After a challenging first Australian Superbike Championship round of the 2010 season at Phillip Island in February, Valvoline Superbike Team racer Glenn Allerton and his team have attended the three day Evolution Sports Group test at Hidden Valley in Darwin in readiness for round two of the ASBK championship, hopeful of turning his fortunes around come race day this Sunday.

Allerton announced at the test that the Valvoline Superbike Team has secured the services of legendary race tuner Ian Irving for the 2010 ASBK season after rebuilding and improving Allerton’s Honda CBR1000RR in the lead-up to the second round.

Allerton and Irving communicated well during the two days and both are looking forward to the season ahead with Irving acting in the capacity of crew chief.

“Superbikes have not raced here for over a decade and this test gives our team the opportunity to gain valuable track data and allows for time to acclimatise to the local conditions,” Allerton explained.

“Testing and basing ourselves in Darwin weeks prior to the race meeting lets me maintain my normal fitness schedule in the heat and humidity of Darwin which I believe will be crucial come the second race on Sunday afternoon.”

Allerton, Irving and the Valvoline Team technicians spent day one of the test evaluating the Hidden Valley circuit and fine-tuning Allerton’s Fireblade. Day two found Allerton to be second fastest, with only the current Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters of the factory Suzuki team outpacing the Honda rider.

Allerton missed the third day of the test due to flying out of Australia at the invitation to test with a Yamaha team that he will contest the Asian Road Race Series with, however he’s confident that the team has the settings to be competitive during the race weekend.