Team Suzuki’s Wayne Maxwell was fastest at Phillip Island on Friday. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

Words: Russell Colvin.

QBE Australian Superbike Championship leader Wayne Maxwell (Team Suzuki) has hit the ground running by posting the fastest times in both practice sessions ahead of this weekend’s grand finale at Phillip Island in Victoria.

Maxwell blistered the field in practice one, beating Next Gen Motorsports BMW ace Glenn Allerton by 0.622s with Maxwell’s teammate Robbie Bugden in third, a further 1.168s down the road.

The second session was once again ruled by Maxwell with a 1m32.717, who led home Bugden by 0.496s and Allerton.

“Today was a great start for Team Suzuki,” said Maxwell. “To end up 1-2 is awesome. The Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working great. It’s great to be back at the Island, which is pretty much my home track.

“We haven’t been here since the World Superbike round in February this year and it’s always nice to ride here as it’s one of my favourite tracks on the calendar. We tried a few things today.

“I’m still not completely happy with the front feeling of the bike, but will just keep working away with that, just one step at a time. We need to improve a bit more on our times tomorrow because these guys will be coming at me pretty fast.”

For Bugden, he was content with his effort, but will be eager to close the gap on Maxwell come qualifying and the grid-deciding Superpole session on Saturday.

“Today has been a positive day, we started pretty steady,” Bugden said. “Team Suzuki came up with some good movements with the bike and set-up.

“We found a bit more speed in that second session, but I think we still have not unlock the full potential of the GSX-R1000 yet. All in all we are really happy to be 1-2 for Suzuki, so let’s wait and see what tomorrow will bring.”

In Supersport it was Aaron Morris (Yamaha) leading the way in both sessions, with championship leader Daniel Falzon (Yamaha) second in both sessions. Kawasaki rider Aaron Gobert was third in practice one, before Michael Blair (Yamaha) was third fastest in practice two.

Victorian Ben Nicolson (Next Gen Motorsports BMW) topped the Prostock sessions, Lawson Walters (KTM) Moto3 and Tom Bramich (Kawasaki) 250 Production to complete Friday’s proceedings.

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