Wayne Maxwell wins opening Superbike race and ASBK Championship

2021 ASBK Finale Race One

Competitors woke up to an absolutely glorious morning here at The Bend, but also to the news that some new border restrictions had been put in place by our elected overlords. With the rumour of even more state borders being shut, some people in the paddock had already hit the road before proceedings even got underway this morning, in a quest to get across various borders just in case even more restrictions were put in place.

At least one competitor was removed from the venue last night by police after the quarantine rules surrounding international arrivals were extended from what had been seven days of quarantine, back out to 14 days. The competitor had done nothing wrong and followed all mandatory procedures, and it was only that after the rules changed and authorities then decided in this case to enforce them retrospectively that caused Senna Agius to be removed from the venue and sent to quarantine. Rumours suggested that the intervention was due to someone reporting them to authorities, perhaps even a crew member from a rival competitor…

And police weren’t the only government agency on the ground here yesterday as the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority were at The Bend taking samples to drug test randomly selected competitors, including youngsters from the Supersport 300 category.

Morning Warm Up

Those not being dragged away by police or having their blood taken, got to take part in warm-up this morning at The Bend and despite the early hours the temperatue was indeed starting to warm-up. Despite setting the pace here yesterday and looking very comfortable the Boost Mobile Ducati squad still used the warm-up session to evaluate some more suspension tweaks ahead of the opening 11-lap race.

Josh Hook was leading the warm-up session but then went down at turn two which brought the red flag out. The 2018 FIM World Endurance Champion was taken to the medical centre but is fine to race, telling me that he “just asked a little too much of the rear tyre”.

When the session got underway again Maxwell dipped into the 1m51s, a 1m51.925 to top the session ahead of YRT’s Cru Halliday (1m52.121) and Aiden Wagner (1m52.300).  That latter pair on the Dunlop rubber that dominated here last time we raced, and confident that while they could not set the outright pace in qualifying, come the 11-lap race distance the field would come back to them and put them in podium contention. Something that would be very welcome after what has been a very trying season for the official Yamaha squad. Cru Halliday is actually ranked fourth in the championship heading into this finale but has only one podium, and even that was 22-seconds behind the race winner, but has stayed on the bike at all rounds and managed to amass a decent swag of points.

Anthony West made it out in morning warm-up but the team were still working hard on the motorcycle to try and get it ready for the race.  With overheating, wiring issues and a myriad of other problems when I spoke to Westy earlier in the weekend he wasn’t even sure they could make the race but they seem to have made a little progress since then and are crossing their fingers that the bike lasts for the race.

Superbike Race One Report

Wayne Maxwell rolled his Boost Mobile Ducati into pole position with a comfortable 27-point lead over the injured Troy Herfoss, and 33-points ahead of Glenn Allerton.

A commanding position but it’s never over until it’s over… His one lap pace has been stunning all weekend but over the 11-lap race distance tyre longevity will decide the pace over the last few laps, thus race set-up is a compromise between outright pace and making the bike easy on its tyres, likewise the riders are torn between just how hard they push early on in case their rear tyre really starts to fall apart over the final laps and leaves them a sitting duck.

Alongside Maxwell on the front row is this weekend’s clear star of the show, Jack Miller. The presence of the Ducati MotoGP star has helped to swell crowds and interest around this event to a level that would never have been reached without his entry. Combine that sort of gesture with his ongoing support of young Aussies racing in Europe and it underlines just how generous of spirit the 26-year-old is by nature.

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Third and fourth on the grid are South Australian privateers Daniel Falzon and Arthur Sissis. It would be a safe bet that even from that second row Sissis would probably be the first rider to reach the tip-in point for turn one as the ex-speedway star has the fastest clutch hand in the business. Oli Bayliss and Cru Halliday rounded out that second row ahead of Glenn Allerton, Troy Herfoss and Lachlan Epis.

Maxwell’s pole time was a record breaking 1m50.520 but race pace was not expected to be anywhere near that, but I guess we would see…   The track temperature had just passed 41-degrees as the riders formed up on the grid while the ambient was a perfectly pleasant 22-degrees.

The support class action in the lead-up to this opening Superbike bout was electric with lots of thrills and spills and served up the perfect entree ahead of this first main course which got underway a little behind schedule at 1135. The fire went out on Oli Bayliss’ DesmoSport Ducati as he went to take off for the warm-up lap which caused a few heart flutters but he got it fired back into life in time to circulate with the rest of the riders.  No such luck for Westy though as he pulled off the grid and didn’t make the start line.

