Image: Russell Colvin.

Next Gen Motorsports BMW’s Glenn Allerton ended day two of the 2018 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) test fastest at Phillip Island this afternoon, cementing himself as a true title challenger once again this season.

Allerton put in a late flyer during the fourth and final 30-minute session of Wednesday to go atop the time-sheets, his 1m32.728s the fastest of the official pre-season test.

It was a significant result for the 37-year-old, back aboard the S 1000 RR after being replaced at Yamaha Racing Team following an injury-affected season last year. Joining Allerton inside the top three was Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) and number one plate-holder Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

While Allerton, Staring and defending champion Waters stole the show as the lone riders in the 1m32s during a frantic final session, fourth on the time-sheets came Mike Jones (Kawasaki) in an expected one-off appearance, with Tuesday’s pace-setter Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha Racing Team) rounding out the top five.

New Yamaha recruit Daniel Falzon – the rider who replaces Allerton on the factory R1M – concluded his first official test with the team in sixth, as the top 10 was completed by Michael Blair (Michael Blair Racing Yamaha), Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing), Matthew Walters (Swann Insurance Repsol Kawasaki) and Troy Bayliss (DesmoSport Ducati).

Three-time world champion Bayliss got progressively quicker across the two days, his fastest lap of 1m33.950s set in the final session coming in at 1.222s from Allerton’s front-running lap-time. Directly behind Bayliss was top rookie Mark Chiodo, the new Team Suzuki Ecstar signing impressing with a 34-flat to wrap-up the test.

World Supersport regular Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) set the benchmark in the Kawasaki-supported Supersport ranks with his 1m36.378s from session two on Wednesday, but was marginally slower than the lap of Tom Toparis (Cube Racing Kawasaki) yesterday. The latter’s best today was 0.276s from the best of Epis.

Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday continued to readapt to the YZF-R6 following a number of seasons in Superbike and ended up third quickest overall, lowering his best to a 1m36.474s in a strong final session as the team dials in its latest Supersport entry for the coming season. Tom Edwards (Yamaha) was fourth, Nic Liminton (Yamaha) fifth.

In the combined Supersport 300 and YMF R3 Cup classes it was Tom Bramich (Yamaha) quickest again after setting a 1m50.561s in the final session, topping Hunter Ford (Yamaha) and Cube Racing’s Oli Bayliss (Kawasaki) by near half a second at the conclusion of two days. Ben Bramich (KTM) and Harry Khouri (Yamaha) filled the top five.

Detailed results