Next Gen Motorsports BMW’s Glenn Allerton on his way to victory in race one. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

Glenn Allerton has taken out the opening race of the 2013 QBE Australian Superbike Championships, dominating Saturday’s 16-lapper at Symmons Plains in Tasmania this afternoon.

The Next Gen Motorsports BMW rider won by 2.067s, stretching 0.8s on lap one and progressively extending his lead from there.

It was an important win for the two-time champion and his rebranded team, debuting the BMW HP4 and handing Pirelli a debut victory upon return to the series.

“I got a really good start, settled into a pace straightaway and I felt comfortable,” Allerton said. “They pulled me in a little bit, but I decided to have more of a go and got that time back.

“I’m really excited to get my first win of the year out of the way, the first win of the HP4 and for the team with Pirelli tyres. They’ve done a great job.”

Team Suzuki’s Wayne Maxwell scored the runner-up position, but not before a race-long battle with new teammate Robbie Bugden. Bugden passed Maxwell in the early laps, only to have Maxwell return the favour with two laps to run.

“My teammate Robbie got past me and was going quite well,” Maxwell said. “It is one of those tracks that when you have a similar speed design it is hard to get by.

“He backed off a bit and I got by him but there was a bit of oil down in the kink and by the time I got through Glenn was gone so I ran the race out at my own pace to see how I felt on the bike and how the bike is feeling.

“We will collect some good data from today, it is only round one so there is still a long way to go.”

Bugden was lamenting what might of been after a sensational start catapulted him into the race lead before the red flag.

“It was a pretty challenging race,” Budgen said. “I got a great start and got out in front and was feeling really good. At that point I knew I could set that pace and block where I had to.

“Unfortunately the race was red-flagged and I had to do it all again. I didn’t quite get the re-start I was after, I got past Wayne pretty quick but Glenn had a that little bit of a lead and the faster I went the faster he went so the lead stayed stagnant.

“Towards the end of the race there was a bit of a drama and some oil down, I had a couple of moments so I backed it off a bit, took my medicine and thought I will take third.”

Fourth was a consistent effort from Jamie Stauffer, the Team Honda Racing rider suffering a lonely ride, 11.715s in arrears of Allerton.

Teammate Josh Hook bounced back from a scary first lap fall to finish fifth, restarting the red-flagged race on his spare CBR1000RR. Hook was involved in the incident after Chas Hern highsided, taking him down in the process.

Both Hook and Hern have been cleared of serious injury as of posting time.

Next Gen Prostock rider Ben Nicolson was a solid sixth, while Team InsureMyRide Racing’s Glenn Scott put in an inspired ride to trail him over the line, fending off Ben Henry (Cube Racing Suzuki) and Beau Beaton (Racers Edge Performance Suzuki).

Veteran Phil Lovett completed the top 10 on his privateer Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Linden Magee was ruled out midway through the race, his BMW S 1000 RR expiring in a cloud of smoke through the high-speed back kink.

Click here for detailed results