Daniel Falzon recounts his Phillip Island hat trick

He came, he saw and he conquered. Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar YZF-R1) has arrived as a true contender for the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli (ASBK) after dominating Phillip Island’s opening round of the Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Superbikes.

Daniel Falzon – Image: Andrew Gosling, TPG Photography.

Q: Congratulations. It was a perfect start to the season with pole position, three wins, the overall and the points lead… it couldn’t get any better!

Falzon: “Exactly right, it couldn’t get any better. The Caterpillar Yamaha has been working flawlessly over the weekend and the team as well. There were no faults throughout the weekend and we made the best decisions during the off-season, we did some R&D and the bike is absolutely perfect – there’s no complaints from me. I’m really excited to go out and continue this season. We’ve started out with a bang, 76 points is a big start in the championship, considering we only got marginally more than that last year in the whole season. I’m really excited for what the future has in store because we have a really competitive package this year.”

Q: There was a lot of hype going into the season, a lot of good guys, a lot of factory teams and also really strong support-type teams as well, but you didn’t expect to have this result at the end of round one, did you?

Falzon: “I didn’t put myself up there to be a round winner. I knew we would be mixing it up with the factories here and there, but that’s pretty much it. I’m absolutely speechless, to be faster than the factory teams on our privateer team is a credit to everyone involved. We’ve got quite a big supporter base and my social media has been going crazy since this weekend started because I don’t think anyone expected it, so I look forward to Wakefield Park.”

Daniel Falzon – Image: Andrew Gosling, TPG Photography.

Q: Did you know the situation in the final race in terms of combined times?

Falzon: “Yeah, I was doing the calculations the whole time! I knew when Wayne [Maxwell] passed me I had a 1.6-second, or something like that, buffer over him and Glenn [Allerton] also wasn’t quite up there like Robbie [Bugden] and Bryan [Staring] were. So I just knew I had to stay behind them and in the last few corners I was close enough and didn’t bother making any stupid mistakes. I just stayed on the bike to collect first position.”

Q: You’re a multiple national champion on the 600 in Superstock and Supersport, but what’s it like to be leading the Superbike championship and how does that change your game plan heading into Wakefield?

Falzon: “It changes it a lot. I’ve quit my day job now – I haven’t told work yet, but I’ve just decided that I will [laughs]! So I’m putting everything into this year, it’s going to be everything we’ve got and this round was just a taste of it. So yeah, I’m excited and 76 points gives us a great buffer going into the next round, which is going to be difficult for us on the Yamaha’s. Never the less, it’s a long championship and we’ll go to some tracks that will really favour us and hopefully we’ll get another clean-sweep.”

Daniel Falzon Round 1 ASBK Report:

South Australia’s Daniel Falzon turned in a performance of a life time to dominate the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), held in conjunction with the World Superbike Championship (WSBK), at the Phillip Island circuit over the weekend.

On his Caterpillar / YRT supported Yamaha YZF – R1G, Falzon staked his claimed as a serious championship contender for the 2017 season with a stunning display of racing that sees him lead the championship by a whopping 22 points after the opening round.

Daniel Falzon – Image: Russel Colvin

The weekend started brightly for Falzon, taking his first ever pole position in ASBK and he hit the track confident of a good showing in the opening race. But he didn’t have it all his own way. A four rider dog fight broke out at the front of the pack with Falzon fighting off challenges from Troy Herfoss, Bryan Staring and finally Glenn Allerton to take the win by one hundredth of a second. All four riders flashed across the line separated by .6 of a second in a great showcase of 1000cc racing.

Race two and again it was Falzon at the front of the pack but he was being stalked by Wayne Maxwell who relentlessly worked his way through the field to get into second place and hunt down Falzon. With a final lap surge, Maxwell got within a second of Falzon but was unable to make a pass and Falzon held on for another thrilling race victory.

With two wins from two starts and only needing a smart final race to secure the opening round victory, Falzon again leapt out to a great start and was leading the field after two laps when the race was stopped due to a fall and the riders were re-gridded up.

Falzon mis-timed his jump on the restart and suddenly found himself as the hunter, not the hunted. He exited turn one in seventh place but with confidence at an all- time high, Falzon worked his way through the field and while not the on track leader, when the combined times of both legs, Falzon was awarded the win and the round victory overall.

Daniel Falzon – Image: Russel Colvin

“We have worked so hard to get this result,” Falzon said moments after the event. “I have so many people who help and support my racing and it’s so good to be able to reward them with this win, especially at such a high profile round with the WSBK riders. This is the best result that we could ever ask for. We didn’t just win by a little bit, I felt that we could win every race quite comfortably. We proved in that last race that we were strong and I didn’t need to push it and I knew that we were going to get the three wins overall if I just kept a level head and stayed on the bike.

“My goal was to have a good weekend and just get myself in contention but I felt great on the bike all weekend and the Yamaha was working so good. Thank you to everyone in my team, my family or anyone who assisted me to get this result, I’m stoked and it’s an amazing feeling to stand on top of the podium at Phillip Island. I can’t wait to get to round two,” he ends.

Falzon now holds a 22point lead after the opening round and couldn’t have positioned himself any better in the championship. While his competitors faced issues on the weekend, Falzon put himself in the perfect position every time and has set himself up well for a great run at the championship.

Round two of the ASBK hits Wakefield Park on March 17-19.