Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Yamaha Racing Teams’ Wayne Maxwell came agonizingly close to winning the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship but ultimately came up one point short in an enthralling final round of the championship held at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend.

Maxwell entered the round tied on points with Troy Herfoss and carrying momentum from a good result at the penultimate round. The mathematics were simple for Maxwell, beat Herfoss and the championship was his but he was instantly on the back foot at the final round when a fall in the final qualifying race meant he had to start from position eight on the grid for all three championship races.

In each leg, Maxwell raced with passion and pride as he charged his way through the field in pursuit of Herfoss and championship success. He clawed his way to fourth in race one and a third in race two to keep his championship hopes alive. Race three and he threw it all on the line and again Maxwell surged forward but could only manage another third place, just .5 of a second off the race win and the championship was gone.

Maxwell finished the final round in fourth place and locked up second in the championship, just one point short of the series win.

“I gave it my all,” Maxwell explains at days’ end. “I only have myself to blame crashing on Friday and it was too much of an obstacle to overcome. I can’t make a mistake like that and expect that a rider as good as Troy isn’t going to take advantage of it. Congratulations to him.

“Overall, I’m happy with the 2015 season despite not winning the championship. I won two rounds and was on the podium several more times. We started the year on a brand new bike, on a new team and we proved to be as competitive as ever in a short period of time. Thank-you to every member of the YRT crew and Yamaha Australia with a special mention to my mechanic Warren,” Maxwell concluded.

Glenn Allerton also had a mathematical chance of pinching the championship win over the weekend although he admits it was a long shot. Unfortunately the day didn’t pan out as Allerton would have liked and he finished in fifth for the round with 6-4-6 results but secured his third place in the final championship standings.

“It was tough day,” Allerton commented. “I felt like I gave it my all but it wasn’t enough. It was a disappointing way to finish the championship but to finish the championship in third is a pretty good result.

“This just fuels my motivation for next year and hopefully we can hit the ground running in 2016 and go after another championship.” “Thank you to the Yamaha Racing Team for all their efforts this year and my personal sponsors for sticking by me,” said the former champ.

Cru Halliday finished the final round in sixth place and showed more flashes of brilliance throughout the day. He clocked the fastest lap of the race on his way to fifth place in race one but struggled for grip in race two to record an eighth place result. He rebounded well in the final race to take fourth but it wasn’t the final round Halliday was after.

“I didn’t feel as good today as what I did here at round three when I took the win. I had a terrible second race and just didn’t feel good on the bike at all but races one and three weren’t too bad. “I learnt a lot over the weekend and it was great working with Kev Marshall. I knew that Wayne was in the championship hunt so I didn’t want to do something silly and be a major burden on the team.

“It’s been a big learning curve for me all year in adjusting to the new bike and I have really enjoyed working with the team. I would like to have finished higher than sixth overall in the championship but I will be back next year and more determined to get a better result,” Halliday commented.

With his team finishing the championship in second, third and sixth, team owner, John Redding, summed up the 2015 season for the Yamaha Racing Team.

“This has been and interesting and exciting year for us. We came into the season with a brand new motorcycle, some new riders and a very short time to get up to speed but it wasn’t long before we were winning races on the bike and each rider was able to win a round this year.

“But 2016 is a whole new ball game and we will spend the off season to continue to develop the bike. So, add to what we have learnt via racing this year, with a good off season of testing and development and I’m sure we will have a very competitive package in 2016,” Redding ends.

The Sydney Motorsport Park event was the final race of the year for the Yamaha Racing Team. An announcement for their 2016 plans will be made in the coming weeks.