VICTORY DEBUT FOR NEW GSX-R1000
 Team
Yoshimura Suzuki rider Craig Coxhell gave Suzuki's new 2007-model
GSX-R1000 a stunning debut win in the fourth round of the
Australian Superbike Championship at South Australia's Mallala
Motorsport Park on Sunday.
Coxhell, the 2003 Australian Superbike Champion, won the
opening 19-lap race by 0.109sec after a thrilling last-lap
passing move on defending champion Jamie Stauffer three corners
from the finishing line.
The 24-year-old's win was all the more impressive as he had
not ridden the 2007 GSX-R1000 prior to Friday's practice sessions
at the circuit, with Team Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Phil
Tainton and the team's race technicians only completing the
bikes for Coxhell and team-mate Shawn Giles on Thursday evening.
In the second of the day's two Superbike races, shortened
to 16 laps by race officials due to time constraints, Coxhell
finished just 0.163sec behind race winner Stauffer in another
enthralling, race-long battle between the pair.
Stauffer's bonus point for qualifying in pole position gave
him the overall round victory by one point from second-fastest
qualifier Coxhell although the Team Yoshimura Suzuki rider
scored some degree of payback in race two when he claimed
a new Superbike lap record of 1:06.525 eclipsing the record
previously held by Stauffer.
Coxhell's lap record is over one and a half seconds quicker
than the V8 Supercar lap record for the 2.6km South Australian
circuit, held by Commodore driver Greg Murphy.
Three times Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles made
it a double debut success for the new 2007 GSX-R1000 with
two top-10 results - sixth in race one and 10th in race two
- although the experienced Giles admitted it was taking longer
for him to find a confident set-up on the new bike at Mallala
than he would have liked.
With race-kit parts for the team's Superbikes only arriving
from overseas a few days prior to the Mallala race meeting,
the team was required to build two complete Superbikes in
just one-and-a-half days.
Team Yoshimura Suzuki satellite rider Robbie Bugden recorded
ninth and seventh place finishes to end the round seventh
overall on his 2006-model Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike and give
the team three riders in the top nine.
There was further success for the team in the Supersport
class where Joshua Waters retained fourth overall in the eight-round
national championship in his first season aboard the Team
Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 - despite an off-track excursion
while leading the second of the day's two Supersport races.
The 20-year-old missed a gear-change at the Turn Three hairpin
and ran off the track.
Waters recovered to finish fifth, backing up his fourth in
race one to secure fifth overall for the round, equal on points
with fourth-placed Jeremy Crowe.
Round Five of the Australian Superbike and Supersport Championship
will take place at Launceston's Symmons Plains race circuit
on May 18-20.
Phil Tainton - Team Manager:
"What more can you ask for than a win on debut and new
lap record - I'm extremely happy with how things have gone
this weekend with the new 2007 GSX-R1000 and also Josh on
the GSX-R600 in the Supersport class.
"We only got the race-kit parts for Craig's and Shawn's
2007 bikes a few days before the Mallala meeting and the bikes
were still being finished on Thursday night. For Craig and
Shawn to achieve the results they did with minimal development
time was exceptional.
"Josh rode two great races in the Supersport Championship
and to hold the lead for as many laps as he did on a bike
that's still in its development stage shows a win is not far
off. Congratulations to Jamie Stauffer on his overall Superbike
round win today."
Craig Coxhell:
"To win first time out on the new 2007 bike and to come
away with the new lap record is a great reward for the whole
team. I felt comfortable on the new bike right from the first
practice session on Friday, which is a great credit to Phil
Tainton and the guys.
"I tried to make it two wins from two starts but I couldn't
find a way past Jamie Stauffer in race two. It was hard but
fair racing between the two of us and congratulations to him
on taking the overall win.
"The Australian championship is extremely competitive
and I knew it was going to be tough coming home after three
seasons in Europe. I'm feeling more confident with each race
meeting and with the 2007 bike I feel I'm now in a position
to start shooting for round wins and challenging for the title."
Shawn Giles:
"It's been good to come away with points in both races,
but it was one of those meetings where I struggled to get
the new bike dialled in with settings I was comfortable with.
"The 2007 bike is quite a bit different to the 2006
bike I've been racing and it's a matter of setting it up to
suit my riding style. The team did a great job in getting
the bike built in time for the meeting and to have it turn
a wheel for the first time on Friday was a massive effort
from all.
"Starting from row three was always going to present
a challenge at this circuit but I felt it was important to
use the new 2007 bike and work on developing it in race conditions.
I just didn't have the confidence to push any harder on race
day.
"My bike had good speed all weekend and I can't say
enough about the team and the performance of the tyres. It's
a long season with four rounds still to go."
Joshua Waters:
"I'm happy with the weekend's results and to be sitting
fourth in the points at the halfway stage of the season. We're
still developing the Suzuki GSX-R600 and there's more to come.
"Holding onto the lead in race two showed the bike has
good pace - until I overshot Turn Three when I missed a gear
change and four bikes got by. I knew I could hold them off
up the fast back straight as my bike would hook up really
well out of that corner, so it was frustrating when I let
them through. I actually changed up a gear instead of down
in the chaos so I ended up accelerating off the track."
Robbie Budgen:
"It's been a mixed weekend and I guess seventh overall
for the round isn't too bad given some of the riders who finished
behind me. It's so competitive out there this season - it's
important to have the bike set-up spot-on, especially at a
track like this where it's difficult to pass. The pace was
pretty hot today, as a new lap record in each race shows."
2007 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP:
Superbike Overall Results: 1 Jamie Stauffer,
2 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 3 Glenn Allerton, 4 Wayne
Maxwell, 5 Russell Holland, 6 Shannon Johnson, 7 Robbie Bugden
(Suzuki GSX-R1000), 8 Daniel Stauffer, 9 Shawn Giles (Suzuki
GSX-R1000), 10 Adam Fergusson.
Superbike Championship Points: 1 Jamie Stauffer
193, 2 Daniel Stauffer 148, 3 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000)
135, 4 Glenn Allerton 127, 5 Shannon Johnson 115, 6 Wayne
Maxwell 111, 7 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 107, 8 Adam
Fergusson 95, 9 Russell Holland 88, 10 Scott Charlton 87.
Supersport Overall Results: 1 Jason O'Halloran,
2 Russell Holland, 3 Jamie Stauffer, 4 Jeremy Crowe, 5 Joshua
Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 6 Chris Seaton, 7 Wayne Maxwell,
8 Nick Henderson, 9 Cameron Stronach, 10 Grant Hay.
Supersport Championship Points: 1 Jason
O'Halloran 185, 2 Jamie Stauffer 166, 3 Jeremy Crowe 141,
4 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 134, 5 Russell Holland 133,
6 Bryan Staring 97, 7 Wayne Maxwell 82, 8 Chris Seaton 80,
9 Gareth Jones 80, 10 Mick Kelly 77.
|
