Allerton’s Pirelli-shod BMW HP4 was the pacesetter all weekend.

Next Gen Motorsports’ Glenn Allerton’s pair of outstanding race wins in Tasmania’s Australian Superbike opener at Symmons Plains has validated the team’s decision to move to the new Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyre set for 2013.

With the ASBK series dropping its control tyre regulations – formerly Dunlop – for this year after a three-year stint, dual series champion Allerton and the Next Gen team gambled with a calculated switch to Pirelli this season.

The early results have been supremely positive for Pirelli, as Allerton handed the Italian brand a clean-sweep on debut in the first point-scoring ASBK round of 2013.

Using the standard compounds SC0, SC1 and SC2 homologated for the new ASBK season, Allerton set the provisional qualifying pace on Friday before returning to claim a strong Superpole victory on Saturday morning.

The Superpole result was achieved using an SC2 front and SC0 rear with a track temperature of around 25 degrees celsius, showing the increased performance and versatility of the latest Diablo Superbike construction and compounds on the Symmons Plains surface.

For both races the team opted to run the SC2 front 120/7R-17 and SC0 200/60R-17 rear, with the Diablo Superbike slicks allowing Allerton to set and control the pace comfortably aboard his privateer-entered HP4.

Clearly elated by the performance, Allerton said the tyres were ‘working perfectly’ and felt the team had a distinct advantage haven chosen to race on Pirellis for 2013.

“I’m happy to bring Pirelli their first win, but to be honest they have such a good product it was bound to happen,” Allerton commented. “They just needed a good rider on a good team using their product, so it’s great. There were doubters out there, but our form was obvious this weekend and we got a head-start last year.

“I really want to thank Pirelli for all their support, because they haven’t just supplied quality tyres, they have Leo [Cash] here and and give us as much information as possible. I’m really happy to put Pirelli up on the top spot and win for them.”

Pirelli Moto technical manager Leo Cash was encouraged by the team’s ultra-competitive showing at the first point-scoring round of the season.

“We have had a very pleasing start to the ASBK at Symmons Plains,” explained Cash. “Although it is only round one, Glenn Allerton and the Next Gen BMW team have shown what can be achieved by a well-knit privateer team who choose to race on Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres.

“We have learned more about the versatility of the latest SC0, SC1 and SC2 compounds homologated for this year’s ASBK available to all Pirelli riders in the ASBK Superbike and Prostock class, with Pirelli riders across the class enjoying some great racing. We look forward to building further on these results at Queensland Raceway for the next round.”

Allerton’s Next Gen teammates Linden Magee and Ben Nicolson, along with Suzuki racers Ben Henry and Ben Nicolson, all enjoyed solid showings on the Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyre.

Riders will be able to order Pirelli tyres for the next Australian Superbike Championship round at Queensland Raceway in the coming weeks.