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Wayne Maxwell gives new R1 its first podium

Australia was the first country to see the all new Yamaha YZF-R1M being raced in anger last weekend at the opening round of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park, formally known as Eastern Creek.

With limited preparations due to the recent arrival down under, the Yamaha Racing Team with Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance (YRT with YMI) crew showed the new machine is more than capable of winning races at a national level in almost road going trim.

The bikes were basically wheeled from the truck and out onto the 3.9km circuit and directly to the top of the time sheets on the Friday qualifying with twenty-six-year-old Cru Halliday claiming pole position with a time of 1’30.829, 0.442s faster than his new teammate and the reigning Australian FX-Superbike and Australasian Superbike Champion Wayne Maxwell. Making it a Yamaha 1-2-3 was the three times Australian Superbike champion, Glenn Allerton who was 0.505s behind Halliday’s time.

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As the weekend progressed, the YRT team were able to collect valuable information and data on the new machines that will hold them in good stead for the coming rounds and the riders were able to get all important track time to whet their appetite as the championship progresses.

In terms of racing results, thirty-two-year-old Maxwell from Cranbourne in Victoria was the highest placed Yamaha rider in Saturday’s Australian FX-Superbike round with a fourth place after scoring two fourth places. Four points down on Maxwell was Halliday with Allerton two points behind in sixth position.

Sunday’s Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship saw Maxwell and Halliday locked on thirty-eight points together, but with Maxwell scoring a 4-3 result to Halliday’s 3-4 result, Maxwell claimed the first third place podium finish of the year on a count back. Allerton finished fifth after bolting together a 6-5 result.

So what did the three riders think of the all new R1M? Halliday told bikesportnews.com that the bike handles very, very well for a stock standard machine. “It’s faster than I expected to be honest. The R1M is simply unreal when it comes to speed and just how well it corners. In saying that we definitely have a lot of improving to do on the bike, but that is to be expected on a new motorcycle. The guys at YRT know what they are doing and I’m 100% confident they will get this bike even better in the coming rounds.”

“The R1M stood up to the challenge today which is a full credit to the guys at Yamaha Racing Team,” said Maxwell. “The team prepared an awesome bike with the limited time parts they had. We need to work on the throttle to rear wheel connection to make the Yamaha R1M a little bit smoother on the way it delivers its power. It has a lot of power, so you have to try and control that, so we will work on that one. We will also work on a bit more front end feel that we’re chasing as well.”

Allerton knows that his new machine has a lot of potential. “The Yamaha R1M does have a lot of potential and I’m really happy with the front end feel the bike gives me. We showed how good the bike was in qualifying, so the pace is already there. Just some small development to the rear is on the cards at our next test at Malalla to bridge the gap to the Hondas.”

For the past few years, Allerton has piloted a BMW S1000RR and a HP4 machine, and admitted that he has been ‘locked’ into riding a certain way, so he just has to change his riding style a bit to suit the new machine.

The Australasian Superbike Championship now heads to Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia for round two of the championship on May 15-17.

This weekend British fans will get to see and hear the all new R1M in race action at the opening round of the MCE Insurance BSB championship when A-Plant Yamaha’s Aaron Zanotti and Australian duo of Broc Parkes and Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) put the new machine through its paces at Donington Park.

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