fifth place finish for the round.
Halliday started the Friday practice sessions well off the pace and struggling to get his mojo going on the tight, Queensland Raceway circuit. After some soul searching on Friday night and a couple of bike changes, he was back on the pace on Saturday and in a far more competitive frame of mind.
But his biggest setback of the weekend came in qualifying, when he missed the window to pump out a couple of all-out sprint laps due to a light shower of rain falling on the circuit just as he was about to lay down some hot laps. As a result, he would start seventh on the grid for the two races on Sunday.
He mistimed his start and dropped a few positions in the early going of race one, but by the midway point, he had wound the speed dial up and began moving forward. He charged his way into the top five and was sitting fifth, but the time taken to get there meant he wasn’t within striking distance as the race ended.
His start in race two was worse and was just inside the top ten on the opening laps. He muscled his way forward in a tight group of riders to eventually cross the finish line in sixth place.
His 5-6 results left him in fifth for the day, but able to hold onto second in the championship after three rounds.
“Looking back, not qualifying well was what really hurt me,” Halliday recalls. “Because the times are always so close here, you need to be near the front and have good track position to get good results and starting from seventh on the grid really put me behind the eight ball.
“The team did a great job earlier in the week as we were able to turn around a slow start on Friday and turn in some good laps on Saturday, so I’m just frustrated I didn’t keep that going and produce a podium on Sunday.
“Thanks to the team for all the hard work over the weekend. I owe them one for not getting the result we should have, so I will be out to redeem myself at the next round,” Halliday said.