– ASBK Race One
— By Phil Harlum
In a drama filled, and action packed race one of the QBE ASBK at Symmons Plains, BMW rider Glenn Allerton has taken a commanding victory ahead of Team Suzuki riders Wayne Maxwell and Robbie Bugden.
Allerton didn’t get the best of starts but a first lap incident involving fast starting Suzuki privateer Chas Hern and Team Honda young gun Josh Hook that resulted in a red flag stoppage limited the damage.
Hern high sided his CM Racing Suzuki on the exit of the penultimate corner on the first lap leaving Hook nowhere to go, both riders hitting the tarmac hard.
Hook then showed ironman determination to run back to pitlane, mounting his spare bike to take his position for the restart after donning a new Bell Helmet and Alpinestar gloves.
“I followed Wayne (Maxwell) into the corner, we both ran a little wide” recounted Hern. “When I got on the gas it just spun up and I thought I had it, next I know it’s just flung me off and down I went. I landed on my hip and it’s a bit sore, I haven’t even looked at the bike yet.
The incident resulted in a full restart, much to the dismay of Robbie Bugden who got off the line brilliantly and was leading the field with Allerton who had overtaken a fast starting Wayne Maxwell early in second place.
Allerton blitzed the restart and pinned his ears back to build a one second buffer after only two laps. The gap increased to over two seconds on lap twelve and remained so until the end.
“I employed a different technique at the start of the second leg, and it worked” said a smiling Allerton. “I wanted to get that gap and I really just managed it, I saw Robbie pulled a few tenths back on one lap and I got them back on the next. The bike felt great, tyres worked well, we’ll just trim it up a little and try and do the same thing tomorrow”.
Maxell meantime had his hands full with team mate Robbie Bugden who pulled a big move on the brakes into turn 6 to move into second on lap two.
“I was a bit slow at the start and then one we got going a bit I was alright” said Maxwell. “Robbie was holding me up a bit mid corner but he would then gap me on the way out of the slow corners. I was picking up the throttle early but just couldn’t do enough with it. We’ll make a few changes to the bike and who knows what’ll happen tomorrow”.
“At the restart I just didn’t quite get the start I was after” said a disappointed Bugden. “Glenn got a bit of a lead and the faster I went the faster he went. Towards the end there a bit of oil went down and that just freaked me out a bit and I had a few moments – its not a place you want to crash – so I just backed it off a bit. I’ll take third and well come back tomorrow in the next one and see if we can put it up front.
A pumped up Jamie Stauffer got away well from the second row of the grid after the Superpole issues of earlier today to secure fourth place, a position he would hold till the end of the sixteen lap journey, some seven seconds behind Bugden, after a lonely race.
Behind Stauffer Linden Magee on his Net Gen BMW was involved in a battle with Racers Edge Suzuki’s Beau Beaton, until Magee’s engine let go in a big way just before the fastest section of the track, the fast right hand sweeper on lap nine.
“I don’t know how I stayed on the thing” commented Magee. “It just went sideways and I had both feet off the pegs. I then just tried to get off the track as soon as I could”.
Beaton, who was blinded from being covered in oil lost five positions and was lucky to be able to complete the race, albeit some four positions behind his previous position.
“Scariest moment I have ever had on a motorcycle” reflected the Racers Edge Suzuki Rider. “I could not see a thing after getting covered in oil and there was smoke everywhere. I didn’t know if I was still on the track, if there was a fence or a ditch or what. I just wiped the visor as soon as I could and then got back into the race”.
Josh Hook, after his big crash earlier, led home a race long four bike battle to card a brilliant fifth position ahead of Ben Nicholson, Glenn Scott and Ben Henry. The three separated by tenths of a second for most of the race in a sensational battle. Hook just getting to the line a tenth over Nicholson who was two tenths ahead of Scott.
Phil Lovet finished in tenth place behind the luckless Beaton after his heart-in-mouth moment with local men King and Sushames the last riders on the lead lap.
