Stauffer clean sweeps scorcher at the Creek

17-03-08

The Yamaha Racing Team's Jamie Stauffer has led the charge during a dominant weekend for the factory Superbike and Supersport operations at this weekend's opening round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek.

Piloting both the R1 and R6 in separate classes, Stauffer was relentless in his pursuit of success claiming two pole positions, and four race wins on the way to taking maximum championship points.

Today's results confirmed the form of the team at the pre-season test at the Western Sydney circuit, with young guns Jeremy Crowe and Bryan Staring completing the podium and continuing the march of the R6.

Yamaha Racing Team Supersport
Factory Yamaha racers have decimated the competition at the opening round of the 2008 Australian Supersport Championship at Eastern Creek this weekend.

As he did in the Superbike class, Jamie Stauffer clean swept proceedings, adding another pole position to his name and winning both races, but it was the collected and capable performances of his younger teammates that ensured a 1-2-3 finish for the manufacturer at the opening round.

In hot and testing conditions, Jeremy Crowe raced exceptionally well, and was on for a race win before a late race lose saw Stauffer sneak by.

Crowe was disappointed to miss the win and said he would come back firing at Mallala in the second round.

"We gave it everything we had and it just wasn't enough, the little mistakes cost us. Full credit to Jamie though, he's riding awesome and I'll have shaken the flu by Mallala so we'll be chasing him from thereon in," said Crowe.

"These were definitely some of the toughest conditions I've ever seen at Eastern Creek, I outbraked myself in that second race and lost critical ground, but most importantly the R6 is shaping up as a really competitive package again, and the Dunlop tyres are working very well."

Crowe took second for the round on countback, his 3rd and 2nd place finishes outranking teammate Bryan Staring's 2nd and 3rd.

"I’ve got to be happy with the way the weekend went, this is the most points I’ve ever walked away with at Eastern Creek. It's been a good start to the first round, we’ll have to track down Jamie at Mallala!" conceded Staring.

"It’s extremely hot out there but the R6 is working great, Dunlop provided us with great tyres for the weekend and it showed in the results."

Yamaha occupies the top 3 standings in the seven-round Supersport championship, with Stauffer on a perfect 51, followed by Crowe and Staring locked together on 38 points.

Supersport Results - Australian Superbike C’ship
Round One Eastern Creek Raceway 16/3/08  
Pos    #    RIDER            R1    R2    Overall/Championship
1    1    Jamie STAUFFER (NSW)    25    25    51
2    24    Jeremy CROWE (NSW)    18    20    38
3    67    Bryan Starring (VIC)    20    18    38
4    21    Josh WATERS (VIC)    17    17    34
5    99    Judd GRREDY (QLD)    16    16    32
6    47    Wayne MAXWELL (VIC)    15    14    29
7    38    Scott CHARLTON (NSW)    14    13    27
8    11    Shaun GERONIMI (NSW)    13    10    23
9    82    Chris QUINN (VIC)    11    11    22
10    20    Grant HAY (NSW)        9    12    21