Robbie Bugden won the ASBK round at Queensland Raceway from Glenn Allerton and Wayne Maxwell. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

Queenslander Robbie Bugden claimed his first career QBE Australian Superbike Championship round win in a controversial second race at Queensland Raceway this afternoon.

The experienced Team Suzuki home favourite took advantage of a pre-race mechanical of race one winner Glenn Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports BMW), however charged to the win following a thrilling battle with teammate Wayne Maxwell and rookie Josh Hook (Team Honda Racing).

Bugden led from the outset and was never headed, however his eventual winning margin over Maxwell was just 0.338s, while Hook was within the same second at 0.723s in arrears.

It was an emotional win for Bugden ahead of his home fans, his 3-1 scorecard handing him the overall and maintaining third in the standings.

“I’ve won some races before, but to win a round is a real big achievement,” Bugden said. “It was disappointing for Glenn, but look it’s great because everyone from here at Team Suzuki has been working so hard.

“To win in front of my home crowd here in Queensland is brilliant and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I knew the guys were on my tail, so I slowed the pace then mid-race I gave it everything.

“I knew the pressure was on and everyone was there, I saw +0 on my board and knew I had to keep it all together with no mistakes. To be back on a factory team and get the win second time out couldn’t be any better.”

Maxwell made his was past Hook on lap 14 of the 17, sealing third overall for the round and holding onto second in the championship by a single point over Bugden.

“It was good close racing, but I left my run a little bit late and Robbie was riding awesome,” Maxwell said. “I suffered really bad with arm pump and that’s all I could do.

“This is my worst track and we were able to do what we did, so I’m looking forward to getting on with it at the next few rounds.”

Hook’s result was a stunning one, asserting himself as a Superbike front-runner in what was a sure confidence boost of the current national Supersport number two.

“It’s a confidence boost to get on the podium this weekend in race two and it shows I can do it,” Hook said. “I was racing for the win there for a bit, but I didn’t have much more left in me – I was just hanging in there.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and see what we can come up with for the coming rounds.”

All eyes at the start of the race were on Allerton, who experienced an electronic problem on his number one HP4 during the sighting lap, forcing him to switch to the B bike ahead of the warm-up lap.

Allerton had to start from the rear of the grid on a bike that had a lower specification engine, different suspension settings and a standard ECU, however he stormed to fourth on lap one.

That’s as far as the dual ASBK champion climbed though, adapting to the standard electronic settings before settling for the fourth place points.

Bugden on his way to the race two and overall win this afternoon. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

That handed Allerton second overall for the weekend and he retains the series lead by 14 points after winning three of the first four races in 2013.

“I got a pretty good start and got through the field quickly – felt like I was going to go all the way to the front,” Allerton said. “The bike was fast, but I was fiddling with the traction control and ignition maps, but it wasn’t letting me use all the power it had.

“I switched it all off, but still didn’t get it right and I was in a bit of strife. Every time we came off the turns they’d pull five bike lengths on me, then the brake lever came in so it was touching my fingers.

“At that point I had +7 on my board and there was really nothing I could do, so they edged away and I decided the points would be good enough.

“Hopefully it’s a lesson learned to the team and that both bikes are ready to go, because we can’t afford to let those things happen when we have a clear advantage on weekends like these. You can’t give away points like we just did, so hopefully we’ll come back stronger at Eastern Creek.”

Fifth in the race and overall for the weekend was another two-time champion in Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing), overcoming painful injuries sustained in a testing crash last week.

Hook has now elevated himself past Stauffer by a single point in the series following the weekend in Queensland.

Linden Magee (Next Gen Motorsports BMW) was top privateer with sixth in race two ahead of fellow rookie Chas Hern (CMR Racing Team Suzuki), however it was the latter who gained the position overall.

The top 10 for the race and round were completed by Glenn Scott (Team InsureMyRide Racing Honda), Kiwi Sloan Frost (BMW) and Beau Beaton (Team Racer’s Edge Performance Suzuki).

Cube Racing Suzuki rider Ben Henry crashed out in spectacular fashion early on, his GSX-R1000 propelled over the catch fence area in turn six.

Click here for a recap of Superbike race one from earlier this afternoon.

Australian Superbike Championship
Round three – Queensland Raceway

Superbike race two results:
1. Robert BUGDEN
2. Wayne MAXWELL 0.338
3. Josh HOOK 0.723
4. Glenn ALLERTON 11.107
5. Jamie STAUFFER 15.835
6. Linden MAGEE 15.979
7. Chas HERN 16.79
8. Glenn SCOTT 18.59
9. Sloan FROST 27.617
10. Beau BEATON 34.023
11. Sean CONDON 40.6
12. Adam SENIOR 46.405
13. Phil LOVETT 55.674
14. Chris McMILLAN 2 laps
DNF. Ben HENRY 15 Laps

Superbike overall results:
1. Robert BUGDEN 43
2. Glenn ALLERTON 43
3. Wayne MAXWELL 40
4. Josh HOOK 35
5. Jamie STAUFFER 32
6. Chas HERN 29
7. Linden MAGEE 28
8. Glenn SCOTT 27
9. Sloan FROST 23
10. Beau BEATON 23
11. Adam SENIOR 17
12. Phil LOVETT 17
13. Chris McMILLAN 14
14. Sean CONDON 10
15. Ben HENRY 10

Superbike championship standings (after three of seven rounds):
1. Glenn ALLERTON 94
2. Wayne MAXWELL 80
3. Robert BUGDEN 79
4. Josh HOOK 67
5. Jamie STAUFFER 66
6. Glenn SCOTT 54
7. Beau BEATON 49
8. Linden MAGEE 43
9. Phil LOVETT 38
10. Ben HENRY 34
11. Adam SENIOR 30
12. Chas HERN 29
13. Ben NICOLSON 27
14. Sloan FROST 23
15. Kurt SUSHAMES 18
16. Josh KING 18
17. Chris McMILLAN 14
18. Sophie LOVETT 13
19. Shaun MURFET 13
20. Sean CONDON 10

Click here for detailed results