YOSHIMURA SUZUKI MEN ON THE PODIUM
 Team
Yoshimura Suzuki riders Shawn Giles, Craig Coxhell and Joshua
Waters all finished in podium positions in the Australian
support races at the second round of the Superbike World Championship
race meeting at Victoria's Phillip Island race circuit at
the weekend.
In a strong showing for the new-look team, Giles finished
overall second in the Superbike class behind reigning Australian
champion Jamie Stauffer, and like Stauffer was the only rider
to secure a top-three result in all three Superbike races.
Giles' results were all the more impressive as the three-times
Australian Superbike Champion had not raced at the fast and
challenging 4.45km Phillip Island circuit for over 12 months.
The 36-year-old proved he was back to full-race fitness after
last year's lay-off due to injury and was straight down to
business when he was quickest in the opening Superbike qualifying
session, then led two of the three races.
In Saturday's opening 10-lap race Giles finished a close
second, just 0.337sec, behind the race winner, backing up
with third in race two later that afternoon. Another second
in race three on Sunday, this time 0.898sec behind the race
winner, gave Giles the overall runner-up position for the
weekend.
Team mate Coxhell, showing the talent and determination that
brought the Shepparton, Victoria rider the 2003 Australian
Superbike Championship, charged through the pack in race three
to secure third place, just 0.07sec behind Giles after momentarily
getting ahead of his team mate two corners from the finish.
Coxhell hadn't raced at the Victorian circuit since 2003,
the year he won the Australian Superbike Championship aboard
a Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 before he headed overseas for the
next three seasons. The lack of track time at the world's
fastest race track left the 24-year-old in 12th position on
the grid after the two short qualifying sessions on Friday,
making Sunday's third place all the more impressive.
Twenty-year-old Waters was another to impress. Following
his strong debut showing aboard the Team Yoshimura Suzuki
GSX-R600 at the opening round of the Australian Supersport
Championship at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway two weeks ago,
20-year-old Waters continued that momentum in the three Supersport
support races at Phillip Island.
A third in Sunday's final Supersport race was backed up by
fourth place in each of the earlier two races on Saturday
to give Waters fourth overall for the weekend.
Team Yoshimura Suzuki race manger Phil Tainton was quick
to praise Waters for his results on a motorcycle that has
not long been out of its packing crate and is still in the
early stages of its development.
Tainton now turns his focus to Round Two of the eight-round
Australian Superbike and Supersport Championship which takes
place at Victoria's Winton Raceway on March 22-25.
Phil Tainton - Team Manager:
"I couldn't have asked for more from the riders this
weekend - all three scored podium finishes at some stage.
"Our Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbikes already have a lot
of development behind them and Shawn and Craig showed how
competitive they and the bikes can be, but I was especially
pleased with progress with the new GSX-R600 Supersport.
"It's only in its second race meeting, and it's never
been raced in the wet before. Josh's performance on the damp
track on Sunday morning, when he finished third, was impressive.
"We showed we have good speed from the bikes and all
three riders can run at the front in both classes.
"Congratulations to Jamie Stauffer and Jason O'Halloran
on their Superbike and Supersport wins this weekend."
Shawn Giles:
"It's good to turn around the bad luck of two weeks
ago at the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championship
and get some good results.
"The last time I raced at Phillip Island was at the
same World Superbike meeting at this time last year, as I
missed the GP meeting in September due to injury.
"To lead two of the three races at some stage and to
stand on the podium in all three races was a great result
for the team in view of the limited practice time we had.
"The bike had good speed all weekend and I can't say
enough about the team and the performance of the tyres.
"Second overall on the weekend is good, but it's one
place short of where I want to be."
Craig Coxhell:
"Third in the final race was a great way to finish off
the weekend and I'm happy with the improvement in my lap times
across the three days.
"The last time I rode at Phillip Island was in 2003
and with only two short qualifying sessions it took a little
while to get up to speed on the fastest track on the world
calendar.
"My best lap in race three was only one tenth off the
fastest lap time set by the race winner and I had a great
battle in that final race with my team mate Shawn - although
he got me by 0.07sec in the run to the flag.
"The team has been working on getting me comfortable
on the bike and adjusting the settings to suit my riding style
and the results are beginning to show."
Joshua Waters:
"I'm happy with fourth overall on points from the three
races as we're still in the early stages of developing the
Suzuki GSX-R600.
"I hadn't ridden the bike at Phillip Island before this
weekend so with the limited track time under our belts it's
a pleasing result.
"Getting on to the podium in the final race of the weekend
shows that we're heading in the right direction."
Superbike Overall Results: 1 Jamie Stauffer,
2 Shawn Giles (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 3 Scott Charlton, 4 Glenn
Allerton, 5 Daniel Stauffer, 6 Adam Fergusson, 7 Craig Coxhell
(Suzuki GSX-R1000), 8 Bryan Staring, 9 Shannon Johnson, 10
Anthony Gobert.
Supersport Overall Results: 1 Jason O'Halloran,
2 Jeremy Crowe, 3 Jamie Stauffer, 4 Joshua Waters (Suzuki
GSX-R600), 6 Gareth Jones, 7 Wayne Maxwell, 8 Bryan Staring,
9 Alex Tomassetti. 10 Brendan Watson.
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