This week’s Cycle Central, presented by Alpinestars, focuses on last weekend’s second round of the Swann Series before taking a quick look at news abroad.

After Wayne Maxwell’s mega crash at the World Endurance Championship opener in France, he was under a real injury cloud in the lead up to the second round of the Swann Series. It’s amazing then that he not only took the start but managed to not only sweep all of the Saturday races but all of Sunday’s races too, considered much more crucial in terms of the ‘main’ championship.

It’s the second time he’s dodged the injury bullet in the Swann Series after making a strong recovery from his Phillip Island World Superbike crash. The weekend’s result marks four wins in a row for him in the Sunday series and elevates him to the series lead by six points over teammate Jamie Stauffer.

With Yamaha’s shocking showing at round one of the Swann Series put down to tyre problems, their trip to South Australia had to be a productive one. And it was, with the factory R1s back up where we would expect to see them.

Image: Keith Muir.

Robbie Bugden took two podiums and Cru Halliday another, a markedly more successful outing. Bugden’s home track is up next, another positive, while Halliday can take confidence and momentum from a strong showing all weekend.

On any normal occasion we’d expect to see the Next Gen BMW of Glenn Allerton and Team Honda Fireblade of Josh Hook up in outright contention for Swann Series wins. Both riders headed to South Australia nursing varying degrees of discomfort and it really did prevent them from challenging for a typical result.

For Allerton, just racing was a super achievement, with the multi-time champ really suffering from the after effects of recent knee surgery. While Hook’s injury was some time ago, the recovery period was greater and led to a subsequent lack of overall race fitness. Look for both guys to make marked improvements at Queensland in a few weeks time!

According to a media release from Motorcycling Australia we should this week be seeing firm details, including Supp Reggs and the like, of the second and final round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island. It certainly is bizarre to think that this will be run and won over the course of two rounds, but that’s the situation as it stands.

What many people will be looking for is further concrete info on the 2015 series, which will enable them to hopefully plan a program well in advance. Last week’s The Point feature saw a lot of positive feedback in relation to this new direction, with many supporting a move towards expanded state level and club involvement.

Source: Red Bull KTM Ajo.

How did he do it? From the outset it looked almost certain that Jack Miller’s KTM would let him down versus the quicker Honda package at Le Mans, but the Aussie put up one of the greatest fights I know I’ve seen and was there when it counted on the final lap.

Miller’s braking ability and confidence through the corners was the determining factor and would ultimately lead to him wrangling the lead back in the run to the flag. Just when it looked like his championship lead could be whittled back again he pulls off the performance of the grand prix – in any class – and now finds himself 30 points clear of the Moto3 field.

It has been a tragic week in motorsport and the news that has filtered through of the death of Simon Andrews has been met with shock and sadness. Andrews was injured in the Northwest 200 and lost his fight for life two days ago. Our thoughts go out to his family and those affected, and of course we are thinking of the many Australian riders who rode with Simon or knew him personally.

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