Aluma-Lite Wins Superstock in mixed ASBK Weekend

04-03-2010

The opening round of the Viking Group Australian Superbike and Superstock 1000cc Championship at Phillip Island was a weekend of mixed emotions for the Aluma-Lite Team as it made its return to the Australian Championships after a five year absence.

On the up-side, Ben Attard on the Aluma-Lite Ducati 1198S dominated the Superstock 1000cc class taking the fastest lap in qualifying and backed it up with two dominate victories that included a new lap record in the class. The icing on the cake was a 9th place in the second race proving that the privateer team can certainly mix it with the distributor backed teams, missing out on a better position by just 0.25sec over the factory Ducati team. He backed this fine result up with a determined 11th overall in the frantic opening race of the year with his consistency in lap times reflected that his fastest lap in both legs was on the third lap of the opening stanza.

Team mate, John Allen on the Aluma-Lite Ducati 1098R proved to be more than competitive in the premier Superbike class but conditions conspired to halt his progress as the team endeavoured to, literally, come to grips with the new control tyre introduced to the class for 2010. Allowing for a crash that had a bearing on the development process, the Queensland veteran qualified 13th and scored a 14th and 10th to finish 11th overall in the Superbike class to provide a solid foundation for the remainder of the championship season.

Team owner, manager and sometime tyre changer Derek Williams was satisfied with the overall results but is more enthused of the future prospects of the team explaining, "we knew it would be difficult for us as we had been unable to do any testing on the new control tyre to evaluate what we needed in bike setup. Saying that however, I'm delighted with the effort of the boys and also the team as they worked tirelessly to get the most out of the bikes.

"Ben was excellent in what he achieved and proved that we will be mixing it at the front of the field and proved he will be favourite for the Superstock title. John had a difficult weekend that wasn't made any easier by a crash on Friday that upset his progress. That was unusual because I can't remember the last time he hit the deck.

"We can take a lot of information out of the weekend to move forward and we now know we have the talent and the equipment to mix it at the very front. The biggest problem for us and the rest of the field is to get the most out of the new control tyre."

Ben Attard Superstock 1000cc.
Race one- 1st, Race two- 1st.
Fastest lap: 1.36.493 - New Superstock 1000cc Lap record

"I suppose I can't start a season better than that but the Ducati 1198S is just superb to ride. I so very happy to be back withthe team. It's one of the best weekends i've had in a long while and it was so much fun to be racing there. To finish ninth overall in the second race with John right behind me shows what potential we have for the rest of the year.

"Combined with the backing of the team and all the work the boys put in getting the bike ready, it makes my job a little easier. I knew after qualifying that we had a great chance of a top ten in one of the races and I think with a bit better start in the first race we could've got a double.

"The second race was a lot better and I had some great dices with a few other riders as I was able to push really hard to get past a few after another average start. The Ducati seems to love the Phillip Island layout and I'm not disappointed with any of the results although we still have a bit of work to do to get the combination at its best between the new control tyres and the Ducati."

John Allen, Superbike
Race one -11th, Race two- 10th, 11th Overall.
Fastest Lap: 1:36.773

"It's definitely not the sort of weekend I had in mind before we went down there but we had a lot of issues trying to get the tyres to work. The older1098R is a sensational bike and I'm very disappointed in myself for crashing on the Friday. That put us all behind but saying that I suppose I shouldn't be too disappointed as considering the lack of testing with the bike and tyres compared to some of the other teams we are not too far off and I don't think it will be too long before we bridge the gap to the factory teams. The team did a sensational job to get the bike back to its best after I put some crash damage on it!

"The next meeting up in Darwin should give us a further improvement and get us a little closer to the front plus it will be the firs time that everyone has been up there so we will be on more of an even playing field."

The next meeting for the Aluma-Lite Racing Team will be at the Hidden Valley circuit in the Northern Territory, April 8-11 2010