Allerton and Collins to sit out for Morgan Park ASBK round

Maxima BMW ventured to Queensland’s Morgan Park Raceway last Monday and Tuesday for a two-day test ahead of the fourth round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), which gets underway in a weeks’ time from now.

The Victorian based team spent the two days at the 2.967km circuit to see if both Glenn Allerton and Ted Collins were 100% fit enough to race after their injuries, they sustained at third round of the championship in late April.

At the conclusion of the test, Maxima BMW’s Team Manager Wayne Hepburn came to a hard decision which was to put the brakes on both riders taking part at the fourth round of the championship.

“Both Glenn and Ted gave it their all, but I could see they were not ready to deliver what they and Next Gen Motorsports consider acceptable and safe,” explained Hepburn.

“Obviously it’s understandable that Glenn and Ted were devastated. However, being the professionals that they are, they both agreed with my decision to have them miss this round making sure they are strong enough for round five at Winton at the start of September.”

After the former three times Australian Superbike champion and the 2017 Australian Supersport champion got injured at The Bend Motorsport Park, through no fault of their own, the Maxima BMW team went about finding a rider that could fill in, which ended up being Newcastle based rider, Aaron Morris.

Morris immediately impressed the team at the first test which he did, which was at the Pirelli Masters of Morgan Park in May. The 27-year-old was also present at this week’s test alongside Allerton and Collins, which saw Morris once again improving every time he took to the track aboard the #64 BMW S 1000RR machine. 

Hepburn explained; “Aaron and the team were happy with the progress and are excited to have him race the BMW S1000RR at Morgan Park next weekend. The decision was for everyone’s well-being.”

“We will work hard to have our full rider line up ready, so they can give their best at the final three rounds in the ASBK series. Above all, it made me proud that both Glenn and Ted wanted to be at Morgan Park to support the team and Aaron in any way they could,” concluded Hepburn.

Round four of the Australian Superbike Championship takes place on 5 – 7 July.