Image: Russell Colvin.

Despite undergoing surgery over one week ago to repair a broken collarbone, Wayne Maxwell has topped Saturday’s opening day at the official Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) test in Phillip Island.

The Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia ace lodged a quick-time of 1m32.913s in the final session of the day, which proved to be the best outing for the top five riders. Former multi-time Superbike world champion Troy Bayliss (DesmoSport Ducati) was second with a time of 1m33.011s, as Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCperformance) closed out the top three with a 1m33.181s time.

Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia’s Josh Waters was a fraction off the top three, crossing the line with the fourth quickest time of 1m33.334s, followed by Aiden Wagner’s (Yamaha) 1m33.452s time, placing him in fifth.

Reigning champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) was sixth ahead of Yamaha Racing Team duo Daniel Falzon and Cru Halliday, Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW) and Mark Chiodo (Penrite Honda Racing).

In the Supersport category, Tom Toparis was fastest in his first official outing aboard the Yamaha YZF-R6, lodging a 1m36.149s to finish comfortably ahead of Nicholas Liminton (Yamaha) and Broc Pearson (Yamaha), who recorded 1m37.329s and 1m37.588s respectively. Supersport newcomer Oli Bayliss (Cube Racing) was fourth ahead of Reid Battye (Suzuki) in fifth.

The Supersport 300 and Yamaha R3 Cup classes, which were combined for each session, saw Tom Bramich (Kawasaki) emerge fastest over Locky Taylor (Yamaha) and Seth Crump (KTM). The newly-introduced Oceania Junior Cup was topped by Lucas Quinn (Yamaha) ahead of Angus Grenfell (Yamaha) and Carter Thompson (Yamaha). Riding will resume tomorrow for the final day of testing.

Detailed results