Allerton and BMW quickest in rain-soaked Queensland Raceway practice
Defending QBE Australian Superbike Champion Glenn Allerton battled a treacherous wet track to record the quickest time in today’s opening practice sessions at Queensland Raceway.
Riders were offered little reprieve from a day of drenching rain and were constantly pushing the limits of grip that their treaded Dunlop tyres would allow.
As well as contending with the spray and standing water, riders battled visibility in the form of dwindling light and fogging inside their helmets.
Allerton’s Procon Maxima BMW was best suited to the challenge today, with the New South Welshman saying he felt he could go faster still.
“You just keep pushing and pushing and not finding the limit so you know there is more speed there,” said Allerton.
“I think I could have gone faster, I felt really good out there and the bike was working so well.
“I feel like I’m on my old bike again. I’ve got that confidence back that I was missing and really want to come away from this weekend with a good result.
“The team have done a good job on the mapping and suspension, and the traction control system on the BMW makes the bike even better in the wet.”
Allerton said being caught in the cloud of spray behind other bikes was often like riding into a tunnel.
“When you’re near others the spray surrounds you, and because this afternoon’s session was so dark you could only see 20 or 30 metres in front of you,” he continued.
“They’ve got a good warning system at this track and you would be able to easily see a yellow light ahead of you so the visibility isn’t too unsettling.”
The BMW pilot was a second quicker than championship leader, Suzuki’s Josh Waters, in this morning’s first 20-minute session.
Allerton’s confidence in the slippery conditions was reflected in his final flying lap of the day, taking over 2.5 seconds off his earlier effort to end the day with a 1m16.161s lap.
Also finding his feet in the wet was Team Honda Racing’s form man Wayne Maxwell, who slotted into second with a time just seven-thousandths of a second shy of top spot.
Maxwell is coming off a clean sweep at Phillip Island a fortnight ago and has excelled in similar conditions previously so will be one to watch on race day.
Waters played it safe for the third-fastest time, allowing Allerton and Maxwell just a tenth of a second advantage after 40 minutes of track running today.
Ben Henry was impressive again in the wet, recording the fourth fastest time of the day on his Cube Racing Suzuki to be the last man in the 1m16s margin.
Fifth on the timesheets was Allerton’s Prostock BMW teammate, Linden Magee.
The QLD-based rider completed only a few laps in the morning’s session before returning to the pits with fogging inside his helmet.
He bounced back strongly this afternoon and said the S 1000 RR could be a real contender in the current conditions.
“I had to pull the pin on the first session early because I was having trouble seeing anything, but we were able to make a few changes between sessions which made a big difference,” said Magee.
“These conditions really even out the power of the bike, I think I could probably even get on the gas earlier than some of the Superbikes and it’s helping me stay with them on the timesheets.
“I’m really happy to be up there in the top 5 after a pretty tough day.”
Magee headed home the Superbikes of Robbie Bugden, Ben Attard and Jamie Stauffer, with the Prostock BMWs of Brayden Carr and Matt Thornton rounding out the top 10.
Josh Hook held out local favourite Brendan Clarke to top the combined Motul Australian Supersport practice sessions today.
The factory Honda machine edged out the privateer CBR by four-hundredths of a second, with Yamaha rider Mike Jones keeping close watch in third.
The top five Supersport machines lapped in the 1m20s bracket this afternoon, with current championship leader Mitchell Carr coming in fourth fastest and Brodie Waters fifth.
The Superbike and Supersport classes will contest two 30-minute qualifying sessions tomorrow with the top 4 from each class advancing to the flying-lap Superpole shootout to determine the front row of their respective grids.
Local rider Callum Spriggs topped the Suzuki Superstock timesheets, Olly Simpson put his Honda at the head of the Dunlop Superlites pack and Luke Burgess was fastest on his Kawasaki in both the BargainBikeGear 250 Production class and the Akrapovic Supermoto S1 and S2 classes.
Qualifying resumes from 8.45am tomorrow for all classes.
