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Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) will contest the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) support classes at Phillip Island’s 2016 World Superbike season opener on 26-28 February.

The factory trio of Wayne Maxwell, Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday will be at the Yamaha Financial Services-backed event, on board their YZF-R1 machinery in the first race of the year.

“We are excited to going racing and get our year started at such a major event like the opening round of the WSBK,” said YRT manager John Redding. “With Yamaha Motor Finance as the major sponsor of the event, combined with the ongoing development of the Yamaha R1 and just the fact that we love racing at Phillip Island, we committed to doing the event and the riders can’t wait to hit the track.

“It’s not an event we have done consistently over the past few seasons but the team, riders, sponsors and Yamaha Australia were extremely enthusiastic when the idea was pitched and discussions escalated quickly from ‘should we do it’, to ‘let’s enter and make it happen’. I’m thankful for everyone pulling together for YRT to compete at this event and we are eager to put our best foot forward on the world stage.”

YRT contested the MotoGP support races at Phillip Island last October, with Allerton claiming second overall including the race two win, Maxwell fourth for the round and Halliday 12th following a DNF in race two.