Image: Andrew Gosling (tbgsport).

Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell led the way in this afternoon’s lone Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli practice session today at Phillip Island in Victoria.

Maxwell topped the timesheets with a 1m33.964s in limited laps, over YRT teammate Glenn Allerton – the pair quickly up to speed despite missing the recent pre-season tests at the venue.

“I owe full credit to the team at Yamaha,” Maxwell said. “The bike was good straight off, it’s a good way to start the weekend’s proceedings at the top of the time sheets. It’s good to be back here at my home track having a good time, the weather is holding off, which I am pretty happy about.

“It’s a little bit blustery out there but overall the conditions are pretty good. There’s a fair bit of traffic out there, everyone is trying to find their way. It’s the first race meeting of the year and we will just keep chipping away making improvements.”

Slotting into third and fourth were Crankt Protein Honda Racing teammates Jamie Stauffer and Troy Herfoss, while reigning ASBK champion Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) completed the top five.

Leading into the afternoon, the Supersport category kicked off their first session strong, with Graffiti Alley Racing’s Troy Guenther pulling around the track with a final top laptime of 1m37.838s.

However, Guenther was not without competition with Mark Chiodo (Triumph) and Luke Mitchell (Yamaha) chasing his tail, clocking the second and third fastest times to commence the new season.

“It feels really good to top the times,” Guenther commented. “I would just like to say a big thank you to my mechanic Scott, who has put it a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get this bike capable of being up the front. I’m feeling very good and quite confident for tomorrow.

“The track was a little bit greasy, little bit of warmer weather for Phillip Island standards, but the Yamaha R6 seemed to handle the conditions well and I am really looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.

“This weekend we would like to try and get three race wins. It’s going to be difficult, there are a lot of competitive riders in the Superport field. Ultimately the goal for the season would be to win the ASBK Supersport championship.”

Moto3/125GP rider Brian Houghton was excited to jump off the bike post his first session, topping the practice times with a 1m45.819s over young gun Tayla Relph and Locky Taylor, who completed the session in third.

Last out was the Period 5/6 Historics, where Dean Oughtred maneuvered his machine through the wind to start his first session with a laptime of 1m41.788s. He was over a second ahead of Murray Clark and Craig Ditchburn.

2015 Australian Superbike Championship
Round one – Phillip Island, VIC

Superbike practice one results:
1. Wayne MAXWELL 1m33.964s
2. Glenn ALLERTON 1m34.094s
3. Jamie STAUFFER 1m34.205s
4. Troy HERFOSS 1m34.345s
5. Michael JONES 1m34.453s
6. Robbie BUDGEN 1m34.589s
7. Daniel FALZON 1m34.896s
8. Michael BLAIR 1m35.440s
9. Cru HALLIDAY 1m35.473s
10. Ben BURKE 1m35.529s

Supersport practice one results:
1. Troy GUENTHER 1m37.838s
2. Mark CHIODO 1m39.184s
3. Luke MITCHELL 1m39.338s
4. Chris QUINN 1m39.440s
5. Kyle BUCKLEY 1m39.470s
6. Callum SPRIGGS 1m39.495s
7. Robbie MENZIES 1m40.058s
8. Sam CLARKE 1m40.776s
9. Nic LIMINTON 1m40.828s
10. Ben BLYTH 1m41.108s

Click here for detailed results