Wayne Maxwell reflects on successful Morgan Park weekend

ASBK 2022 Round Five – Morgan Park
Wayne Maxwell Interview

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As we said at the start of the weekend all you can do is go for the 51-points, you did exactly that…

Wayne Maxwell: “To come away with 51 points, at probably my weakest track on the calendar – as history would say – I’ve surprised myself. So the boys and the team worked really hard to give us a package that worked and you know we had really good consistency and pace. In the first race I suffered a bit physically and in the second race I was a lot stronger and could fight it out right to the end with Mike.

“You can’t do that unless you have a package that works, it’s a very narrow window, on that bike, with the balance front to rear, so that’s what we really worked on recently and that tells me I gained confidence to win races.”

You’ve got the three races at the World Superbike round and the two at the Bend, even with the maximum points it’s still going to be difficult…

Wayne Maxwell: “Well Mike needs to continue to finish second and he’ll bring it home, but there’s a lot of races to go and lots of guys pretty keen. Bryan is super strong at Phillip Island, so you know anything is possible. It is racing… We haven’t had a wet race yet, we are probably due for one of those. I can only concentrate on my own and focus on what I can control. I can’t control what Mike will do.”

And that move on Mike in the second race…

Wayne: “I knew I had pace, even on anyone all weekend down there, I knew I was fast, but to make it work is another story, so Mike got a little protective at four and six, and they were the places were he out-accelerated me, so I lost less time and I got really good drive, and got my weight right over the front of the V4R and just kept feeding it gears.

“A little bit off the apex it can be a little bit smoother, but the thing was like, there was a lot of lights on the dash, she was working pretty hard, so I managed to get there and I was alongside him, he was super strong on the exit there and into the next corner – so that was the now or never, and I was lucky to get alongside him, but I wanted it to be a safe pass, so I was just a little bit cautious to give him enough room. Fortunately we both got through there, someone just showed me some footage, his thing was moving around a fair bit as he get on the throttle, so credit to him to stay on it.”

In the garage after the race, with Craig and Adrian, you said you were a bit surprised about the result here, were they surprised? What was their reaction?

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Wayne Maxwell: “They are more hopeful than I am, they always believe in me. Adrian had already left the circuit, with a couple of guys from the team to get a flight, but they always expect I can win anywhere any time, so they’ve never questioned that part of it, and when I don’t win they apologise they didn’t give me a good enough bike.”

The Epis pass, do you want to take us through that?

Wayne Maxwell: “I got a run on him, he got on the brakes, I got on the brakes, had a full tank of fuel, common sense is if I’m going to turn in, I’ll wipe him out, so I was cautious of the turn in and a little over committed, and he tried to turn over the top of me – I think, I couldn’t really see him. If he had just conceded and done the under over, he probably would have led the race and won his first and probably only ever lap.”

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