ASBK SEASON RECAP After pre-season testing, it was all about Wayne Maxwell and his Ducati Panigale V4S - the question at this point was: could he be beaten.. at all? Round One - Phillip Island, Victoria Alpinestars Superbike After pre-season testing, it was all about Wayne Maxwell and his Ducati Panigale V4S - the question at this point was: could he be beaten.. at all? A fast and consistent Bryan Staring took the round one victory of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul (ASBK). In Alpinestars Superbikes race one at Phillip Island, Wayne Maxwell (Ducati V4R) was the only rider in the 1:31’s and was looking untouchable until a stumble on lap saw last year’s ASBK champion crash out at turn eight. Maxwell walked away unscathed, but the error left Bryan Staring (Ducati V4R) a clean road ahead with a four-second margin over the rest of the field.
Maxwell commended his team on preparing the number two bike to give him the win. “It was good to get a bit back,” said Maxwell.
An emotional Staring was almost lost for words on the podium, saying that he’d been “pretty patient for a pretty long time” waiting for this victory.
“I’ve got a few bruises so I’ll go and get the body healed up.”
“We were chasing (Wayne) all weekend,” said Staring.
Pole sitter Senna Agius (Honda CBR RR) found himself way back in the pack early in race one, but after a red flag stopped the race early on, he was able to launch the Honda closer to the front. While Tom Edwards (Yamaha YZF-R6) was the leader early on, Agius was able to take the lead. Agius started to grind out a small advantage and Edwards made an incredible save coming onto the main straight as his rear tyre deflated, and with it his chances for the race.
Michelin Supersport
Agius took the victory ahead of Tom Bramich (Yamaha YZF-R6) and Jack Hyde (Yamaha YZF-R6). In race two, Agius got a better start, but it was Tom Edwards who lead the field into turn one, but it was Agius who was
“I knew that we had good race pace, but I didn’t know how good it needed to be though. Once we set out I could see the areas where we were strong and in the end, I kept the pressure on.” Despite nursing a sore ankle from his excursion at Hayshed in race one, Maxwell kept it neat and clean in race two and was able to slowly edge a two-second gap to the fellow Ducati rider to take victory ahead of Staring and Cru Halliday (Yamaha YZF-R1).
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