Image: Foremost Media.

The new surface through the fast section of Morgan Park is an improvement says Glenn Allerton, the GT Racing rider providing an honest appraisal of the works done in a bid to improve the circuit.

Earlier this year the Warwick-based venue was resurfaced part way through turn four and from the entry of turn eight to turn 10, encompassing the fastest turns of the layout.

Previously, turns eight to nine were notoriously bumpy which added a further challenge and risk to the quickest corners on the circuit. However, Allerton – a three-time Mi-Bike Australian Superbike champion – now labels that section ‘a blast’ with the new bitumen.

“It’s a lot better,” Allerton explained to CycleOnline. “That was probably the most dangerous part of the track, the high-speed bumps. It would have been great if they could have extended it all the way up to that sharp turn seven.

“If they had done that whole part, it would have been magical, to accelerate down the hill without worrying about the bumps, but you have got to tip your hat when they are making efforts to make it better, so that is all well and good.

“Still a lot of work to be done to the rest of the track, there’s been some resurfacing work that’s been done in turn four that is questionable, only because when I ride through it I look at it and think ‘how do you resurface the track and not make the level the same’? You actually step up onto a patch in the middle of the corner and I don’t think there is a lap where I go through there and I don’t get put off by it.

“But like I said, great that they made the effort to make the track better now, and that section is such a blast now, it’s really an exhilarating part of the track and I think they did a great job.”

Allerton finished the first free practice session fifth fastest with a 1m14.254s, 0.743s from pace-setter Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team).

“We did a practice day here the other day, we just brought one bike but probably didn’t bring enough bits,” Allerton added. “I got to run around the track, but this is a place where I’ve always sort of struggled to be right there at the pointy end of the field. I’ve always been in a battle for fourth or what have you, the podium has been difficult for me to achieve here, like a bogey track.

“I’ve sort of been having a conversation with myself, in between that test and here, saying you know ‘this is a bigger version of Wakefield’, which is one of my best tracks. Wakefield is a great track for me, and a lot of these corners are similar to Wakefield with the bumps and the quirky little techniques you need to use to make the bike accelerate over the bumps are what I’m really good at.

“So just trying to be positive that this is just a longer version of Wakefield Park, so I’m just going to go out there and attack it in the same manner.

“I felt really good on the bike then, so we will see what happens. I’m not sure what tyres everybody else was using then, but I just used the hardest tyre and wanted to do race distance which we achieved.”