Image: Steve Thibou (YRT).

Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) with Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance (YMI) has wrapped up an important two-day test at Mallala Raceway in South Australia, ahead of next month’s second round of the of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship.

Cru Halliday, who finished fourth at the opening round at Sydney Motorsport Park, said the first day went well for him after getting down to some good times on the Yamaha R1M and found a decent set-up.

However Halliday does feel that there is still a bit more sort out on the bike after not getting through a full test schedule thanks to the heavens opening up on Thursday afternoon.

“We made massive improvements today in the dry,” Halliday told CycleOnline.com.au. “We got a couple of good lap times in, but most importantly we have found a good set-up for race day that we are happy with.

“Of course there will be a few minor adjustments at round two. Overall but, I feel that we are heading in the right direction.”

Glenn Allerton explained that he and his two teammates where working on different things in regards to development work – Allerton working on the rear-end of the R1M. He was fourth overall at round one.

“We tried a lot of different shock settings,” Allerton said. “We also worked on some of the electronics that are available on the new Yamaha R1M and changed the bike on how it handles through the middle of the corner.

“It’s just a shame the second day got rained out, because it started off really well. We wanted to really work on some geometry stuff today, which I was keen to try.”

Allerton was quite happy that he was able to test the new machine in the wet conditions because it’s a new bike and he felt that it’s always important to get familiar with a new bike in those tricky conditions.

“As a team we are a lot more competitive now than where we were before, because we got through much testing yesterday and this morning with different shock and spring settings. Overall I’m really happy and looking forward to round two!”

The reigning FX-ASC champion Wayne Maxwell worked on a number of settings and chassis position on the YZF-R1M, which equalled the bike having a lot more better braking stability and corner entry as well as a lot more side grip and acceleration.

“The Yamaha R1M is getting better all the time,” said the Victorian-based rider, who was third at the opener in Sydney. “I feel entering round two of the Australasian Superbike Championship we are going to be a lot more competitive.”

Maxwell also tried his hand in the wet this afternoon and tested the full ERS (Electronic Racing Suspension) back-up bike. He said that the bike held up to the challenge in the rain quite well.

“The bike felt pretty good in the rain,” Maxwell added. “We are still limited on a few spare parts, so we didn’t want to push our luck. I had a good feeling straight away with the bike which was the main thing.”

Daniel Falzon (Caterpillar/JD Racing) was the only other Superbike rider to test at Mallala on his new Yamaha R1. Falzon, who finished second last weekend at Morgan Park in the ASBK only tested yesterday. The South Australian rider set a new PB in which he was rather happy with.

“I’m feeling comfortable on the 2015 Yamaha R1,” Falzon said via the YRD Yamaha Racing Development programme Facebook Page. “We are still learning things every session.”

No lap times were permitted to be published by YRT with YMI following the private testing schedule.

A total five Supersport riders were also taking part in the YRT/YRD test, which included Race Center’s Jay Presepio and Callum Alderson, Michael Knight (Landbridge Transport/Able Door Service), Nic Liminton (Caterpillar/JD Racing) and JNL Racing’s Luke Mitchell.

Mitchell, 18, walked from the two tests happy after making a lot of progress: “With the temperature being a lot lower than anything we rode in the previous day, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of lap times.

“However we sorted out the new Ohlins suspension and consistently dipped into the 1m09s before the rain set in for the afternoon. I’m looking forward to working on some more things at home and simply can’t wait for round two in a month.”

Round two of the Australasian Superbike Championship series takes place at Mallala on 15-17 May.