YAMAHA RACING:

Yamaha’s factory racers are looking to round out 2009 on a positive note at the final round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) to be held at Phillip Island this weekend.

In the Supersport class, the battle for title honours looks set to go down to the wire between R6 racers Bryan Staring and Jamie Stauffer who have dominated proceedings since the opening round of the season.

Stauffer is aiming to reclaim the #1 while Staring is out to steal his first premier class title.

YRT’s factory Superbike riders will fight to the final chequered flag after a challenging season.

Jamie and Daniel Stauffer are eyeing consistent, points-paying finishes at the sweeping seaside Grand Prix circuit.

Yamaha Racing Team Superbike

Yamaha Racing Team Superbike riders Jamie and Daniel Stauffer will look to round out a challenging season with solid results at this weekend’s Phillip Island ASBK final.

Despite immense time and effort invested by the riders and crew, the road of development on the Yamaha R1 racebike has been rocky, as illustrated by the results.

The duo are aiming to apply maximum pressure to the frontrunners this weekend in the hope of stealing a surprise result.

“We’ve been working hard on the Superbike and will look to build on what we learned here at the last few meetings,” said Jamie.

“There has been a noticeable improvement over the season and this is a really good chance for us to really challenge the guys who may be racing conservatively for championship points.”

Heading into this weekend, Jamie sits sixth in the standings on 163 and is within reach of a top five finish. Daniel is eighth on 140 points.

Jamie is still on track to hunt down fellow factory rider Bryan Staring in the race for Supersport honours.

The see-sawing battle has the R6-mounted Stauffer 17 points behind with a maximum of 51 up for grabs this weekend.

“I feel like I’ve raced pretty well on the R6 this year and it really has been a two-horse race for the championship,” he continued.

“I just have to keep pushing and will try to score as many points as possible on Sunday.”

Yamaha Racing Team Supersport

YRT Supersport racer Bryan Staring is just two races away from his first championship aboard the R6, with the title set to be decided this weekend at Phillip Island.

The Gold Coast-based rider has enjoyed an incredibly consistent season, finishing either first or second in every race to date.

Yamaha Superbike rider Jamie Stauffer is the only one to have bought into the battle for Supersport honours and the points gap to third guarantees a R6 will win the 600cc class for the fourth year running.

Staring has had a solid preparation for the event and was itching to get underway this weekend.

“It feels like forever since we started the season and I’m really looking forward to getting on track at Phillip Island, it’s a place I’ve enjoyed a lot of success in the past,” said Staring.

“We raced here last round and I was able to build a lead, it’s certainly not enough to back off yet as I know Jamie will be racing very hard this weekend.

“I haven’t changed much in the way of training, I’ve prepared myself in the same way I have each round and it has worked so I am feeling confident.

“I have a great team behind me and they have worked just as hard as I have this year so it would be great to reward them with this title.”

Staring is 17 points ahead of Stauffer ahead of Sunday’s two championship races.

Pat Medcalf is within reach of a standout Superstock 1000 title after a consistent season aboard his R1.

The young gun is 51 points ahead of his closest challenger in the class and is eager to keep a run of top two race finishes intact this weekend.