The Australian Superbike Championship roared back in to life yesterday at Phillip Island, living up to expectations, NEXTGEN Motorsport’s Glenn Allerton claimed Superbike pole.
Allerton showed no signs of an injured knee as he blitzed the field in the opening EVO Unlimited race of the weekend and held off classy racer Jed Metcher to fly home fastest in the Suberbike Superpole with a time of 1:33.246.
“It was really good, we did have a slight issue with vibration in the bike today so we got to the bottom of that (before Superpole) to make sure I was able to ride around the track the way I need to.” Said Allerton.
Phillip Island provided uncharacteristic pristine conditions for both Superbike and Supersport Pole sessions that made Allerton’s ride all the more smoother.
“Conditions were perfect just there at the very end in Superpole, there wasn’t even a breath of wind so we were very happy with how it went.
“Really hoping today’s a good race and the conditions are good so we can get a really good crowd here.”
The addition of international rider Jed Metcher competing in the final round for Race Centre aboard a Kawasaki ZX-10R certainly gave Allerton a run for his money and will continue to apply pressure for racing today.
Metcher just missed Pole behind Allerton on 1:33.572.
“He’s a quality rider, he’s a world champion and you can’t be a world champion without being a great rider.
“It seems to me they’ve (Race Centre) got a really good package with their bike so he’ll be a challenge to beat today.
However Allerton said he’s prepared to take the young Victorian and is looking forward to the big task.
“Challenges always come in different forms in racing but it’s all about how you deal with it and rise to the occasion and it’s a challenge I’m ready for.”
Allerton also took a commanding win in the EVO Unlimited class from Chas Hern and NEXTGEN Motorsports team mate Ben Nicolson.
Daniel Falzon remians on track to win his second Supersport Championship in a row after he claimed Pole yesterday.
Falzon set a personal best of 1:36.731 around half a second from newly appointed Oz WildCard Racing rider Aidan Wagner who clocked 1:37.202 only just edging out Matthew Davies at 1:37.203.
“Very happy with Pole Position, 1:36.7 is one of my personal best official times around here, second position is nearly half a second down on us so it puts us in a good position today and an even better position for the Championship.” Falzon said
Heading in to the Superpole session, Falzon admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect with everyone changing tyres on the drying track.
“I knew all riders were going to put in new tyres for the Superpole, no one really knows what someone can do on a brand new set of tyres.
“It was going to be interesting so I just put my head down and went as fast as I could go and hoped to be faster than the other riders.”
While happy with the day, Falzon was taken by suprise when a piece of his Yamaha R6 came flying off during the final session.
“Going down the straight on my fast lap I was getting ready to see what lap time I put together and to my surprise the data logger had snapped off somewhere between turns 1 and 12!”
The Production/Formula 400 was won outright by Brian Bezzina with a 20 second gap to Lachlan Epis, Mitch Kavney came in third.
Moto3/125GP saw Lachlan Kavney held on to a two second buffer from Callum Barker-McVey followed by Matt Barton.
