Features 5 May 2015

Catching Up: Wayne Maxwell

Reigning FX-ASC champion previews upcoming Mallala round.

Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) with Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance (YMI) rider Wayne Maxwell will look to take the team’s first victory with the 2015 YZF-R1M when the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship (ASC) resumes at Mallala next weekend, 15-17 May. Maxwell swept the South Australian round there 12 months ago, but this time around within a new team and on a brand new bike, the challenge will be an even greater one. CycleOnline.com.au caught up with Maxwell to see how his progress is going in the lead-up.

Image: Steve Thibou (YRT).

Image: Steve Thibou (YRT).

We’re a couple of weeks out from Mallala now, you just tested there in recent weeks, so how’s the progress been since Sydney’s opening round?

We worked on a number of stuff at the test. We were cut short on the second day with a bit of rain, but were still able to get valuable track time and I feel that we’re at a stage now where we should have been entering Sydney, but that was out of everyone’s control at Yamaha.

With a brand new bike in the R1M, what type of things did you work on during the test at Mallala? Was there anything major or moreso a case of refining the package considering the standardised ruleset?

No major changes. We just worked away at some settings, bits and pieces such as some early stuff from Ohlins, so we were just making sure all those parts were up to the latest production spec and basically worked away at those things. Plus we worked on chassis positioning, make sure it can handle the hard braking forces and that we have got a stable bike for the three races.

Last year at Mallala you were the dominant rider there with a convincing clean-sweep. It’s obviously a good track for you, so does that increase your confidence entering the weekend?

It’s definitely a track I’ve done well at in the past. Every national we’ve had there since 2009 I’ve won, so it’s a strong track for me and the minute I turned a lap there on the Yamaha I felt a lot more comfortable than what I did in Sydney. That was a great indication of where we are at. I’m looking forward to the challenge, you know, the guys at Honda will no doubt be super-fast and Jamie [Stauffer] will be a bit of an unknown coming back from injury. And I’m sure my teammates will be super-strong as well. As long as we can keep racking up some points, there’s still a long way to go after Mallala, so it would be nice to finish every race on the podium, but you can only do what you can do.

Image: Steve Thibou (YRT).

Image: Steve Thibou (YRT).

It’s been over a month since the opening round in Sydney, so apart from the test, what do you do to keep your eye in and stay sharp with that long of a layoff?

We had the two-day test obviously, but since then I’ve just been training, working on my fitness. Because when the bike isn’t 100 percent it can be a little bit more difficult to ride – you have to count on your fitness. I’ve just been working on that and on a few little niggling injuries I’ve been carrying.

It’s been almost six months since you decided to depart Honda for YRT. One round into the season, looking back, was it the right decision at this point?

Yeah, for sure. You can’t regret any decisions made and the more time I spend in the Yamaha Racing Team, the more the boys get to know me and I get to know them. We’re starting to create a real bond there, a culture that is needed. When I went to Suzuki there was a culture that was created and it was a good one, so I adapted that and when I went back to Honda the culture there was a lot better. They were then super-competitive there, which they hadn’t been in the past, so I’m trying to create that same culture at Yamaha so we can become the number one team in the paddock.

No worries, well thanks for your time enabling us to check in, and I look forward to seeing you guys on track at Mallala.

No worries, thanks Al.

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