DOUBLE PODIUMS FOR YOSHIMURA
 Team
Yoshimura Suzuki riders Shawn Giles, Craig Coxhell and Josh
Waters continued their impressive start to the 2007 Australian
Superbike and Supersport Championships with podium results
in both classes at Winton Raceway's first double-header round
at the weekend.
The double-header concept saw the second round's two 17-lap
races for each class conducted on Saturday and round three's
on Sunday at the 3.0km Benalla circuit in Victoria.
After qualifying on the Superbike front row, 36-year-old
Giles was quick to show he has every intention of adding a
fourth Australian Superbike title to his CV, leading the early
laps in some of the toughest and most aggressive Superbike
racing seen for many years.
His third in Saturday's race one was backed up by sixth in
race two for third overall for the round.
Just 24 hours later fourth and third placings in Sunday's
two races gave Giles fourth overall with Giles' combined points
tally making him the third highest points-scorer for the weekend.
Team-mate Coxhell quickly adapted to the technically-challenging
and physically-demanding circuit he last raced at in 2003,
although 10th in Saturday's first race - after running off
the track at high speed - was not the start the 24-year-old
was after.
The 2003 Australian Superbike Champion bounced back in Saturday's
second race with third which gave the Shepparton rider fourth
overall in round two.
Coxhell went one better in Sunday's third round with second
in race two, just 1.005sec behind reigning champion Jamie
Stauffer, as he closed in on the current championship points
leader over the final laps of the race.
With third place in Sunday's opening Superbike race, that
gave Coxhell second overall for round three and moved him
to fourth in the championship after three of eight rounds.
Joshua Waters (20) continued his impressive results aboard
the Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 with third-place finishes
in two of the four weekend's Supersport races to sit fourth
overall in the Australian Supersport Championship after three
rounds.
Robbie Bugden, third in the 2006 Australian Superbike Championship
and the recently-crowned 2007 New Zealand Superbike Champion,
had a frustrating meeting by his high standards on his satellite
Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. The Queenslander's best results
came in Saturday's two races with seventh in each, as testing
and development time on his Australian bike has been hampered
in recent months by his New Zealand commitments.
With Bugden's New Zealand racing program for Suzuki now over,
Team Yoshimura Suzuki manager Phil Tainton is confident an
expanded local test program for the 26-year-old over coming
weeks will solve the lack of pre-season set-up concerns.
Round Four of the Australian Superbike and Supersport Championship
takes place at South Australia's Mallala Motorsport Park on
April 20-22.
Phil Tainton - Team Manager:
"It's been a good weekend for the Yoshimura Suzuki team
with Shawn and Craig scoring podium finishes in Superbike
and Josh breaking up the blue team at the front of the Supersport
field.
"I'm extremely happy with how the riders performed over
the four days of the double-header event in conditions that
were demanding on everyone. We had eight races to prepare
for and temperatures that reached 37 degrees with high humidity
during qualifying.
"This year's Superbike championship is shaping as the
most competitive for many years so it's important we get our
2007 race bikes built and on track for Shawn and Craig for
the next round. They are doing a great job on last year's
bikes as their results show.
"Josh's last race in Supersport was exceptional and he
showed he could run at lap record pace on a bike that is still
in its early stages of development.
"Robbie had a frustrating meeting by his standards as
he missed the recent test day at Winton in the lead up to
this race weekend. We'll be working closely with Robbie at
Mallala to make up for the lost ground and help him get comfortable
on the bike.
"Congratulations to Jamie Stauffer on his two overall
round wins at the weekend."
Shawn Giles:
"I should be reasonably happy with the weekend's results
of third overall in round two on Saturday and fourth overall
on Sunday as it puts points on the board.
"The bike had good speed all weekend and I can't say
enough about the team and the performance of the new Dunlop
tyres. I led most of the races in the early laps, so I was
a bit frustrated with myself for letting the other guys through
which shuffled me back.
