It was a somewhat up-and-down day on the opening day of action at the second round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Wakefield Park, which saw Maxima BMW’s Glenn Allerton and Ted Collins finishing in thirteenth and fourteenth place in the overall combined times.
Allerton, who recorded a 58.916 in the second Free Practice session expressed that it was one of those “tough days at the office,” in terms of trying to get track position.
“It was so busy on track today, and it’s such a tight track which makes it hard. But, that’s the way it sometimes and you have to roll with it,” said Allerton, who was thirteenth fastest at the conclusion of the day.
The day was cut short due to a down pour, which resulted in the third session being cancelled. This obviously wasn’t ideal for the former three times Australian Superbike Champion, who had been working on front fork setup to enable him to get better front-end feel.
“It is what it is and the Maxima BMW team and I will move on to tomorrow and look towards to improving for qualifying,” explained Allerton.
In tomorrows timed session there are a few more things which Allerton and the team will try to make front-end slightly better. In saying that, Allerton will have to get going in qualifying as it’s very important at Wakefield Park to get a good grid position for the races as the circuit is so tight, which makes it hard to pass.
“I believe if we fine tune the front-end a little bit more, we will be good to go and I think we will be there thereabouts. We know which direction we want to head, which is the main thing. I have to say a massive thanks to the whole team, as they have all worked really hard today,” finished Allerton.
Collins concluded the day .528 seconds behind Allerton. The day but ended on a bad note for Collins after he highsided on the exit of the final corner which saw his #29 Maxima BMW S 1000RR flipping over the pit wall and crash into the pit-lane entry.
Collins explained; “I believe today was a good day, considering what happened to me in the second session this afternoon. We started off a little slow. However, we made some changes to the BMW S 1000RR ahead of the second practice session and we were definitely heading in the right direction. Things were looking good, which is a big positive for the team and I.”
The 2017 Australian Supersport Champion put in some lap times in the second session, which he was happy with in terms of what he was trying to do.
With three minutes to go, Collins and the team put a new rear Pirelli tyre in the back. Collins was basically going out on track to practice qualifying, as that has been a weak area of his at late.
“I went out there and put together one of the best laps I have ever done around Wakefield Park. However, on the exit of the last corner I asked a little bit too much and came unstuck and highsided in a spectacular fashion which has unfortunately damaged the bike a fair bit,” said Collins.
The Maxima BMW team will however put everything into it and rebuild Collins’ bike for the rest of the weekend, which Collins is ever so grateful for.
“We’ll regroup and bounce back tomorrow and hopefully I can deliver them a good qualifying result for payback for all of their efforts they have done. We know what we need to do and I believe we will have a good day tomorrow,” concluded Collins.
Maxima BMW’s Team Manager, Wayne Hepburn expressed that today obviously didn’t end up the way he wanted it to.
“Ted was starting to push hard and looked like he was starting to go very well. He unfortunately had an accident, which is fine, as its all part of racing. The main thing is, Ted is fine and uninjured,” said Hepburn.
“The team have got a lot of work to do on the Maxima BMW S 1000RR. However, they will have it turned around for the morning.”
The biggest disappointment was the fact they didn’t get another session in for Allerton. Hepburn explained that the team have confirmed some suspicions and have got the bike to where they think it should be. However, they never got the opportunity to try it, as the last session got rained out.
“Tomorrow is obviously straight into timed practice which sets you up for qualifying. It’s a bit harder to ‘muck around’ with bike setup. Fingers crossed we have gone in the right direction now and everything goes well in timed practice and the qualifying sessions,” finished Hepburn.
Timed Practice for the Australian Superbike Championship gets underway at 10:45am AEDT, with qualifying one starting at 2:45pm AEDT. Qualifying two starts at 3:15pm AEDT.
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