Tuesday 3rd May 2011 - A sunny Western Australia has played host to the Australian Superbike Championships coinciding with the V8 Supercars over the weekend. The two series teamed up and put on a spectacular show at Barbagallo Raceway, it was a perfect combination for exciting racing with a huge crowd there to soak it all up.

The meeting kicked off with Friday free practice; it was the first time since 2006 that the ASBK had travelled to the west so it was crucial for GAS Honda Racing’s riders to get to terms with the Barbagallo Raceway circuit fast.  After a single practice session it was straight into qualifying 1 where Craig Coxhell and Cole Odendaal both improved on practice times and were on the move forward.  An early start for Qualifying 2 saw the bikes on track at 8:15am Saturday morning.  As the times started to drop throughout the session, Demolition Plus rider Craig Coxhell managed to fight his way through the field setting the 5th fastest
time. NSW Compensation Lawyers rider Cole Odendaal continued to improve and qualified in 11th position in an extremely tight field. The ‘Superpole’ top eight shootout gave Coxhell another chance to improve on his Qualifying position and he took full advantage, setting the 4th fastest time and securing a front row start.

The light went out for race one just after noon and it was a perfect Perth day.  The crowd had grown throughout the morning and was keen for some action packed Superbike Racing.  Coxhell made the most of his front row start and fired out of the gate with the lead pack. A suspect rear tyre would put a stop to his charge forcing him to settle for 6th place. Odendaal fought his way into the top ten, finishing just behind Scott Charlton (Team Suzuki) in 9th place.

Race two was on Sunday morning in front of a full capacity crowd, and what a race it was.
Coxhell got off to a flyer leading the pack into turn one and after battling for the lead for most the race he settled in 3rd where he crossed the line to take the team’s first podium finish of the year.
Odendaal made more improvements in race two and rode a very consistent race to finish in 10th place taking out 9th place overall for the weekend.

“I’m really happy with the result in race two; it’s great to be back up the pointy end contending for race wins. It’s just a shame that we had a bad rear tyre in race one and had to settle for 6th,” said Coxhell

“The team has worked really hard to set the bikes up the way I like and I now feel really confident and excited heading to the next round in Queensland.” 

Odendaal said “We have been treating this year as a learning year and we are finally starting to land on our feet,”

“The team has given me an awesome bike and each time I get on the bike I gain more confidence,”