Crowe Flies To Supersport Victory At Mallala

20-04-08

The Yamaha Racing Team's Superbike and Supersport riders have experienced a rare weekend of mixed results following a tough round at Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia.

The Supersport outfit fared typically well, with Jeremy Crowe recording his first race and round victory of the year on the YZF-R6, backed up by Jamie Stauffer just a single point behind.

Teammate Bryan Staring was injured in a spectacular crash earlier in the weekend, and was sidelined for a zero-points weekend.

Luck abandoned the Superbike sibling pairing of Jamie and Dan Stauffer despite Jamie laying down the fastest ever lap of Mallala on a motorcycle.

Stauffer recorded a 1.05.895 lap in practice, an effort over six-tenths better than the exisiting record.

The team will regroup before heading to the series' third outing at Winton Motor Raceway at the end of May.

Yamaha Racing Team Superbike

Yamaha Racing Team rider Dan Stauffer led the way for the factory outfit at this weekend's round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Mallala Motorsport Park, finishing strongly in 5th overall after leading much of the opening race.

Stauffer enjoyed a strong return to form, securing a spot on the front row of the grid with fourth fastest in qualifying, joining brother Jamie who would start from second.

Dan was quick from the outset, away from the line with the lead pack and muscling his YZF-R1 into the race lead.

Polesitter Glenn Allerton later slipped by Stauffer, who fought gallantly but dropped back to fourth on the closing laps as a number of riders joined the lead pack and made the most of the circuit's limited passing opportunities.

The factory R1 pairing swapped spots in the dying stages, with Jamie lining up for a shot at Allerton on lap 15.

The defending champion's race quickly came undone with a rare mistake a turn three, the bike sliding from beneath him and into the gravel trap, unable to be restarted.

Race two was won again by Allerton, with Jamie troubling him until the very last lap, finishing just half a second shy.

Dan finished in seventh, taking 31 points and fifth for the round.

"It's been an up and down weekend," he said. "I was on for a race win there for a while and to see it slip away was tough."

"We had the pace of the frontrunners and I'm confident I can take the speed over to Winton where I had a really good run last year."

The uncharacteristic crash saw Jamie take just 20 points from the round.

The result moves him from first to third in the points chase, with Allerton leading and Shawn Giles in second.

"It's been a tough weekend, we entered the round with a bit of work to do in terms of set-up, the track had changed quite a bit since our test a fortnight ago," said Stauffer.

"It was disappointing and costly to crash out of the first race, especially with just a few laps remaining. That hurts me in terms of the championship so I'll need to bounce back at Winton to keep in check with Glenn and Shawn."

"The tyres held on quite well and the R1 was good, but it just wasn't to be for me this weekend."

Results - Superbike - ASC Rnd 2 Mallala
Race 1                                
1. Glenn ALLERTON      
2. Shawn GILES              
3. Robert BUGDEN         
4. Daniel STAUFFER
5. Jason O'HALLORAN

Race 2
1. Glenn ALLERTON
2. Jamie STAUFFER
3. Robert BUGDEN
4. Jason O'HALLORAN
5. Shawn GILES 
7. Daniel STAUFFER 

2008 Australian Superbike Championship Points after Round 2 of 7
1. Glenn ALLERTON 80
2. Shawn GILES 76
3. Jamie STAUFFER 71
4. Robert BUGDEN 70
5. Jason O'HALLORAN 69
6. Daniel STAUFFER 59