Maxwell in command in opening Superbike race at Phillip Island Wayne Maxwell has said he has no option but to win in order to remain in the hunt for his maiden QBE Australian Superbike Championship title. The 29-year-old stuck to his guns today with a gutsy victory over points leader Josh Waters in the first of two 12-lap races at Phillip Island. The Team Honda Racing pilot has been the man to beat since the field rolled out for the first practice, topping every session dry and wet and snaring his first Superpole victory of the season in the process. Maxwell started today’s race from pole but it was Racer’s Edge Suzuki rider Scott Charlton who was fast off the mark. The experienced Charlton led momentarily before the Suzukis of Waters and Robbie Bugden ranged in, with the current championship leader taking the advantage early. Waters began to gap the field but found himself in the clutches of Maxwell by lap 4. Waters’ smooth, flowing style contrasted the aggressive approach of Maxwell, who had his Honda at its limits under brakes. The lead changed on lap 8 as Waters allowed Maxwell to share the workload, but lap traffic in the closing stages meant the Suzuki lost crucial ground to the Honda to finish 1.466s down at the wave of the chequered flag. “We’ve got a long uphill battle ahead of us still,” said Maxwell. “We need to win we don’t have an option. “If we’d finished second in the opening race at round 1 then things would be very tight in terms of points, but we can’t change that now. “The guys are working super hard to customise this bike to my needs. I’m pretty hard to please but I appreciate their hard work and it’s getting results when we need them.” Waters said he would keep his head down and keep scoring consistent points for his championship campaign. “I got a good start and pulled away a bit but it is so hard if you don’t have enough of gap, you risk wrecking the tyre,” said Waters. “I knew Wayne was there and I thought I might let him do a bit of the work at the front but it didn’t pay off I got caught up with another rider and couldn’t make the ground back.” Maxwell’s teammate Jamie Stauffer got the better of Bugden and Procon Maxima BMW’s Glenn Allerton in a race-long battle for the final podium spot. Stauffer hit the magic 300km/h mark, the only rider in the race to do so, on his way to a deserved third place. “I got a bad start and was trying to push hard to come back early and nearly crashed, I just had to put my head down and do what I could to hold out Robbie and Glenn,” said Stauffer. “We’ll make a few tweaks to the bike overnight and hopefully be there racing with Wayne for the win.” Bugden continued his strong run of results to finish fourth ahead of Allerton who rounded out the top 5. Four Suzuki riders engaged in a no-holds-barred battle for 6th place, with factory rider Ben Attard eventually getting the nod over Cube Racing’s Ben Henry. Charlton and Brodie Waters were also in the mix, with the four trading positions and paint in an entertaining scrap for the full 12 laps. Riders will contest a second 12-lap race tomorrow to determine overall results for the fourth of seven rounds in the 2012 championship. AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE C’SHIP at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria. Rd 4: Qualifying: W Maxwell (Honda) 1m34.134s 1, J Waters (Suzuki) 1m34.179s 2, R Bugden (Suzuki) 1m34.940s 3, J Stauffer (Honda) 1m34.978s 4, G Allerton (BMW) 1m35.352s 5, S Charlton (Suzuki) 1m35.434s 6, B Attard (Suzuki) 1m35.799s 7, B Waters (Suzuki) 1m36.324s 8, B Henry (Suzuki) 1m36.351s 9, L Magee (BMW) 1m37.163s 10. Superpole: W Maxwell (Honda) 1m34.905s 1, J Waters (Suzuki) 1m35.034s 2, J Stauffer (Honda) 1m35.678s 3, R Bugden (Suzuki) 1m37.458s 4. Race 1: W Maxwell (Honda) 1, J Waters (Suzuki) 2, J Stauffer (Honda) 3, R Bugden (Suzuki) 4, G Allerton (BMW) 5, B Attard (Suzuki) 6, B Henry (Suzuki) 7, S Charlton (Suzuki) 8, B Waters (Suzuki) 9, L Magee (BMW) 10.