Image: Foremost Media.

A series of blistering outings on day one of the 2022 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) season saw Wayne Maxwell in control at Phillip Island today, leading each of the three practice sessions.

Maxwell set his quickest time of the day on just the seventh lap of FP1, that 1m31.397s giving him a 0.579s margin over Yamaha Racing Team’s Cru Halliday – his time posted with a late charge in the second session.

The lap of Maxwell was well-beneath the existing lap record of 1m31.881s set by Mike Jones in 2019, an updated Pirelli tyre marking another major gain for the defending three-time champion. Each of the leading Superbike riders are on Pirelli following Honda and Yamaha’s off-season transition.

While Maxwell was untouched throughout Friday on his V4R, Halliday and the factory Yamaha team have made significant steps forward in the pre-season. A late crash in the final practice was the only blemish in Halliday’s program this afternoon.

YRT newcomer Mike Jones was third on combined times, making clear progress since his outing at the circuit during the official test to finish the day with a 1m32.286s. The Queenslander suffered a fall shortly after setting his fastest lap of the day in the second practice at turn 10.

Alliance BMW-mounted Lachlan Epis featured again towards the front, a 1m32.490s indicating that he will be a front-row contender come qualifying tomorrow, as Bryan Staring (DesmoSport Ducati) lodged the fifth-fastest lap-tome.

Josh Waters (Maxima BMW) showed great pace in FP2 to end the day in P6 overall ahead of Arthus Sissis (Unitech Yamaha), Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection), Glenn Alerton (Maxima BMW) and the returning Daniel Falzon (JD Racing Yamaha), who completed the top 10.

Detailed results