Australian Superbike Championship leader Glenn Allerton looks set to continue his strong start to the season after topping both practice sessions at Queensland Raceway.
The NextGen Motorsports BMW rider, who recorded an impressive double victory last time out at Symmons Plains to take an 11 point lead in the standings, wasted little time at the Ipswich circuit.
The former champion posted a time of 1:09.071s which was good enough to end the first free practice session on top. After reacquainting himself with the 3.12km circuit, he went even faster in free practice two setting a 1:08.183s, shaving nearly a second off his previous best.
“I am really happy with how we went today,” Allerton said. “I had a good day first session, we had to get our heads around the track again and it was quite slippery.
“In that last session we started on an old tyre and did some good laps then put a new tyre on to see how the bike reacted. To be honest I was surprised when it was a 1:08.183 because while I felt it was a neat tidy lap I didn’t feel that I was over cooking it and trying too hard.
“We have a good package right now with the Pirelli tyres and the BMW HP4 and it shows on a day like today when I didn’t feel like I was in the best shape I had been in but I did a nice smooth tidy lap and 8.1 is a pretty special time,” Allerton continued.
Brisbane’s Robbie Bugden was second fastest on his Suzuki but he was seven tenths adrift of Allerton. Team Suzuki’s Wayne Maxwell endured a day of mixed results as a crash halted his progress in free practice one. However, he recovered to set the third fastest time in the second session.
BMW rider Linden Magee was fourth quickest ahead of Team Honda duo Josh Hook and Jamie Stauffer.
