Procon Maxima BMW Continues Its Championship Push in Darwin

San Diego, CA - After spending the summer testing the 2012 S 1000 RR at the fast Phillip Island circuit and claiming 2nd for Round 1, it was time to pack everything up and head 4000 km north to Hidden Valley, Darwin.  Shane Kinderis from Alpine Performance and Dave Krsevan from Kroozetune, compiled all the data from Round 1 and worked tirelessly to bring the new bike into the zone Glenn Allerton needed so that he could do what he does best,….WIN.

For those who don’t know, the 2012 S1000 RR possesses a lot of differences from the 2011 model Glenn piloted to a championship win. As the team works through the differences, new strengths are uncovered and each time they get a little closer to the perfect package.

Hidden Valley is so different to Phillip Island in many ways and the data compiled last year doesn’t closely fit the new bike and new control tires. Some of the challenges in this course include slow corners, a  long straight and the incessant heat and humidity which has both bike and rider on the verge of expiring. Crew chiefs spend just as much time trying to hydrate the crew as they do the riders allowing everyone to continue to focus.

The weekend schedule is Thursday: Open Practice; Friday: Official Practice; Saturday: Qualify and Sunday: Race. The team put together what they think will suit each rider, Glenn Allerton Superbike, Linden Magee Prostock and sent them out for practice. Straight up both riders post some of not only the fastest times, but also some of the most consistent . Both Shane and Kroozy ( aka Doctor boingo ) breath a sigh of relief, they are in the game.

Over the next couple of days, the team achieves a mixed bag of results. Linden constantly posting the fastest PS times smashing previous lap records only to be taken out by a wayward slower rider.  After rebuilding the badly damaged BMW,  Linden takes another fall going down to a trail of oil left by another rider resulting in the shutdown of the track for a lengthy cleanup. Glenn was always in the top 3, but we seemed to hit a wall in our progress, while the other teams crept a few more tenths on us.

Glenn qualified in 6th

Linden 2nd PS 11th overall

Race 1 – Glenn didn’t get the best start which allowed Josh and Robbie to get a huge gap after a couple of laps . The Procon Maxima BMW team battle with Team Honda ended up with Glenn splitting the 2 Hondas in a close to-and- fro, managing 4th place as our best result.

Linden got off well slotting into 2nd PS behind the ever improving Nick Waters. 3/4 race distance, while putting a passing move on a Superbike, had a clash of bars bumping his front brake leaver sending him off into the sand at turn 1 . Linden recovered to take 3rd.

Race 2 – The team had decided to take a new direction with some of their settings and it paid huge dividends. Glenn drove off the 2nd row of the grid better than I’ve seen him start on the Beemer and shoved it into 2nd into the 1st turn. The 2 Honda’s threw everything at him which allowed Josh to again put his head down and gap the field on the out lap by a huge margin. 2nd lap onto the straight saw GA pulling a good gap on the chasing pack and reeling in the runaway Josh Waters.

Glenn’s next lap was a full half second quicker than he had been all weekend and more importantly faster than Josh.  Just when the team thought they were back, Glenn had his charge hauled by a red flag. It was back into the pits and all focus was on doing it all again. Another ripper of a start from the 2nd row,  true to form Josh drew away with Glenn a lot closer in pursuit . It wasn’t going to be easy again with the shiny white BMW and 2 Red pests nipping at his heels. Wayne Maxwell took over 2nd, mid race and you could see GA settle in behind Wayne, comfortable he could hold off the attacking Jamie Stauffer. A couple of laps to go, GA pushed up onto the rear of Wayne’s Honda ready to pounce only to have a red flag call a premature end, leaving the team thinking of what could of been. 3 rd was an improvement, but what was better was the combination of Glenn and the S1000 was so much closer to being able to dominate again. GA 4th for the round 2 points off 2nd……… that’s how close it was.

Linden rode a great race challenging and passing quite a number of Superbikes to closely follow the hard charging Nick Waters into 2nd and 2nd overall for the round. Earning him some valuable points  in the championship after his 1st and DNF at the 1st round.