Image: Russell Colvin.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell has returned to the bike during a pair Phillip Island Ride Days this week, aboard his personal YZF-R1M alongside a selection of YMF Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) regulars.

The 2013 ASBK title-winner is still recovering from the heavy shunt he took in race two at Sydney Motorsport Park a fortnight ago, suffering ongoing neck pain after his impact with the tyre wall on the outside of turn three.

Maxwell, who also sustained damage to his rib cartilage and shoulder in the incident, completed his initial laps at Phillip Island on Monday but is yet to reach 100 percent. He remains unsure if he will be fully fit for Phillip Island’s decider on 6-8 October.

“Every time I think I have recovered, I wake up in the morning and it feels really painful,” explained Maxwell. “We’ll see how we pull up [Tuesday]. [Monday] wasn’t too bad on the bike, but I didn’t do that many laps. As I said, we’ll see how we feel, but hopefully I feel a little bit better and we still have a few more weeks to go till the last round.”

“Hopefully it will get a little bit better. The problem is that we don’t race on the Friday, we race on the Sunday. So as each days goes on, I might feel a little bit worse – hopefully I feel pretty good on the Friday morning to feel half alright on the Sunday.”

Maxwell is still currently getting treatment and come round seven, he will work closely with the RACESAFE Medical Team in a bid to capture another national crown. He will enter the finals third in the standings, 15 points behind arch-rival Troy Herfoss and nine in arrears of the in-form Josh Waters.