2013 Australian Superbike preview

The 2013 QBE Australian Superbike Championship commences at Symmons Plains in Tasmania this weekend (April 5-7) alongside the V8 Supercars, as some new faces take to the grid to join heavyweights such as Wayne Maxwell (Suzuki, pictured), Jamie Stauffer (Honda) and Glenn Allerton (BMW).

Last year’s Prostock champion Linden Magee (BMW) and runner-up Chas Hern (Suzuki) will both move into the Superbike class, while from the Supersport category the likes of Honda duo Josh Hook and Glenn Scott will make the step-up. And after abbreviated campaigns over the last few years, hard-charger Beau Beaton (Suzuki) has committed to a full season of Superbike action.

Maxwell, the Superbike runner-up in 2012,  has joined Team Suzuki in 2013 after five years with Team Honda Racing .

In the absence of Allerton, Stauffer and Hook, who were all on world championship duty at Phillip Island from February 22-24, Maxwell dominated the domestic Superbike support races in his debut for Team Suzuki.

"Changing teams after five years is a big challenge so it was great to be able to race at the recent WSBK round. It gave me a chance to learn the characteristics of the bike before this weekend’s first point scoring event,” Maxwell explained.

"We learnt a lot at Phillip Island and followed it up with a good test at Symmons Plains two weeks ago. We are still changing the bike quite a lot and I am still trying to find my feet but we are certainly heading in the right direction.

"Symmons Plains has been good to me over the years, the last time we raced there was in 2011 and I had two pole positions and a couple of podium finishes but I have never had a clean sweep.”

Stauffer will be aiming to improve on his third place finish in last year’s championship while Robbie Bugden, brimming with confidence after retaining his New Zealand Superbike crown, will join Maxwell at Team Suzuki for 2013.

The QBE Australian Superbikes will take to Symmons Plains Raceway for practice at 8.20am on April 5 ahead of qualifying at 4.00pm.

Saturday’s on track action will see the top 13 riders from qualifying take part in a Superpole at 7:50am to determine the grid for race one, which will get underway at 12.30pm. A final 30-minute race will conclude the event for the ASBK at 3.20pm on Sunday, April 7.