Image: Keith Muir.

A second place finish in Sydney for Yamaha Racing Team’s Glenn Allerton sees the triple Australian Superbike Championship winner retake the lead in this year’s Yamaha Motor Finance-backed series.

Allerton shadowed teammate Wayne Maxwell across the finish line in both races on Sunday for second overall, which was enough to see him climb back into control of the championship. He’s two points ahead of Maxwell now.

“Second place today was a great result for myself and the Yamaha Racing Team,” Allerton said after race two. “To get a 1-2 in both races and the overall is fantastic. I felt like I could have won the first race, however Wayne was just too good and didn’t make a mistake all race long.

“The second race was really difficult conditions. It was wet, then it was starting to dry out. Wayne and I were racing at a pretty good pace at the start. During the race I had a few big moments, so I decided to back it down a little bit. Wayne was pushing on, but I knew to consolidate second place was a smarter option.”

At the halfway mark of the six-round championship it’s Allerton on top of the points standings, two ahead of teammate Maxwell and a further eight ahead of last year’s Australasian title winner Troy Herfoss, who led the series entering round three.