The 2015 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship (ASC) begins at Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday, March 29, with distributor-backed teams from Honda and Yamaha taking on a swathe of top-class privateer and satellite riders, most on Kawasakis.
After winning last year's title for Honda, Victorian Wayne Maxwell returns to defend his title as part of the Yamaha Racing Team alongside Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday. All three Yamaha riders will have the totally revamped YZF-R1M at their disposal, which is expected to be fast from the get-go despite a limited preparation.
Maxwell is a proven big-time winner, having won the rival Australian Superbike Championship in 2013 before his ASC success in 2014 when he won ahead of then Honda teammates Jamie Stauffer and Troy Herfoss.
"I'm super excited to be taking on the challenge of riding the new R1 in the 2015 Australasian Superbike Championship," said Maxwell. "We've started a little bit on the back foot with only one test, but we managed to make major progress by working through a number of electronic, suspension and chassis settings. I am looking forward to the challenge of developing it into a really great bike.
"You need a powerful bike at Sydney Motorsport Park, and the R1M is certainly that!"
Herfoss and Stauffer remain at Team Honda racing in 2015, although Stauffer will miss the ASC opener while still recovering from injuries sustained in the opening round of the 2015 ASBK title at Philip Island in February. Last year's ASC supersport champion Aiden Wagner will deputise for Stauffer at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Allerton, the three-time ASBK champion, is moving to Yamaha after a four-year stint with a privateer BMW team. He was fourth in the 2014 ASC title, and with the renewed backing of a factory team he'll be looking forward to sharing wins with the likes of Stauffer, Herfoss, Maxwell and Halliday and challenging for overall honours.
Seven of last year's top 10 ASC riders will saddle up again in 2015, including crack Kawasaki-riding privateers Sean Condon, Matthew Walters and Mike Jones, while Linden Magee is now a Honda satellite rider and will be amongst it as well. Jones won his maiden ASC race in last year's final round at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Of the 13 superbike riders at the opener, 12 will be on Japanese machinery, joined by Beau Beaton on a Ducati 1199 Panigale.
In the supersport class, Callum Spriggs, returning veteran Paul Young, Jay Prespepio, Luke Mitchell, and Michael Blair – all Yamaha riders except for the Kawasaki-riding Young – appear as the standouts.
You can catch all the live action on Sunday below: