ASBK: Waters wins controversy-filled first race in Darwin
The Superbike stars were stranded on the grid for a long time before the delayed opening race at Hidden Valley.
Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters has continued his perfect weekend with victory in the opening Australian Superbike Championship race at Hidden Valley today, winning ahead of Valvoline Superbike Team’s Glenn Allerton and Team Mack Trucks Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden.
Race one was red flagged after a turn one incident involving Craig McMartin and factory Ducati Motologic rider Jordan Burgess, however it was on the warm-up lap of the restart where the ultimate controversy came.
KTM Superbike Team rider Shannon Johnson couldn’t get his RSC8 R started, eventually getting it going well after the field had commenced their lap, before his race came to a crushing halt on the final corner of the warm-up lap after crashing on a wet and slippery white line.
As the race eventually got underway, reduced to 14 laps after a lengthy delay that left riders stranded on the grid in the misting rain and humidity, Waters, Allerton and Wayne Maxwell asserted themselves at the front.
Waters made a move on Allerton before the 2008 champion almost high-sided himself coming off the final turn, allowing the current champion to race off for his maiden victory of the 2010 season by 10.010 seconds, with Allerton over a second from a quickly-closing Bugden.
Maxwell eventually settled for fourth ahead of impressive young gun Kris McLaren, the Honda rider edging out a fast-finishing Shawn Giles – the third of the factory-backed Suzuki runners.
Current Supersport Champion Bryan Staring slipped from second on the grid to seventh, while top Superstock 1000 rider was Ben Attard on the Aluma-Lite Ducati in eighth outright ahead of TBR Aprilia’s Dan Stauffer and veteran John Allen.
Ducati Motologic team leader Jamie Stauffer skipped the sighting lap of the original race, eventually placing 11th in a serious hit for his championship challenge on the 1198 R.
The race was stopped four laps short due to the second red flag of the race, the results declared after lap eight of the scheduled 14.
It was sprinkling early in the race with a fully wet track, before the sun emerged midway through the race and the pace began to pick up following the middle stages.
Supersport race two is next, with the final Superbike outing scheduled to commence just after 3.00pm local time.
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