Image: Russell Colvin.

Maxima BMW team manager Wayne Hepburn has indicated a disaster weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park will be difficult to overcome after two of its BMW S 1000 RRs were severely damaged during round three of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

Three-time ASBK champion Glenn Allerton was the first casualty for the privately funded squad when he was collected by Suzuki-mounted Alex Phillis in a two-rider crash on lap one of the opening encounter, sustaining a broken right wrist in the incident and calling for a premature end to his weekend.

The team’s woes didn’t stop there, with 2017 Supersport champion Ted Collins also falling victim to another rider’s error in race two, the youthful talent crashing heavily as a result.

“The Maxima BMW team hasn’t really had a great start to the season and we really wanted to make this weekend our turn around round,” Hepburn explained. “We were well and truly on the way to doing that. Everything which both Glenn and Ted did was exactly what we set out to do.”

“Unfortunately, as soon the lights went out for the races, it fell apart, through no fault of the riders. We are not pointing any fingers. However, how unlucky can one and two riders be? Especially for Glenn and Ted, as they have both had a run of bad luck. I understand we have to make our own luck, which we are trying to do.

“As we are a ‘privateer team’, these crashes will put a big dent in our 2019 season, which will make it very hard to proceed. Anyhow, we have a two-month break until the fourth round of the championship. So, Glenn will work on getting back to full fitness in regard to his wrist and of course, so will Ted. However, the team has a lot of work to do to get these bikes back into working order again.”

Collins’ 13th place finish in race one granted him 19th overall. Allerton and Collins are ranked 15th and 16th respectively in the championship standings.