Cru Halliday on the V4 R
ASBK 2025
Trev: I’m here with Cru Halliday on a lovely Goulburn morning at One Raceway…. So, Cru, the switch to the Ducati. Could you provide a brief overview of how that came about?
We caught up with Cru at a rained-out One Raceway Test earlier this week – Image RbMotoLens
Cru Halliday: “Robbie had planned to race the Yamaha all year, as you know, there’s a great relationship there, and the plan was to do the whole year out on the Yamaha on Michelins. But Robbie Bolger’s a very outgoing person, which is good for me because everything he says he’ll do, he does. And he turned around to me after Queensland, and said – ‘You’ll be on a Ducati’ at the next round.
“So I didn’t believe it at first. And then I got a phone call from Craig (McMartin) and Robbie (Bolger) almost within five minutes of each other. And I thought, oh, this is actually happening. It’s good. We had our first hit out on the weekend. At the second part of the St. George Club meeting on Sunday. It’s a track I know pretty well, so that’s probably a good starting ground.
The Craig McMartin prepared and Stop & Seal backed Ducati V4 R – Image RbMotoLens
“The bike’s obviously fast. We’ve seen the top speeds of that at every track. It’s pretty fast. And to be on that bike… To actually get on that bike… I’m very thankful for Craig letting me have a crack on it. And I’m very grateful to Robbie and Claire for giving me the opportunity to be on the Ducati.
“So, you know, the two bikes have a lot of different characteristics. You’ve got to ride it a lot differently than the Yamaha. I think I’ve ridden almost 12 or 13 YZF-R1 bikes throughout my entire racing career. And when you ride a particular bike for so long, you start to have certain traits that, when I got onto the Ducati, I had to try to change. So I’m still in the learning process of riding that bike. It is a lot different to ride. I’m just trying to familiarise myself with the bike and get comfortable on it. We did some decent times out there.
“I wasn’t expecting to go as well as we did, but Craig knows what he’s doing with that team. They’ve obviously got the championships and the race wins, and I think it’s one of the most professional teams to be riding under. So for Craig and Robbie to hook this up, I’m very thankful.”
Cru Halliday with the Craig McMartin prepared and Stop & Seal backed Ducati V4 R – Image RbMotoLens
Trev: So you got straight down into the 29s on Sunday, first day out, how does that compare with your fastest times around there on the Yamaha?
Halliday: “Yeah, it’s hard to explain because obviously a couple of us have done 28s around there before. But you do these St. George Club meetings, and conditions can vary. I’ve been to Eastern Creek before and couldn’t even get near a 30 flat on the R1, sometimes. It’s just constantly up and down. The circuit has recently experienced a lot of rain. It’s pulling a lot of water up, coming up around turn 12. So, you know, had to be a bit cautious coming through there. There’s water coming through turn 10. It’s just a bit dodgy here and there. The last thing you want to do is throw it down the track. So I think to get to the 29 straight away… I had told the guys that if I got in the 30s, I would be happy…
“But to see it go into the 29 straight away, I was like, oh, shit, now we’re starting to move. It’s so hard to describe. We’re just doing constant 30s, which is good, and real low 30s, back-to-back. I think this bike’s really good for consistently fast times. So we need to fine-tune it a little bit more; I need more time on the bike, as it’s really about me tuning myself to the bike rather than the other way around. And yeah, I’ve got to stop riding it like a Yamaha.
“Every time I tried to ride it like the Yamaha, I actually went slower. And every time I relaxed and let the bike come to me, I actually started to go faster. I’m pretty sure on Sunday, when we were racing, I wasn’t even trying that hard, and that’s when the 29s come… The lap after I tried, because you see the 29, you’re like, ‘I can go a bit faster.’ And I then go slower… So it’s almost the opposite of how you ride the Yamaha. And that’s just going to come in time.”
Cru Halliday with the Craig McMartin prepared and Stop & Seal backed Ducati V4 R – Image RbMotoLens
Trev: So the progress from here is probably looking at that data and more test days and then, like you say, adapting yourself. The bike’s there. You’ve just got to learn how to ride it. Learn how to get the best out of it?
