Source: Josh Hook Racing.

Australian Josh Hook has made progress ahead of schedule with his sixth-place finish at Suzuka’s opening round of the 2015 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship last weekend with TSR Honda.

Hook qualified 10th and improved to sixth in the race, finishing 23.773s from Yoshimura Suzuki-mounted race winner Tsuda Takuya in a positive first showing of the year in Japan.

“We had a great weekend, the result was a lot better then we were expecting,” Hook told CycleOnline.com.au. “Throughout pre-season testing and practice/qualifying at round one we have been averaging around 10th fastest.

“Its been difficult to get my head around this high-spec machine and obviously the Bridgestone tyre is a lot better the anything I have ever been on before, so there are quite a few things I have to learn in a short time.

“I have had to change my riding style a little to get the most out of the bike and tyre, but we have been making big improvements and moving forward every session. I have to thank my team for that, they are trying absolutely everything to achieve the goal and we are both happy with the progress.”

Hook was a solid sixth in the race after charging through the field, working his way into position over the final laps on debut with the HRC-supported Honda outfit.

“Come the race, I got a really good start up to fifth, but didn’t have the pace in the opening laps,” he reflected. “I’ve been struggling to get the most out of a new tyre, but once the grip goes away a little thats when I’m strong.

“On lap four I think I was back in about ninth place, once I got into a good rhythm I started catching the guys in front and was lapping quite a bit faster then them. By last lap (lap 20) I had caught sixth and seventh place, hung it all out and managed passing the seventh-place rider into Degner 1 and the sixth-placed rider into the last corner.

“Overall sixth place was a massive achievement for me considering we haven’t been so strong leading into the race, the team had a target time to break into the 2m07s bracket and in the race I did a few 2m07.7s, so I am happy with the result.

“Round two is this weekend a Autopolis, it’s a circuit I don’t know quite as well as Suzuka, but I am looking forward to getting back on the bike and picking up where we left off.”

Australasian championship leader Troy Herfoss also made a guest appearance at Suzuka in preparation for July’s 8-Hour, qualifying 15th on an endurance-spec CBR1000RR before finishing 17th in the race with the Dream RT Sakurai Honda outfit.