One lap down was Adam Senior on his Honda, Shaun Murfet and Sophie Lovett who did her fastest lap of the weekend rounding out the field.
— Promoters Report
BMW rider Glenn Allerton has continued his clean-sweep of the QBE Australian Superbike sessions at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway, winning today’s 16-lap race ahead of Suzuki teammates Wayne Maxwell and Robbie Bugden.
The action packed opening race was red-flagged on Lap 1, due to an incident at Turn 6 involving CM Racing’s Chas Hern and Team Honda rider Josh Hook.
Hook, who was thrown over the top of his Honda CBR 1000 RR as a result of Hern high-siding, made it back to the grid for the re-start while the Suzuki mounted rider was taken to the medical centre as a precaution.
The re-start provided Allerton with a chance to redeem the race lead after a slow start the first time around. After leading the race from start to finish the Next Gen Motorsports rider said he wasvery happy to take the first race win of the year.
“That was a pretty interesting race, I got the start that I wanted after the red flag and put my head down for two laps to try and build a gap,” Allerton explained.
“After the blow up, there was a fair bit of oil through the sweeper. I had to ride to the conditions and had to back off a fair bit through there.
“I am very happy to be coming away with the first win for the year, it is a good start in the direction the team has been working so hard towards,” Allerton continued.
All eyes were on Team Suzuki’s Wayne Maxwell and Volvo Group Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden who traded blows throughout the race.
Bugden past Maxwell for second on the opening lap but was relegated to third with two laps remaining.
“My teammate Robbie got past me and was going quite well,” Maxwell said. It is one of those tracks that when you have a similar speed design it is hard to get by.
“He backed off a bit and I got by him but there was a bit of oil down in the kink and by the time I got through Glenn was gone so I ran the race out at my own pace to see how I felt on the bike and how the bike is feeling.
“We will collect some good data from today, it is only Round 1 of 7 so there is still a long way to go,” Maxwell added.
Volvo Group Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden was lamenting what might of been after a sensational start catapulted him into the race lead before the red flag.
“It was a pretty challenging race,” Budgen said. “I got a great start and got out in front and was feeling really good. At that point I knew I could set that pace and block where I had to.
“Unfortunately the race was red-flagged and I had to do it all again. I didn’t quite get the re-start I was after, I got past Wayne pretty quick but Glenn had a that little bit of a lead and the faster I went the faster he went so the lead stayed stagnant.
“Towards the end of the race there was a bit of a drama and some oil down, I had a couple of moments so I backed it off a bit, took my medicine and thought I will take third.”
Team Honda teammates Jamie Stauffer and Josh Hook rounded out the top five with BMW privateer Ben Nicolson finishing an impressive sixth.
With smoke pouring from his Next Gen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR Linden Magee was forced out of the race on Lap 10.
Josh King was the best-placed local rider finishing just outside the top ten, ahead of fellow Tasmanian Kurt Sushames.
The QBE Australian Superbike Championship will contest their final race at the Tasmania Microsoft Office 365 at 3.20pm (AEDST) tomorrow.
Catch all the action from tomorrow’s race live on Channel 7 from 3.20pm.
QBE Australian Superbike Championship Race 1 Results
1. Glenn ALLERTON, BMW HP4
2. Wayne MAXWELL, Suzuki GSX-R
3. Robert BUGDEN, Suzuki GSX-R
4. Jamie Stauffer, Honda CBR RR
5. Josh HOOK, Honda CBR RR
6. Ben NICOLSON, BMW S-RR
7. Glenn Scott, Honda CBR RR
8. Ben Henry, Suzuki GSX-R
9. Beau BEATON, Suzuki GSX-R
10. Phil Lovett, Kawasaki ZX-10R
11. Josh King, Yamaha YZF-R1
12.Kurt Sushames, Suzuki GSX-R
13. Adam Senior, Honda CBR RR
14. Shaun Murfet, Honda CBR RR
15. Sophie Lovett, Kawasaki ZX-10R
— Team Honda Report
A dramatic day at the track for the first points scoring event of the Australian Superbike Championship for Team Honda Racing. A very early Superpole Shootout this morning consisting of 3 knock-out sessions based initially on the top 13 riders from yesterday’s qualifying saw Jamie Stauffer excluded from Superpole 3 altogether due to a controversial minor infringement. With the matter cleared up and the top 5 grid positions decided in Superpole 3, Stauffer was re-instated to a P6 grid position from which he must start both races this weekend. #34 Josh Hook qualified well in Superpole and took P7 on the grid.
