Jones on the gas in second ASBK free practice
Mike Jones will be carrying some serious confidence into the weekend after topping the time sheets this morning, as day two of Round 1 of the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli gets underway.
Despite being the final class to hit the track for this morning’s practice sessions, DesmoSport Ducati’s Mike Jones, topped the Australian Superbike times with a fast lap of 1:33.514 around this notoriously fast Phillip Island circuit. Team Yamaha’s Glenn Allerton slotted in to second with a 1:33.765, followed by Crankt Protien Honda Racing’s Jamie Stauffer who was third fastest with a 1:33.901 this morning.
Mike Jones, who will also race as a Wildcard entrant in the World Superbike category this weekend, was elated after his second Australian Superbike practice session.
“It was great to get the second ASBK practice session done, and all of my time on the track seems to be paying off. Topping the Superbike times this morning feels good, especially with ASBK qualifying this afternoon,” he said.
“The bike feels really good, I am riding two different bikes this weekend and the team have worked really hard to get the setup of the Australian Superbike perfect. Hopefully after this morning’s session we can finish the day with a good qualifying position on the grid.
“The conditions today on track are pretty good, it’s a little bit windy but the track temperature isn’t too bad, and as long as the rain stays away we should be in for a good qualifying session this afternoon.”
The Supersport category were the third class to hit the circuit for their second free practice this morning, and at the conclusion of the 15-minute session Mark Chiodo took the top time with 1:38.020 on his Triumph machine. Following closely behind was yesterday’s fastest Supersport rider, Troy Guenther (1:38.159), and in third was Kyle Buckley with a 1:38.697.
Chiodo was happy with his progress from yesterday’s second position, and is oozing confidence, ahead of the commencement of ASBK racing tomorrow.
“This morning I used my old tyres from yesterday, just to get warmed up for qualifying later on and to get a feel of the bike moving around a little bit before this afternoons qualifying session with a lot of grip,” he said.
“I feel a lot more confident after yesterday I was pretty upset after I was 1.3 seconds off the front rider (Troy Guenther) lap time, but I was still in second place, so quite a few of us were a fair way off. Today has been better to get back there and get some motivation back.”
When the Moto3/125GP class headed out for their second practice session this morning, Brian Houghton took the fastest time with a 1:44.717, with Locky Taylor two seconds behind (1:46.748) followed by Tayla Relph who clocked in the third quickest time with a 1:47.465.
In the Period 5/6 category, it was Dean Oughtred who once again topped the times on his Suzuki GSXR 1100, with a 1:43.083 lap time ahead of Murray Clark (1:43.460) and Craig Ditchburn who concluded the session in third (1:44.224)
To keep up to date with all the latest results from this weekend, follow ASBK on Facebook or head to www.asbk.com.au. You can also click the link below to see the full ASBK Free Practice 2 results from this morning http://www.computime.com.au/
Image – Andrew Gosling/tbgphoto
