By nigelp BMW rider Glenn Allerton has continued his clean-sweep of the QBE Australian Superbike sessions at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway, winning today’s 16-lap race ahead of Suzuki teammates Wayne Maxwell and Robbie Bugden.
The action packed opening race was red-flagged on Lap 1, due to an incident at Turn 6 involving CM Racing’s Chas Hern and Team Honda rider Josh Hook.
Hook, who was thrown over the top of his Honda CBR 1000 RR as a result of Hern high-siding, made it back to the grid for the re-start while the Suzuki mounted rider was taken to the medical centre as a precaution.
The re-start provided Allerton with a chance to redeem the race lead after a slow start the first time around. After leading the race from start to finish the Next Gen Motorsports rider said he wasvery happy to take the first race win of the year.
“That was a pretty interesting race, I got the start that I wanted after the red flag and put my head down for two laps to try and build a gap,” Allerton explained. “After the blow up, there was a fair bit of oil through the sweeper. I had to ride to the conditions and had to back off a fair bit through there.
“I am very happy to be coming away with the first win for the year, it is a good start in the direction the team has been working so hard towards,” Allerton continued.
All eyes were on Team Suzuki’s Wayne Maxwell and Volvo Group Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden who traded blows throughout the race. Bugden passed Maxwell for second on the opening lap but was relegated to third with two laps remaining.
“My teammate Robbie got past me and was going quite well,” Maxwell said. It is one of those tracks that when you have a similar speed design it is hard to get by. He backed off a bit and I got by him but there was a bit of oil down in the kink and by the time I got through Glenn was gone so I ran the race out at my own pace to see how I felt on the bike and how the bike is feeling. We will collect some good data from today, it is only Round 1 of 7 so there is still a long way to go,” Maxwell added.
Volvo Group Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden was lamenting what might of been after a sensational start catapulted him into the race lead before the red flag.
“It was a pretty challenging race,” Budgen said. “I got a great start and got out in front and was feeling really good. At that point I knew I could set that pace and block where I had to.
“Unfortunately the race was red-flagged and I had to do it all again. I didn’t quite get the re-start I was after, I got past Wayne pretty quick but Glenn had a that little bit of a lead and the faster I went the faster he went so the lead stayed stagnant.
“Towards the end of the race there was a bit of a drama and some oil down, I had a couple of moments so I backed it off a bit, took my medicine and thought I will take third.”
Team Honda teammates Jamie Stauffer and Josh Hook rounded out the top five with BMW privateer Ben Nicolson finishing an impressive sixth.
With smoke pouring from his Next Gen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR Linden Magee was forced out of the race on Lap 10.
Josh King was the best-placed local rider finishing just outside the top ten, ahead of fellow Tasmanian Kurt Sushames.
The QBE Australian Superbike Championship will contest their final race at the Tasmania Microsoft Office 365 at 3.20pm (AEDST) tomorrow.
Catch all the action from tomorrow’s race live on Channel 7 from 3.20pm.
Results Race 1
1. Glen Allerton, BMW HP4
2. Wayne Maxwell, Suzuki GSX-R
3. Robert Bugden, Suzuki GSX-R
4. Jamie Stauffer, Honda CBR RR
5. Josh Hook, Honda CBR RR
6. Ben Nicolson, BMW S-RR
7. Glenn Scott, Honda CBR RR
8. Ben Henry, Suzuki GSX-R
9. Beau Beaton, Suzuki GSX-R
10. Phil Lovett, Kawasaki ZX-10R
11. Josh King, Yamaha YZF-R1
12. Kurt Sushames, Suzuki GSX-R
13. Adam Senior, Honda CBR RR
14. Shaun Murfet, Honda CBR RR
15. Sophie Lovett, Kawasaki ZX-10R