They’re away!

Jack Miller had been a little nervous about the start as he is used to having MotoGP level traction control and the clutch bit a few times when he launched which saw him pushed back to seventh place. Up front Wayne Maxwell had the early race lead, Sissis in second place until Bayliss slipped past him a couple of corners into the race to take P2.  Daniel Falzon crashed out early on much to the disappointment of the local crowd.  Josh Hook then reitred back to the pits with some sort of problem.

Jack Miller went up the inside of Sissis to take third place under brakes as they started lap two. Wayne Maxwell had pushed his lead out to a full-second. On that second lap Bayliss made a small mistake which allowed both Miller and Sissis to slip past the youngster and push him back to fourth place. Glenn Allerton was a couple of seconds further back in fifth with Lachlan Epis and Cru Halliday for company.  Oli Bayliss then retired with a mechanical problem.

Up front Wayne Maxwell was smashing the race lap record to extend his advantage over Miller to 1.2-seconds. The MotoGP star was now starting to pull away from Sissis and Glenn Allerton had inherited fourth place after the demise of Oli Bayliss. Cru Halliday fifth, Lachlan Epis sixth and Aiden Wagner seventh.

The lap record was broken again next time around the next time around with both Maxwell and Miller putting in 1m51.2s. Sissis was hanging in there with a 51.4 but nobody else out there was putting in that sort of pace. The South Aussie riding brilliantly but also with the advantage of local track knowledge with his race set-up that could play into his hands over the last few laps.

Maxwell then dropped in a 1m51.192, extending his lead over Miller to 1.284-seconds.  Miller still had Sissis for company. Glenn Allerton was in fourth but over six-seconds behind the race leader.  Cru Halliday was in fifth but ran off the track while trying to overtake Allerton and lost a few places as a result.

Wayne Maxwell then extended his lead out to two-seconds as the race reached the halfway stage. This second half of the race could see things get shaken up as the tyres start to go away from them. Miller was clearly struggling for grip, that Ducati starting to get in all sorts of shapes with half the race still to go. Sissis was still right with him and had six-seconds over fourth placed Allerton.

Local veteran Evan Byles then went down on lap seven and was clearly in pain but conscious, waving his arms to indicate he was okay we found out later, rather than to draw attention to himself. Officials then put out the red flag so they could get medical attention out to him which saw riders return to the grid.  Some of the last riders back were Wayne Maxwell and Jack Miller who had stopped to check on Byles. On examination the SA Motorcycles proprietor had suspected pelvic injuries that required further precautionary investigation in hospital.

Crews rushed to get the tyre-warmers on to prevent the now very well worn tyres from heat cycling and thus going away from them even more. After a short delay we then saw riders head off for another warm-up lap before forming up on the grid for an intense three-lap sprint. That would add some nerves for leader Maxwell with a championship on the line and seemingly in the bag before the red flag came out. But the job was still not done…

They’re away, again….

Wayne Maxwell got off the line once again and this time around Miller got a better leave and was bravest under brakes into turn one to take the lead. Maxwell then sneaked past and Glenn Allerton then also pushed past the MotoGP star. Jack was having none of it and coming back at him, but Allerton then put another move back on him and Epis then also forced his way through.

Miller was punishing his rear Michelin to try and stay with the boys but Aiden Wagner then went up the inside of him a bit too hot, Jack gave him room and moved wider but Wagner then went down, slid into Miller and took them both out.

Wayne Maxwell was out front and had half-a-second on Glenn Allerton but the BMW rider was pushing hard to bridge that gap.

A little further behind Epis and Halliday were tussling over third place but Daniel Falzon was the fastest man on track in fifth position.

Maxwell managed to keep Allerton at bay over the course of the final lap while Halliday broke away from Epis to secure a podium result.  Halliday set the fastest lap of the race on that third and final lap. Allerton’ second place finish saw him draw equal second on points with Herfoss.

Wayne Maxwell withstood the pressure like the champion he is to take the race victory and with it the 2021 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship.

A great feat for a privateer team headed by Craig McMartin with the aid of Adrian Monti, running on K-Tech suspension and Pirelli rubber and wearing Racer’s Edge fairings.

Temperatures could hit 30-degrees ambient here today by the time the second Superbike race gets underway at 1420 with the track temp’ probably nudging 50-degrees. Tyre wear will become even more critical and the results potentially get shaken up even more.

Australian Superbike Race One Results

ASBK Superbike Championship Points

The Bend ASBK Schedule