Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Josh Waters kicked off his 2009 season with the overall win at the 2009 Australian Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island at the weekend.
Commencing his first full season of Superbike racing with the team, Waters had a perfect start to his title assault with victory in the opening race. The 22-year-old backed up with a hard-fought third in race two to finish the round with 43pts and the championship lead aboard his TJRS GSX-R1000.
Waters’ 43pt tally across the two races gives last year’s Australian Supersport runner-up a narrow one-point lead over defending Superbike champion Glenn Allerton with Wayne Maxwell third on 39pts.
Team Joe Rocket Suzuki rider Shawn Giles finished fourth overall on 33pts in his comeback ride from serious injuries received mid-way through last year. Hampered by a lack of strength in his left ankle, the three-time Australian Superbike champion carded fifth and fourth placings on his TJRS GSX-R1000 and lies just 10pts off the championship lead.
The opening 10-lap Australian Superbike Championship race on Sunday morning saw Superbike newcomer Waters master wet and treacherous conditions to take a 6.855sec win over the more experienced Daniel Stauffer, with Maxwell third.
Giles was fifth, just 0.151sec behind fourth-placed Allerton.
In a thrilling race two on Sunday afternoon, reigning champion Allerton took victory from his team mate Maxwell by 0.011sec, with TJRS team mates Waters and Giles separated by just 0.141sec in third and fourth.
Multiple New Zealand Superbike champion Robbie Bugden had a frustrating meeting by his high standards on his TJRS GSX-R1000, finishing eighth overall on points with 12th and 6th placings after two tardy starts left him back in the pack.
“I gave myself too much work to do,” said Bugden. “I could match the lap times of the leaders, but once they’d got away in the early laps there was little I could do.”
The Phillip Island meeting marked the first appearance for 2009 of all four factory-supported Superbike teams which will contest the upcoming seven-round Australian Superbike Championship, with the Phillip Island results sending Team Joe Rocket Suzuki to Tasmania’s Symmons Plains circuit for the second round next month full of confidence - and the team to beat.
In the opening round of the Australian Supersport Championship, new Team Joe Rocket Suzuki signing Troy Herfoss recorded sixth and fourth placings to secure fifth overall on the points table on his TJRS GSX-R600.
Herfoss, the 2008 US Supermoto Champion, was competing in only his second road race meeting, with the 22-year-old racing at the 4.45km Phillip Island circuit for the first time.
Bryan Staring and Judd Greedy (Suzuki GSX-R600) shared the Australian Supersport Championship race wins to finish on 45pts apiece, Greedy taking victory over Staring by 0.054sec in race one, with the results reversed in race two by 0.011sec.
The Phillip Island Superbike World Championship race meeting also marked the public unveiling of Team Joe Rocket Suzuki’s new custom-built 2009 Mack Trident transporter, the impressive rig drawing plenty of admirers from the visiting international Superbike teams.
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