Halliday: “The bike’s definitely there, obviously. It’s the same as Josh’s. He’s doing marvellous things on the thing. It’s all on me now, so it’s good. I know I’ve got the equipment under me, it’s just now I’ve got to adapt to that bike. And it’s going to be hard because obviously I’ve been on the Yamaha for so long, like I said, I’ve just got to break those old habits.
“It sucks that we can’t ride here today. It would have been beneficial to complete some laps around a different track than Eastern Creek. But next, we go down to Phillip Island, another track that I’m pretty good at. And that bike is very good at.
“So it’s going to be interesting. Many people will expect me to do extraordinary things on it. But I said to my Crew Chief, Brent, we need to take this slow; we need to do our own thing, concentrate on ourselves, and slowly chip away at it. We don’t want to go doing something too dramatic and ruin it all.”
Cru Halliday with the Craig McMartin prepared and Stop & Seal backed Ducati V4 R – Image RbMotoLens
Trev: I’m not saying you’ve struggled with motivation; that’s not what I’m getting at. But you must be pretty excited to have a new challenge to try, adapt, learn some new things, and to get a new toy to play with…
Halliday: “Yeah, for sure. Of course, it sucks what happened at Queensland Raceway (bike problems), but it’s just electrical things. It’s one of those things where… It wasn’t quite two DNFs, obviously. I continued rolling around in that last one, but it was still a DNF in my eyes. I’ve never had that happen to me in a race meeting before, but, you know, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that happened, and then Robbie’s just put his foot down, he wants to win.
ASBK 2025 – Round Five – QLD Raceway – Image RbMotoLens
SW-Motech Superbike Race Two – Tough weekend with tech issues all weekend for Cru last time out
“I thought going to Stop and Seal was going to give me the whole new, fresh take on racing, which it did. And then the results were there, kind of, and we have also had our struggles. Then Queensland, we sort of… not hit rock bottom, but it sucked, it hurt. And now he’s gone and done this again. It’s like giving me a whole new perspective on it again. As I said, I’d like to thank Claire and Robbie for this.
“They’re putting so much into this sport. Very outspoken, but you know what, I reckon the sport needs it. It’s all about revving everyone up. So that’s why I like being on this team.”
Trev: I look forward to you revving them up!
Halliday: “Thank you.”
Cru Halliday with the Craig McMartin prepared and Stop & Seal backed Ducati V4 R – Image RbMotoLens
SW-Motech Superbike Championship Points
Pos
Rider
Bike
Points
1
J. Waters
Duc
261
2
M. Jones
Yam
207
3
A. West
Yam
191
4
G. Allerton
Duc
161
5
C. Dunker
Yam
150
6
B. Pearson
Duc
147
7
M. Stauffer
Yam
147
8
J. Nahlous
Yam
142
9
J. Favelle
Yam
137
10
J. Lytras
Yam
126
11
C. Halliday
Yam
109
12
R. Yanko
Yam
79
13
A. Sissis
Yam
67
14
T. Lynch
Yam
65
15
T. Edwards
Yam
48
16
J. Soderland
Yam
43
17
T. Toparis
Yam
38
18
M. Walters
Apr
26
19
M. Edwards
Yam
25
20
P. Linkenbagh
Yam
23
21
M. Aizuddin
Bmw
20
22
E. Leeson
Yam
19
23
C. Holding
Yam
18
24
M. Hamod
Hon
17
25
B. Beaton
Yam
12
26
N. Mahon
Yam
7
27
A. Senior
Yam
7
28
S. Condon
Yam
6
29
K. Higuchi
Suz
5
30
M. Kemp
Yam
1
2025 Australian Superbike Championship Calendar
Round
Location
Date
1
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC
Feb 21-23
2
Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW
Mar 28-29
3
Queensland Raceway, QLD
May 2-4
4
Morgan Park Raceway, QLD
Jun 13-15
5
Queensland Raceway, QLD (Superbike Only)
Aug 8-10
6
Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC
Sept 6-7
7
One Raceway, NSW
Oct 3-5
8
The Bend, SA
Nov 7-9