While it was NextGen Motorsports Glenn Allerton who took victory in today’s QBE Australian Superbike Superpole at Queensland Raceway, all eyes were on Volvo Group Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden who qualified second, just .020 of second off the pole sitter.
Bugden’s teammate Wayne Maxwell was third quickest, a mere .040 seconds off his teammates time.
With strong winds blowing through during the afternoon, the track temperature dropped affecting grip on the 3.12km circuit.
“I am pretty happy with how we ended up,”Allerton said. “The lap time we did probably isn’t where we needed to be but it is a qualifying session and we came out on top so you cant be unhappy with that.
“The times we did yesterday are more conducive to the actual lap time we could do, but I didn’t manage to get it out of the bike in that session. The track temperature dropped and I was a little cautious on the left hand side of the tyre. We will go into tomorrow’s event pretty confident, and if I can get away on the first lap it will make life easier for me.”
Pleased to have made further gains on the championship leader, Bugden said had more up his sleeve for tomorrow’s races.
“I’m pretty happy with today, I ended up second, missing pole by only a couple of hundredths of a second,” Bugden explained. “We have been making up ground on Glenn all weekend and now we look like we are just about on his tail.
“We can come up with a little bit extra tomorrow for sure. It is encouraging for us, everyone at Team Suzuki has been working really hard and we are starting to get the results,” Bugden added
Strong winds also proved challenging for the Motul Supersport Superpole contenders with a number of frontrunners crashing out of the knockout session. In the end it was Coopers Pale Ale rider Chris Quinn who took the spoils ahead of Ryan Taylor and Luke Burgess.
“Qualifying went to plan for us,” Quinn explained. “We had to use the same tyres for the first two superpole sectors so I went out and put down two hard laps then parked the bike.
“We know we have a good setup, we tested here last week and the times were really consistent. We had the new tyre for the last sector and it was all go from there.”
Jon Daniels Racing’s Daniel Falzon, who topped both of yesterday’s practice sessions, crashed in the second sector of Superpole and despite qualifying for the final sector, was unable to ready his spare bike in time.
Kawasaki rider Sean Condon won the opening Pro Stock race in his first outing since undergoing a shoulder reconstruction in January.
The opening race for the 250 Production class produced some thrilling racing with Kawasaki mounted Sophie Lovett working her way up the order to finish in the top three. CM Racing’s Brendan Demmery took the race win ahead of Victorian rider Tom Bramich.
QBE Australian Superbike Superpole
1. Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) / NextGen Motorsports / Dynotech / Maxima / BMW, BMW HP4 1:08.710
2. Robert BUGDEN (QLD) / Team Volvo Group Suzuki, Suzuki GSX-R 1:08.740
3. Wayne MAXWELL (VIC) / Team Suzuki, Suzuki GSX-R, 1:08.783
4. Josh HOOK (NSW) / Team Honda Racing / Motologic / Vantage, Honda CBR RR, 1:08.839
5. Jamie STAUFFER (NSW) / Team Honda Racing / Motologic / Vantage, Honda CBR RR, 1:09.584
6. Linden MAGEE (QLD) / NextGen Motorsports / Dynotech / Maxima / BMW, BMW HP4, 1:09.662
7. Chas HERN (VIC) / CM Racing / Pope Building Services / High Octane M-cycles, Suzuki GSX-R, 1:09.862
8. Glenn SCOTT (NSW) / Team Insure My Ride Racing / Myotrade, Honda CBR RR, 1:10.156
9. Ben HENRY (QLD) / Cube Racing / Australian Outdoor Living / Underground Designs, Suzuki GSX-R, 1:10.463
10. Beau BEATON (NSW) / Racers Edge Perform. / Suzuki Aust. / PTR / Verngraham, Suzuki GSX-R, 1:10.618
11. Sloan FROST (NZ) BMW S RR, 1:10.810
12. Sean CONDON (NSW) / Bikebiz Ipone Swann Insurance Racing, Kawasaki ZX10R, 1:10.830
13. Adam SENIOR (WA) / City Toyota / Silkolene / Radmix / Boreclean / Fine Riders, Honda CBR RR, 1:11.491
Motul Supersport Superpole Results
1. Chris QUINN (NSW) / Coopers Pale Ale / Holmes Extractive Resources, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:12.471
2. Ryan TAYLOR (VIC) / Pirelli / Motul / SW Racing / YRD, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:12.564
3. Luke BURGESS (QLD) / Mackay Kawasaki / Kawasaki Aust. / Tomsey Racing / KMF, Kawasaki ZX6R, 1:12.658
4. Michael BLAIR (NSW) / Blairbuild / YRD / JoeGroot Civil / Finson, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:12.745
5. Daniel FALZON (SA) / Caterpillar / EPSA / Yamaha, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:12.745
6. Brendan CLARKE (QLD) / Champion’s Ride Days / Child’s Dream, Honda CBR RR, 1:13.163
7. Callum SPRIGGS (QLD) / YRD / Allsite Concrete Cutting / XXX Rated Suspension, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:13.471
8. Kyle BUCKLEY (QLD) / LAE Racing / XXX Rated Susp. / Motorcycle Accessory Shop, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:13.500
9. Michael LOCKART (NSW) / EPL International / Amorini / Armstrong Consulting / Kawasaki, Kawasaki ZX6R, 1:13.553
10. Aiden WAGNER (QLD) / YRD / XXX Rated Suspension / Wagner Soil Testing, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:13.625
Images courtesy of Andrew Gosling
Be the first to comment