Looking back from Round 4 of the 2023 Australian Superbike Championship Season at Hidden Valley in NT where they were part of the main event Supercars round line-up, Josh Waters (No.21 Ducati) was too good all along in Race 1. Having got pole position to start up front beforehand, he too held his line really well after he nearly lost the lead there at the start before things go his way for the win.
Troy Herfoss (No.17 Honda) finished in 2nd ahead of Glenn Allerton (No.14 BMW) who raced patiently where he got past Mike Jones (No.1 Yamaha) for the last podium spot with 2 to go (14 of 16).
Race 2 on a Sunday AM has changed the landscape a little with Waters still firing off this time without a fight, but couldn’t hold on whilst leading where he ran wide into the grass at Turn 1. So that leaves Jones & Herfoss now as Jones had his fair share v Herfoss upfront, but Herfoss found the winning move by going one better to collect Race 2. Plus, Allerton joins the podium once again in 3rd where he would’ve liked to have another sniff at the Top 2 but had a great run nonetheless.
And Race 3 has seen some slips & spills across the race track where it impacted so badly on the likes of Cru Hailliday & Glenn Allerton. Although it doesn’t affect the front row battle that much on what has been another Herfoss v Jones top spot rivalry. Again, Jones thought he might have found the key to lock down Herfoss this time after he bounced back earlier in the day from Saturday’s 4th placed finish. But there’s no stopping the king of this race track in two-wheels where Herfoss wraps up back-to-back race wins in Darwin, with Jones 2nd again & Waters back to collect the last podium spot in 3rd.
Looks like the gap is so close now where Herfoss (212) only eight points behind Waters (220) in the riders’ standings, with three rounds left going into Morgan Park Raceway in QLD around a month’s time.
