YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship points leader Jamie Stauffer has kicked off his Winton campaign in scorching style today, turning up the heat to top the timesheets by almost 2 seconds.

Clear blue skies and a welcoming warmth greeted riders and teams this morning, a stark contrast to the previous year, where the riders were kept guessing by rain and low clouds.

The in-form Yamaha Racing Team pilot wasted no time in climbing to the top of the standings in the morning's opening session, capitalising on the team's recent successful test at the Victorian circuit and issuing a strong challenge to his competitors.

He laid down a spritely 1.22.999 in the first session, but smashed his own benchmark as the Superbikes hit the track in the afternoon, recording a 1.21.786 lap.

Stauffer said the early speed was encouraging, and was pleased to have been able to conserve tyres for tomorrow's qualifying sessions.

"I'm pretty happy with how practice has gone, we had a goal to be out on top early and work away at the lap times, a 1.21.7 is great at this early stage," said Stauffer.

"The test session let us work on a good setup tyre-wise, the Dunlops were great again today and it was an advantage to be able to hang back in the second session to conserve them for the rest of the weekend."

Stauffer currently leads the championship by 18 points over Russell Holland, with the Honda rider lapping slightly off the pace today and unable to better P9 on the timesheets.

Second in today's standings went to a rider who finished atop the podium at last year's round, Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Robbie Bugden.

Bugden has made gradual but solid improvements across the course of each round of the national series, and feels he has a good handle on his Suzuki ahead of the business end of the season.

"I really like the Winton track and Team Yoshimura has started on a high note today with both myself and Shawn on the pace early," said Bugden.

"I feel very comfortable and I'm really confident we can get on the front row of the grid and challenge for a podium this weekend."

Daniel Stauffer made it a family affair in the Superbike standings, finishing in P3 today but predicting much more to come from his YZF-R1.

Stauffer is also third in the championship, and is looking for another strong points haul this weekend in order to close the gap to second with just a single round remaining.

"Today was pretty good, though in all honesty it should have been a little bit better," said Stauffer.

"It was a matter of taking the setup we found at the test a few weeks ago and just going out there and giving it everything from the word go, its important to keep a good bank of tyres ahead of qualifying and the races," he said.

"I didn't stress things too much today, we can see from the speed of both the Yamaha Racing Team bikes that the things will be very quick."

"It's a very demanding circuit on your body and actually takes a lot out of you, I want to make sure I'm in the best possible condition when we go racing on Sunday."

Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Shawn Giles wasted no time in getting back to speed today, with the three time Superbike champ holding down 4th fastest position at the conclusion of the afternoon session.

Giles had been out of action since the Mallala round in May, and was forced to undergo a length rehabilitation program in order to ensure he would be fit again to race.

Giles and Bugden were joined by Supersport teammate Craig Shirrifs as they went 'Back to School' yesterday, paying the excited students at Wangaratta West Primary School a special visit.

The trio spoke with students about the sport, explaining how they came to be in the premier class and signed hundreds of autographs for the potential stars of tomorrow.

Teams and riders will spend the evening making adjustments to their racecraft ahead of tomorrow's pair of qualifying sessions, which will determine grid positions for the two 17-lap races on Sunday.

YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship, Winton Round Combined Practice

1 Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team 1:21.786
2 Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Yoshimura Suzuki 1:23.683
3 Daniel STAUFFER (NSW) / Yamaha Racing Team 1:23.731
4 Shawn GILES (NSW) / Team Yoshimura Suzuki 1:24.088
5 Scott CHARLTON (VIC) / Tarmac Civil Constructions 1:24.130
6 Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / Joe Rocket Honda / Honda Australia 1:24.558
7 Wayne MAXWELL (NSW) / Floyd Parkes Kawasaki / Pirelli / Michelin 1:24.666
8 Joshua WATERS (VIC) / Kawasaki Racing Team 1:24.792
9 Russell HOLLAND (NSW) / Robern Racing Honda / Pirelli Tyres 1:24.836
10 Shannon ETHERIDGE (NSW) / Kirk McCarthy Award / Suzuki Aust. / Phil Tainton 1:25.090