ABSK: Budgen wins round three

Round three of the Australian Superbike Championship has been run and won, with Queensland favourite Robbie Budgen taking his first ever round win on a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The 32-year-old Team Volvo Group Suzuki rider walked away as round winner thanks to a win in race two at Queensland Raceway.

He also scored the third spot on the podium in race one, behind Team Suzuki's Wayne Maxwell in second and NextGen Motorsports Glenn Allerton in first.

While Budgen moves into third place in the ABSK championship standings on 79 points, Allerton still commands a healthy 14-point lead over Maxwell (80pts) in second position.

After the race Budgen said it was a "massive day" and that he couldn't be happier.

"We’ve been building momentum ever since we tested here and that was the foundation of today’s results. We made some really positive progress with the GSX-R1000, so it’s great to get my first ever Australian Superbike round win.

The five-time New Zealand SBK champion it was great to get the win in front of friends of family. "It’s an emotional day to do it here," he said. "It’s a day I will have fond memories of for a long time to come."

Meanwhile championship leader Allerton rued his bad luck, calling the race "the one that got away". While he finished on the same 43 points as Budgen, he missed out on the round win after ECU problems with his BMW HP4 1000R.

Starting from the back of the grid in race two with his spare bike, Allerton rode like a man possessed, storming through the field to be in fourth place by the end of lap one. The extreme pace cooked his front brakes which meant he had to settle for third place in race two.

"I had such a big go at the start, I ended up over doing it on the front brake so in the end I had to give the boys some room as I didn’t want to run into the back of them."

Allerton said round four at Sydney Motorsport Park (aka Eastern Creek) will should be a slam dunk.

"We have the best package going at the moment and I am going to go to Eastern Creek like a bull at a gate, as it is my home event," he said.

In third place overall at the end of the round was defending champion Wayne Maxwell, who was far from disappointed with his riding.

"I couldn’t be happier, coming away with what’s my worst track on the calendar to finish with 2-2 results is a great result," said Maxwell.

"Full credit to Team Suzuki, the GSX-R1000 is working awesome and I’m really happy for Robbie to claim the round victory. We’ll move onto some tracks where I’m a bit stronger now and see what we can do for the rest of the season," he explained.

The next round of the ABSK championship takes place at Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW, on August 1-4. It marks the series' return to the track after a four year absence.

2013 ASBK Championship results (Round three – Queensland Raceway)

Superbike overall round results
1. Robert BUGDEN 43
2. Glenn ALLERTON 43
3. Wayne MAXWELL 40
4. Josh HOOK 35
5. Jamie STAUFFER 32
6. Chas HERN 29
7. Linden MAGEE 28
8. Glenn SCOTT 27
9. Sloan FROST 23
10. Beau BEATON 23

Superbike championship standings (after three of seven rounds)
1. Glenn ALLERTON 94
2. Wayne MAXWELL 80
3. Robert BUGDEN 79
4. Josh HOOK 67
5. Jamie STAUFFER 66
6. Glenn SCOTT 54
7. Beau BEATON 49
8. Linden MAGEE 43
9. Phil LOVETT 38
10. Ben HENRY 34