Jamie Stauffer
Race 1 this afternoon was not without drama itself with Hook involved in a spectacular crash on the first lap after Chas Hern high sided in front of him, leaving the young rider with nowhere to go, but up. Hook and his Honda flew over the top of Hern and hit the ground hard. Hook displayed ironman qualities in his dash to the pits to collect his spare bike when the race was red flagged, determined not to miss the race re-start.
The race was then run in full with Stauffer finishing in 4th place and Hook in 5th. Stauffer is looking to tomorrow’s race with anticipation of a stronger day.
Stauffer: “This hasn’t really been the start to the year we were looking for. Trouble in the Superpole made us miss the 3rd session and that meant I couldn’t start from the front row. In the race I got good starts and was pretty consistent for a while, but my pace wasn’t quite there. So when I realized there was oil on the racing line from Linden Magee’s blown BMW engine and I had a good gap to the riders behind me I decided I needed to bring it home safely and get the points for 4th. The team are working on some things tonight to give me the extra tenths I need and I’m confident the new day will bring a good result.”
Focusing tonight on rest and recovery, Hook will also be keen to begin a new day.
Hook: “The crash today was really unfortunate and I’ll be resting up as much as possible tonight to be ready for Race 2 tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to match the spare bike with the settings I had in the main bike for Superpole. I was feeling good on the CBR1000RR before the crash so the team will emulate those settings for me ready for tomorrow. I will definitely be giving it 110% tomorrow to challenge the front of the field.”
— Insure My Ride Report
Glenn Scott has ridden his Team InsureMyRide Racing Honda CBR well and truly into the top ten as the opening race of the 2013 Australian Superbike Championship took place at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.
After qualifying tenth on Friday, it progressed Glenn into the superpole taking place at an early 7:50am on a cool Symmons Plains circuit, finishing the session with a best time of 56.440 it consolidated Scott into 11th in the lead up to race one.
“To make superpole this morning was a huge effort for myself and the team, the track was only 8 degrees which made things exciting but difficult, we used the session as more ride time to work on a few areas on the track and to continue to learn the 1000cc bike,” said Scott.
After an opening lap red flag incident, the first race of the weekend was given a full restart, and it proved beneficial for Glenn. Launching from the line, he carried some great pace, climbing to as high as fifth over the course of the 16 lap event. Consistency proved key for Glenn, as he settled for 7th by the end of the race.
“The opening race was really exciting, it felt awesome to line up on the superbike grid against the likes of (Wayne) Maxwell, (Glenn) Allerton and (Jamie) Stauffer.
“After the race was restarted, I got a great jump from the line and rode a really consistent race; we set our fastest lap time around the Symmons Plains track and sat consistently in the low 55’s.
“Finishing seventh and improving our lap times by 1.5 seconds since yesterday is very positive for myself and Team InsureMyRide Racing, I can’t wait to get back on track tomorrow, with a few setting changes to deliver me more to learn throughout the race,” Scott concluded.
Round 1 of the 2013 Australian Superbike Championship takes place at the Tasmania Microsoft Office 365 V8 Supercar round at Symmons Plains, Tasmania continues tomorrow with superpole from 7:50am and race one from 12:30pm local time, check your local guides for television times.
