Allerton fastest on day one at Eastern Creek
Battle for pole position to be intenseTeknic Honda rider Glenn Allerton has grabbed the early psychological advantage over arch foe Jamie Stauffer for this weekend's seventh and final round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway, with the 27-year-old topping the timesheet in today's practice session over his Yamaha Racing Team rival with a best lap of 1:31.497.
Allerton holds a narrow five-point lead over defending champion Stauffer in the series as they enter this weekend's winner-take-all finale, with Stauffer's Yamaha teammate - and elder brother - Daniel and Allerton's teammate Jason O'Halloran, also in the mix for the championship win. Just 36pts separates the four riders.
Jamie Stauffer, who is aiming for a record-equalling three consecutive Australian Superbike Championships, could only manage fourth-fastest time today, behind the MV Agusta 312R of Kevin Curtain (1:31.733) and O'Halloran's Honda CBR1000RR (1:31.858). However, with just 0.434sec covering the top four riders today, the battle for pole position tomorrow is likely to be intense.
Allerton is in career best form at present, having won the Superbike support category at the recent Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix meeting at Phillip Island. However, the current championship leader admits Stauffer will be hard to beat on a circuit where the latter holds both Superbike and Supersport lap records.
"Jamie's always strong at Sydney's Eastern Creek," said Allerton. "But we tested here a few weeks ago, and things went really well. I'm feeling really confident after the Island results.
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