It was anticipated to be a race full of action, and the first race for the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli did not disappoint, with fans treated to an opener like no other at Phillip Island this morning.
Thousands of spectators streamed through the circuit gates this morning, the punters rushing to get trackside to see the first Superbike race of the 2016 championship get underway.
When race one started, it was Team Yamaha‰Ûªs Wayne Maxwell who was first off the line in pole position, but it was young DesmoSport Ducati‰Ûªs Mike Jones who led the pack into the first corner of the ten-lap race.
Coming off the first lap and onto the straight, the pack began to separate, but it was Yamaha‰Ûªs Allerton who emerged as the race leader. And with a clear track ahead, Allerton began to focus on stretching out his lead, with Jones hot on the Yamaha rider‰Ûªs tail.
With one lap in the books, the running order was Allerton with the race lead, while Jones held down second position, followed by Crankt Protein Honda Racing‰Ûªs Troy Herfoss in third. Jamie Stauffer (Crankt Protein Honda Racing), and Jon Daniels Racing‰Ûªs Daniel Falzon followed closely behind in fourth and fifth respectively.
Just as riders began to settle in to their positions, spectators were left gobsmacked when Stauffer clipped the rear wheel of team-mate Herfoss, seeing Stauffer go down in a spectacular crash, and slide in front of the crowd down Gardner Straight, marking the end of race one for the Honda rider.
Despite the crash, Stauffer got to his feet, and spectator focus returned to the epic Australian Superbike race which was unfolding in front of them.
With Allerton and Jones with a slight gap on the rest of the field in first and second positions, the attention shifted to the battle for third with Herfoss, Falzon and Yamaha‰Ûªs Cru Halliday locked into a three-way battle.
Despite Herfoss appearing unscathed by the earlier incident with his teammate, the Honda rider dropped back to fourth behind Allerton, Jones and Falzon who continued to lead the way. And it wasn‰Ûªt long before all eyes became fixed on Yamaha‰Ûªs Maxwell who was clearly on a charge, passing Halliday for fifth and eyeing off the front of the pack.
And all it took was Falzon to run wide through a turn, and in the blink of an eye Maxwell breezed past both the Jon Daniels rider and Honda‰Ûªs Herfoss, to position his Yamaha in third by lap five.
With only a few laps remaining of the ten-lap race, Allerton maintained his lead, followed by Jones in second and Maxwell who had recently joined the front two riders in third.
Despite Allerton running wide in a turn, and Jones battling the power of his Ducati machine, in the closing staged of the race, the top three athletes managed to hold on to their front positions -Allerton collecting the first Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance Superbike race win, ahead of Jones in second, and Allerton‰Ûªs teammate Maxwell who put on an outstanding performance to finish third.
Allerton was clearly elated after his first ASBK race win of the year, mentioning that the big screens at the Island made managing the gap that tiny bit easier.
‰ÛÏTwo weeks ago we weren‰Ûªt even coming here so to take out the win and be leading the championship straight off the bat is pretty amazing,‰Û
