Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing’s Bryan Staring captured his third Australian Superbike Championship victory in succession at Queensland Raceway this afternoon, winning the opening race of the weekend from pole position.

Staring was challenged by fellow Honda riders Glenn Allerton and Wayne Maxwell in the early laps before stretching a lead, before Ducati Motologic’s Jamie Stauffer worked his was through the pack to eventually pressure Staring to the finish.

At the end of the 16-lap duration it was Staring who won by 1.525 seconds, with Stauffer a solid second and Valvoline Superbike Team rider Allerton an improved third from Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing’s Wayne Maxwell.

“It was a really good race for me, we sat in there for the first few laps and then I was able to get away,” Staring said. “I got into a rhythm and felt comfortable, but then Jamie started coming through and closing the gap so my heart started racing but we managed to hold him off. I’m looking forward to the second race to see if we can take maximum points.”

Behind Maxwell was Racers Edge Performance Suzuki rider Scott Charlton as the first of the GSX-R1000s, while top Superstock 1000 A and B rider was Craig Coxhell in sixth overall for CJC Racing on the BMW S 1000 RR.

Seventh was the first of the Team Suzuki riders in Shawn Giles, while Dan Stauffer enjoyed his best performance of the season for TBR Aprilia to claim eighth.

Queensland local Robbie Bugden was next in ninth after running wide in Turn Four mid-race, while rounding out the top 10 was KTM Superbike Team rider Shannon Johnson.

Second Ducati Motologic rider Jordan Burgess was a non-starter after suffering a broken foot in a qualifying crash yesterday afternoon.

Click here for detailed results