Wayne Maxwell on Rnd1 & MoTeC homologation issues | Interview

2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship
Round One – Phillip Island
Wayne Maxwell

Wayne Maxwell had a great start to his 2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike campaign at Phillip Island, breaking the lap record to take pole and then following up with three race wins.

Maxwell heads to the second round of the series at Wakefield Park on a perfect 76 championship points, with nearest competitor Cru Halliday 16-points behind.

MCNews.com.au caught up with Wayne immediately following the conclusion of racing at Round One, to get his thoughts on the season opener, his Ducati V4 R, and the issues being negotiated with Motorcycling Australia regarding the homologation of the MoTeC ECU for the Boost Mobile backed Ducati V4 R.

Wayne Maxwell Interview

Trevor Hedge: Wayne, a perfect haul for the weekend, pole, three wins. From testing pace I thought you might even be a little bit further in front, but it was a hot pace out there across all twelve laps in the three races.

Wayne Maxwell: “Mate they are a classy bunch of riders, it’s a testament to the field you know, if I had made a mistake, Cru would have been there to pick up the pieces, so I just tried to stay in a rhythm, not making mistakes. It’s much easier racing as two, rather than in a pack of two.”

Trev: There’s been a bit of banter this weekend, with your Race 1 and Race 2 comments, as in you want some parts for the Ducati that aren’t available to you, they might have been initially apprived, only for permission for those parts later to be withdrawn by M.A….?

Maxwell: “Yeah, we went through the process that Motorcycling Australia has, they have three processes, a reflashed ECU, a manufacturer homologated ECU, or an MA approved option. We went through the process, got all the approval documents, made the investment into making that happen and then obviously after the test, that got revoked, because I’m too fast basically, or I’m not sure….”

“They said it’s for other reasons, that they didn’t meet the paperwork and there was some kind of error on their end. But they had weeks and weeks to do their due diligence and a lot of people in different departments gave me the approval, not only technical. So I’m not sure where that ones going to head. When Honda get their new bike, are they going to have to run the standard ECU?”

Trev: Where is that advantage going to come from if you get the MoTeC system? Engine braking control, is that where you’re looking to improve the bike?

Maxwell: “Yeah, just some control. We can’t tune the fuel, we can’t do anything at the moment, engine brake control, it’s a little bit of that, it’s just a little bit everywhere. It’s a safety factor, when you go to Wakefield to be competitive you have use first gear in the last corner. Have you ever gone down to first gear on a road bike? The bike likes to goes sideways. So you know something needs to be done, if we can’t have what they have approved and then revoked, then we need to come to some middle of the road agreement and go from there.”

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Trev: You must be confident heading into the rest of the reason?

Maxwell: “I would probably say I’ve won a race at Wakefield Park every year, I’m probably the only one to beat Troy there. Last year I led and we had some issues with the Suzuki in the middle of the race, but we led most of the race and set a pretty hot pace. That was in the early stages, but he’s a hard man to beat around there, I’m under no illusions, if I can go there and finish second to Troy, or just collect some points… I can’t wait to just keep building up my points and my key is to finish every race. That’s what cost me in the past.”

Trev: What’s the workload for you and the team, between here and Wakefield Park, working on machine set-up?  You’ve got the official test there, will you be able to test outside of those official days?

Maxwell: “Unsure, definitely the official test and we’ll see where we sit. It depends what happens if we get more parts, that will change our testing program and approach. At this stage we’ll take this package there, try to speak to the Ducati factory and try and get some parts that Mike and those guys are getting out of the back of the Factory Ducati pits here this weekend at World Superbike and see how we go.”

Trev: What is the next step with that battle you’re going to have with M.A., getting access to that MoTeC ECU?

Maxwell: “I don’t really want to make it a big process, and legal and drawn out, people have jobs to do, it’s nothing personal. We just need some clarifications with what we can do. They’ve got three ways they can approve it, so they are saying they need manufacturer proof from Italy now. I’m sure there’s no manufacturer proof from other brands, from the headquarters overseas, so look, we can’t do that, as obviously there’s other issues going on internal with Ducati in Australia and Europe as Ducati restructures here, so it’s difficult at the moment. I don’t know, they can approve it, they need to set some parameters and we’ll put forward another proposal from there. But all this is eating into time, and when you can lose a championship by five-points, that makes it difficult.”

Trev: Thanks Wayne, thanks for your time.

ASBK next heads to Wakefield Park later this month, the Goulburn circuit playing host to Round Two of the series over the March 27-29 weekend.

2020 mi-bike Australian Superbike Championship Points

2020 ASBK Calendar