"The Winton layout doesn't allow a lot of room for passing,
so you have to block the holes when you're in front or be
aggressive if you're behind. The level of competition this
season is as high as I can remember in the Australian Superbike
Championship so I'm looking forward to getting our 2007 race
bikes and closing the points gap to Jamie over the upcoming
five rounds."
Craig Coxhell:
"To finish the weekend second overall for round three
and second in the final race was a great result for the team.
I had a lot of family and friends at the track this weekend
and I really wanted to show them that I could still race a
Superbike at the front of the pack.
"I wasn't worried when I was down the timesheet during
practice and early in qualifying as I was working on set-up
and getting comfortable with the bike for the four races.
The Australian championship is really competitive and I knew
it was going to be tough coming home after three seasons away.
But the results are beginning to come now and I'm happy with
fourth in the championship after three rounds."
Joshua Waters:
"I'm happy with fourth overall in each of the two rounds
this weekend as we're still developing the Suzuki GSX-R600.
It's only our third race meeting on the bike.
"Finishing third in two of the four races shows we're
getting closer to taking that first win and I was stoked with
my lap time in the final race. I couldn't believe it when
I was told it was a 1:23.483. I was pretty mad when I got
baulked by a lapped rider on the last lap when I was lining
up a pass on Jeremy Crowe for second, but then I calmed down
and realised that's racing."
Robbie Budgen:
"It's good to finish all four races and get some points
on the board, but I'm disappointed with my results this weekend.
I've done well at Winton the past two years, so to get two
sevenths in Saturday's races as my best results was lower
than I'd expected.
"The racing is unbelievably close this year and missing
the recent Winton Superbike test day showed in my results.
It's so competitive out there it's important to have the bike
set-up spot-on, so I was playing catch-up for most of the
meeting. With my New Zealand Superbike Championship commitments
now over my full focus is on the next round at Mallala."
2007 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
Superbike Overall Results - Round 2:
1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Daniel Stauffer, 3 Shawn Giles (Suzuki
GSX-R1000), 4 Wayne Maxwell, 5 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000),
6 Shannon Johnson, 7 Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 8 Scott
Charlton, 9 Glenn Allerton, 10 Bryan Staring.
Superbike Overall Results - Round 3:
1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 3 Daniel
Stauffer, 4 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 5 Glenn Allerton,
6 Shannon Johnson, 7 Bryan Staring, 8 Wayne Maxwell, 9 Robbie
Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 10 Russell Holland.
Superbike Championship Points (after 3 of 8 rounds):
1 Jamie Stauffer 147, 2 Daniel Stauffer 122, 3 Glenn Allerton
93, 4 Craig Coxhell (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 91, 5 Shannon Johnson
87, 6 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 81, 7 Wayne Maxwell 79,
8 Bryan Staring 72, 9 Adam Fergusson 72, 10 Scott Charlton
69.
Supersport Overall Results - Round 2:
1 Jamie Stauffer, 2 Jason O'Halloran, 3 Jeremy Crowe, 4 Joshua
Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 5 Bryan Staring, 6 Russell Holland,
7 Wayne Maxwell, 8 Judd Greedy, 9 Chris Seaton, 10 Gareth
Jones.
Supersport Overall Results - Round 3:
1 Jason O'Halloran, 2 Jeremy Crowe, 3 Jamie Stauffer, 4 Joshua
Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600), 5 Bryan Staring, 6 Russell Holland,
7 Chris Seaton, 8 Sam Smith, 9 Gareth Jones, 10 Mick Kelly.
Supersport Championship Points (after 3 of 8 rounds):
1 Jason O'Halloran 140, 2 Jamie Stauffer 128, 3 Jeremy Crowe
108, 4 Joshua Waters (Suzuki GSX-R600) 101, 5 Bryan Staring
97, 6 Russell Holland 89, 7 Judd Greedy 74, 8 Gareth Jones
67, 9 Mick Kelly 63, 10 Wayne Maxwell 58.
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