Allerton won comfortably ahead of Jamie Stauffer this afternoon at Symmons Plains. Image: TBG Sport/Andrew Gosling.

Valvoline Superbike Team rider Glenn Allerton has described his win in the opening Viking Group Australian Superbike race at Symmons Plains as the ultimate high after admitting the past 12 months had been the toughest of his career.

From fourth on the grid, Allerton put his head down following a solid start to the 14-lap race, and faced few challenges as he fired in fastest lap after fastest lap to take victory by 1.635 seconds over pole sitter Jamie Stauffer.

The 2008 Australian Superbike Champion has worked tirelessly towards success this season, and while not in the title hunt this weekend, is rapt with the result.

“I got a reasonable start and knew that it was going to be a race where there would be some big breaking duels between the boys,” said Allerton.

“I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of that because I didn’t have the best straight line speed this weekend going off practice and qualifying.

“I tried to get to the front straight away and as soon as I did just tried to do my qualifying laps each time, stringing as many perfect laps together as I could.

“The gap got out to about 1.5 seconds and someone started closing but I knew I had it, I’d worked this hard and wasn’t about to let it go. A huge thanks has to go out to Valvoline and the boys at the team who deserve this win.

“For me it’s a massive relief, I train so hard during the off-season and when we’re not racing, and the last 12 months have been really hard to get my career back on track.

“It paid off today and it feels absolutely awesome.”

The race was an enthralling one up front, with a number of position changes as riders pushed braking limits at the high-speed approach to the hairpin and again at the end of the back straight.

Jamie Stauffer’s second place finish was deserved, with the Ducati Motologic pilot putting a strong passing move on Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters on lap 6 to take over second place.

Positions three to five were debated for the entire 14-lap duration, with Waters impressively holding off the two remaining championship contenders, Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing’s Bryan Staring and Demolition Plus GAS Honda’s Wayne Maxwell.

Staring was able to add to his points lead today but not enough to sew up the title which will be decided tomorrow.

He fought hard to finish fourth from eighth on the grid following a dramatic crash during this morning’s Motul Superpole session.

On his flying lap, the 23-year-old lost the front end of his bike heading into the final corner, and was sent heavily to the ground.

Symmons Plains lap record holder, The Natural Aprilia Racing Team’s Daniel Stauffer met with the same misfortune on the opening lap.

His season-best qualifying position of fifth aboard the RSV4 was the only highlight today as he made an early exit in a carbon copy of Staring’s earlier incident.

Suzuki riders Robbie Bugden and Scott Charlton battled for much of the race, with the former beating the latter to the line by a mere two-tenths of a second.

Tomorrow’s 16-lap race will be held at 1.10pm and will see a new addition to the list of Superbike champions which includes names such as Malcolm Campbell, Mat Mladin and Troy Corser, amongst others.

Team Suzuki’s Troy Herfoss won the 14-lap Supersport race from Triumph’s Christian Casella and Suzuki’s Brodie Waters, and maximum points means he cannot be beaten to the title for 2010.

Gobert Motorsports rider Aaron Gobert lead early on from third on the grid before Herfoss made his way through, and then a three-way battle ensued for the runner-up position between Casella, Waters and Gobert – finishing in that order.

The fight for fifth was another entertaining one, with Ben Burke riding his privateer Yamaha to the position after a tight battle with Nick Waters, younger brother of Josh and Brodie.

The Insure My Ride Australian Supersport class will round out the season with a second and final 16-lap race from 1.50pm tomorrow.

Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship
Symmons Plains, Tasmania

Superbike Race One:
1. Glenn Allerton (Valvoline Superbike Team)
2. Jamie Stauffer (Ducati Motologic Racing)
3. Joshua Waters (Team Suzuki)
4. Bryan Staring (Cougar Bourbon Honda Racing)
5. Wayne Maxwell (Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing)
6. Robert Bugden (Team Suzuki)
7. Scott Charlton (Racers Edge Performance Suzuki)
8. Kris McLaren (McLaren Motorsports Honda)
9. Beau Beaton (North Coast V-Twins/Agip Racing Ducati)
10. Craig Coxhell (CJC Racing BMW)

Supersport Race One:
1. Troy Herfoss (Team Suzuki)
2. Christan Casella (AARK Racing Triumph)
3. Brodie Waters (Waters Racing/Sunstate Racing Suzuki)
4. Aaron Gobert (Gobert Motorsports Yamaha)
5. Ben Burke (Yamaha)

Click here for detailed results