Bugden and Halliday ready to go for Qld round

Yamaha Racing Team’s Robbie Bugden and Cru Halliday are looking forward to the third round of the 2014 Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship as it makes its way to Queensland Raceway this weekend, 28-29 June.

The much hyped Swann Series impressed everyone at the second round at Mallala in South Australia, and important points will be on the line in Queensland as the series reaches its’ halfway mark.

For Bugden, he has openly admitted that after a disappointing first round, things are back on track for YRT, and that they will be attacking the Queensland round head on.

“Obviously going to my home track now at Queensland Raceway, I won the round there last year and I will be looking to do the same this year,” he said.

“This year having made the move over to Yamaha and having a real battle at that first round, it put the championship probably at a little bit of a step too far away.

“But in saying that, we had a bad round, Glenn Allerton just had a bad round, if the Hondas have a bad round then we will be right back in it.

“For me personally I just want to go to these race meetings and do the best I can – and I think that a round win is not too far away.”

For teammate Halliday who is in his first year racing the Superbike Class, he believes the team is getting stronger as the year progresses, and that a top three result is in his sights for this weekend.

“I’m pretty confident about this round. We had some good testing times and especially after the high of Mallala, I’m going into this round feeling good,” he said.

“The test day went really well – we actually went a bit quicker than what we thought we were going to end up going. Robbie set the benchmark so I know that the Yamaha R1 can do that.

“Queensland Raceway is a good track, especially for spectators watching the racing. For the bikes it’s a late breaking track and I’ve seen the testing times and there are about 13 guys that could run up front this weekend.

This weekend I’m hoping for a top three, if not a top five finish. I set my standards pretty high for myself and the team is getting stronger and stronger as the year goes on.”

Round three of the Swann Superbike Series will kick off this weekend June 28-29 at Queensland Raceway. For more information head to www.fxsuperbikes.com.au

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