Image: Russell Colvin.

Next Gen Motorsports BMW rider Glenn Allerton will race this weekend’s Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship (ASC) round at Mallala after qualifying 15th for Saturday’s races.

The two-time Australian Superbike Champion had been touch and go in the lead-up to South Australia, coming off a required double knee surgery that has seen him sidelined from training for the past three weeks amidst ongoing physiotherapy.

Allerton lapped throughout the practice sessions on Friday and completed the afternoon qualifying session, now focused to set a strong lap time on Saturday in a bid to gain a good grid position ahead of Sunday’s championship races.

“Obviously my knee’s a bit sore, but it’s great when I’m straight up and down or going through left-hand corners,” Allerton said. “When I go around right-hand corners though, bending my knee is difficult at the moment. The nature of the surgery was really invasive, so it’s got a lot of fluid built up and really tightens up.

“It’s hard to hang off the right side, and this track is clockwise so it’s not been easy. As far as braking goes, that kind of thing, it’s actually really good. I’ve just got to accept it, I’m here to race and I can only do what I can do. I’m just really happy to get on the track because over the last three weeks every minute of every day has been dedicated to being here.”

The target for Allerton is a top 10, however he does admit that a 12th place finish or better would be regarded a success fresh from the surgery.

“If my knee loosens up a bit and everything goes to plan, if I could get into the top 10 would be a great accomplishment,” he added. “It’s a pretty big hill to climb, but to be honest I’d take anything from around 12th up and move on from that point in the championship.”

Allerton’s fastest lap in Friday qualifying was 2.414 seconds off the pole-setting pace of Team Honda Racing’s Jamie Stauffer.