Allerton is currently tied for the series lead in 2009

Racing has been going from strength to strength for me since winning the 2008 Australian Superbike Championship.

Pre-season testing preseason with the World Superbike teams at Phillip Island was a great experience, with the pace on track being very fast, and I think it dragged me to another level for our first round.

I had limited time training for our first event after suffering a bad chest infection which turned into pneumonia, and I spent the first week of the new year in bed recovering (from pneumonia not the partying). But once I got better I got back into my training routine of cycling, swimming, running and gym work.

Round one at Phillip Island went well for me, qualifying second on the grid. Race one was a hectic battle for the lead in the first couple of laps but after we sorted ourselves out me and my teammate Wayne Maxwell pulled a big gap on the field and Wayno managed to get the better of me and take his first win.

Race two was a wet race and one that I was glad to see the end of – I just couldn’t get any feel from the rear and to be honest I thought that fourth place was a good result for my situation. Race three came and I was so determined to win and score 25 points for the championship.

I think it was the best I have ever ridden in my career and Maxwell was at his best as well. He was riding so well that it took everything I had to stay with him in the first half of the race, and in the last two laps I had figured out that Honda Corner was really my only opportunity to make a pass, so on the last lap I had a big go on the brakes and managed to get in front and win the race which was a great feeling, sure is something I will never get sick of anyway.

In the weeks between PI and round two at Tassie I managed to clock up some extra kilometers on the cycle bike and had a few intense battles on the squash court with some of my training mates. My fitness was well in tune for round two.

Tassie practice and qualifying went well with me and my Motologic Honda coming out on top of the time sheet in almost every session. Tyre wear was the only issue we had at Symmons Plains, but it seemed that everyone had the same problem.

The weather was warm in qualifying session one so I choose to use both of my allocated tyres in the one session which worked out great with pole position, and I must say thanks to M9 for the new tool box, which is the prize for winning pole position in the ASBK series in 2009.

As many of you may know there was a terrible accident in the opening Supersport race of the day which took the life of an awesome guy and a great friend of mine, Judd Greedy. He had been through so much in his career but he never gave up, he always managed to get himself out there on the track and gave it everything he had.  I will always admire Judd’s determination and love for racing.

Glenn