Image: Russell Colvin.

Maxima BMW press release:

The titanic tussle continues for the Maxima BMW on the tight and twisting turns of Winton Motor Raceway, deep in the heart of Kelly country, as round five of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) ignites back into action this weekend for the third last round on this year’s ASBK tour.

After being forced to sit on the sidelines at the fourth round of the ASBK Championship, due to wrist injuries, Glenn Allerton will make his long-awaited return back to the starting line this weekend at Winton Motor Raceway. Allerton, has not raced on this circuit since the final round of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship which saw him finishing with an 8-2 result that handed him fourth place overall for the round.

At the recent two-day test at Winton Motor Raceway, the former three times Australian Superbike Champion demonstrated his determination where he fully focused on getting his #14 BMW S 1000RR ready for the start of the fifth round. After getting the feel again for the circuit on the first day of testing, Allerton then turned his attention to suspension setup and a setting which would make him to feel more comfortable aboard the German machine to help with his ongoing wrist issues, which is still affecting him at the moment.

“Since the test, I am feeling a lot better, in terms of my wrist,” said Allerton, who will start his 166th Australian Superbike race start in race one on Sunday.

“The physio which I have received after the test has definitely helped with the inflammation in the joint, so I’m confident ahead of this weekend,” he added.

Allerton, who has started twelve races in total at Winton Motor Raceway in the Australian Superbike Championship, expressed that apart from his wrist issues, his two-day test went pretty well. The main issues for Allerton was on the last part of the circuit, in the stop-go corners.

“Apart from the small teething issues we had, the team and I made some big steps forward in terms of suspension wise. I really feel like the changes we made over the two days benefited me quite a lot. I’m sure at the end of the three practice sessions come Friday, we will have a good setting heading into Saturday’s qualifying and the races for Sunday,” finished Allerton.

Aaron Morris heads into his third Australian Superbike Championship round start in the premier class with confidence after a solid weekend at Morgan Park Raceway in July and a positive test at Winton two weeks ago.

Morris, who has only had a handful of race starts at the 3.0km rural circuit near Benalla, in other ASBK categories, is excited to make his Superbike race debut on the twelve-corner circuit.

“Once I got the hang of Winton at the test, I actually started to really enjoy the circuit,” explained Morris.

“At first, I didn’t really know what to expect, but in the end, it was a lot of fun aboard the Maxima BMW S 1000RR purely because it’s quite technical and flowing I found,” he added

At the recent Winton test, Morris was able to make encouraging steps forward which has given him assurance ahead of this weekend’s ASBK round.

“The team and I walked away from the test in a positive state of mind. In saying that, we know we still have a little bit of pace to find. I’m not too stressed as we have three thirty-minute practice sessions on Friday to try a few more things on the bike and get a few more laps around the circuit. I believe we’ll be in for the hunt come qualifying and the races.”

With two Australian Superbike round starts under his belt now, Morris also explained that he now understands more about what he can get out of both himself and the overall bike setup.

“Obviously I knew my fitness had to step up to another level before I went into round four, which I have been working on very hard at late. But the main thing I took from Morgan Park which I can apply to this weekend is just understanding what the bike does from the start of the race and towards the end of the race. I feel a lot more confident about the races from here on in the rest of the season, so I’m expecting to be able to deliver good results for the Next Gen Motorsports team and their sponsors,” concluded the 27-year-old.

Maxima BMW’s Team Manager, Wayne Hepburn is optimistic about this weekend for both Allerton and Morris.

“The test at Winton Motor Raceway proved two things; one, Glenn is getting back to full fitness every day, which is a credit to him and his hunger to keep fighting on to achieve good result and two; Aaron keeps getting faster and faster every time he gets on the bike,” said Hepburn.

Hepburn also explained that with Maxima BMW’s Chief Technical Officer Shane Kinderis back for the round, it will definitely help both riders and the team in terms of overall setup.

“While the team know majority about bike setup and which direction where to go, it certainly will help that little bit more having Shane back for the round. We got good direction to go for both riders at the conclusion of the test. However, we just need Shane to ‘sprinkle that last bit of fairy dust’ over the bikes,” he finished.