Image: Foremost Media.

The final round of the 2022 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) will draw a close to the full-time career of Boost Mobile Ducati with K-Tech’s Wayne Maxwell, with the multi-time national champion providing an honest reflection ahead of round seven.

Maxwell’s career has spanned over 20 years at a national level, winning ASBK premier class titles for Suzuki and Ducati, also achieving success domestically for Yamaha and Honda.

The number 47 has also competed at an international level, notably as a wildcard in the Moto2 World Championship and in the Suzuka 8 Hours. After numerous years as a race and championship-winning contender in domestic superbikes, round seven of ASBK marks a close to Maxwell’s final full campaign.

“Yeah, I guess it will be a little bit different,” Maxwell explained. “I think like 22 years in the paddock, it’s been a long, long time, and I’ve had some fantastic times, way exceeded my expectations from when I started off.

“It’s been a good time, I feel like I’ve set a high standard and that high standard is still there, can be there week in and week out. “Going to be glad it’s over, to be honest, I’ve pretty much been over it for a few years so I’m definitely over it now [laughs].”

Maxwell had previously indicated that the 2021 season would be his last, however, with the past two years impacted by covid-19, the number of rounds contested was limited.

The now triple ASBK champion entered the 2022 championship with the opportunity to win a record fourth ASBK title and approaches the final round 49 points down on points leader Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team).

“Entering this weekend, I don’t even know what the points are, to be honest,” Maxwell added. “We will go into this weekend with the same approach as every weekend, try and get pole and win both races.

“I’ve been fast at all of the race tracks for a number of years, I can win at grand prix tracks, I can win at tight tracks. I really feel like the pressure is on Mike especially, looking like he is going to be the champion.

“He won at Queensland Raceway yeah, can’t win at Phillip Island, he was okay at Darwin so the pressure is really on him to step up and to show that I am a true champion and can win when it counts. I’ve seen his statement during the week that he is going for pole and both race wins, so let’s see if he can talk the big game.”

Free practice sessions one, two and three will take place today at The Bend, with qualifying tomorrow and the final two races of the season on Sunday.