Round four of the QBE Australian Superbike Championship was a fairy-tale affair for Team Honda Racing's Wayne Maxwell (pictured), who made a clean sweep of the weekend with pole position and two race victories.
RACE ONE
Despit his top slot on the grid twenty-nine-year-old Maxwell found himself chasing Racer's Edge Suzuki rider Scott Charlton away from the line in race one.
The experienced Charlton led momentarily before the Suzukis of Josh Waters and Robbie Bugden ranged in, with the current championship leader Waters taking the advantage early.
Waters began to gap the field but found himself in the clutches of Maxwell by lap four.
Waters’ smooth, flowing style was in stark contrast to the aggressive approach of Maxwell, who had his Honda at its limits under brakes.
The lead changed on lap eight as Waters allowed Maxwell to share the workload, but lap traffic in the closing stages meant the Suzuki lost crucial ground to the Honda to finish 1.466sec down at the wave of the chequered flag.
“The guys are working super hard to customise this bike to my needs," said Maxwell. "I’m pretty hard to please but I appreciate their hard work and it’s getting results when we need them,” he added.
Waters said he would keep his head down and keep scoring consistent points for his championship campaign.
“I got a good start and pulled away a bit but it is so hard if you don’t have enough of a gap, as you risk wrecking the tyre,” said Waters.
“I knew Wayne was there and I thought I might let him do a bit of the work at the front but it didn’t pay off – I got caught up with another rider and couldn’t make the ground back.”
Maxwell’s teammate Jamie Stauffer got the better of Bugden and Procon Maxima BMW’s Glenn Allerton in a race-long battle for the final podium spot.
Stauffer hit the magic 300km/h mark, the only rider in the race to do so, on his way to a deserved third place.
“I got a bad start and was trying to push hard to come back early and nearly crashed; I just had to put my head down and do what I could to hold out Robbie and Glenn,” said Stauffer.
“We’ll make a few tweaks to the bike overnight and hopefully be there racing with Wayne for the win,” he added.
Bugden continued his strong run of results to finish fourth ahead of Allerton, who rounded out the top five.
RACE TWO
A calculated pass in the closing stages of race two sealed a clean sweep for Maxwell at Phillip Island.
The polesitter bided his time in the second 12-lap race, pouncing on race leader Waters with two laps remaining to take his second win from as many starts.
Bugden was the early leader but Waters wasted little time with a swift pass by turn three of the opening lap. Maxwell muscled his way through to second before the Honda and Suzuki heavyweights went to war once more.
Evenly matched for pace, Maxwell seemed to have the measure of Waters but, fighting his own handling issues, he waited until lap 10 to make his move at Lukey Heights -- a spirited battle then played out for the final spot on the podium.
Bugden got the nod from defending champion Allerton and Stauffer, with just 0.2sec separating them as they crossed the finish line.
Fastest in practice, qualifying, winner of Superpole, race one and two and the round, Maxwell proved the man to beat at round four and would not have been satisfied with anything less.
“I got a better start in race two; Robbie led it into turn one and I could see Josh was eager to get by and stretch his legs,” explained Maxwell.
“By turn four I was right back on Josh and I could see he was struggling for grip. We’d made some changes for the warm-up but it was wet so we couldn’t test them out, and when it came to the race it turned out they weren’t ideal at all. I just had to make the most of it. I was honestly struggling and with two laps to go knew I just needed to make quick work of it," he said.
“It gives us the result we needed – we came here to get maximum points so hats off to the team, who has worked hard for this,” he added.
The Victorian rider collected 51 points at Phillip Island and moves to within 22.5 points of championship leader, Waters.
Still in the box seat for his second title, Waters could feel Maxwell's Honda breathing down his neck and had no answer once the deciding move was made.
“The first 10 laps of the race were good -- the last two, not so good,” said Waters.
“Wayne got the pass done where he passes everyone. The bike was pretty good but again I was struggling for grip and couldn’t find a way to break clear. We’ll look forward to Queensland Raceway now, which is a place we do pretty well at,” he added.
Bugden was pleased to finish on the podium at a place he identified as his bogey track, and while still recovering from a spill in Perth at round three.
“The races were really tough this weekend; it was on for the full 12 laps of both races, so it’s good to come away with the third,” he said.
“We had a really tough round in Perth and the guys have worked extra hard to get the bike ready for this weekend, so I’m glad I could pay them back with a result. I’m pretty sore still and it was uncomfortable work on the bike but once the adrenaline kicked in I just focused on the job. We’ve got a couple of rounds at Queensland Raceway coming up which is my home track, so that always gives me a bit of a boost -- it should be a good finish to the season,” he added.
Stauffer finished fourth for the round collecting 34 points, with Allerton a point shy in fifth.
The 2011 champion is now 19 points adrift of Maxwell and will need to be on maximum attack in the remaining rounds if he is to defend his crown.
Linden Magee and Chas Hern traded Prostock race wins and second places across the weekend, with Magee taking the round win thanks to his additional point for pole.
Hern remains in the championship lead, nine points ahead of Magee, with Nicholas Waters, absent this weekend with a broken wrist, holding down third.
The QBE Australian Superbike Championships resume at Queensland Raceway over June 1-3.
RESULTS: QBE AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND FOUR, PHILLIP ISLAND, VIC
RACE ONE
1. W Maxwell (Honda)
2. J Waters (Suzuki)
3. J Stauffer (Honda)
4. R Bugden (Suzuki)
5. G Allerton (BMW)
6. B Attard (Suzuki)
7. B Henry (Suzuki)
8. S Charlton (Suzuki)
9. B Waters (Suzuki)
10. L Magee (BMW)
RACE TWO
1. W Maxwell (Honda)
2. J Waters (Suzuki)
3. R Bugden (Suzuki)
4. G Allerton (BMW)
5. J Stauffer (Honda)
6. B Attard (Suzuki)
7. S Charlton (Suzuki)
8. B Waters (Suzuki)
9. C Hern (Suzuki)
10. L Magee (BMW)
ROUND STANDINGS
1. W Maxwell (Honda) 51pts
2. J Waters (Suzuki) 40pts
3. R Bugden (Suzuki) 35pts
4. J Stauffer (Honda) 34pts
5. G Allerton (BMW) 33pts
6. B Attard (Suzuki) 30pts
7. S Charlton (Suzuki) 27pts
8. B Henry (Suzuki) 26pts
9. B Waters (Suzuki) 25pts
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. J Waters (Suzuki) 170.5ptS
2. W Maxwell (Honda) 148pts
3. G Allerton (BMW) 129pts
4. J Stauffer (Honda) 121.5pts
5. R Bugden (Suzuki) 118pts
6. B Attard (Suzuki) 115.5pts
7. B Henry (Suzuki) 106.5pts
8. S Charlton (Suzuki) 89pts
9. B Waters (Suzuki) 45pts
10. C Trounson (BMW) 26pts
