Image: Russell Colvin.

Dual national champion Josh Waters has spoken out about his surprise addition to the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli grid ahead of this weekend’s final round at Winton.

Waters, who won the title as a rookie in 2009 and again in 2012, will ride a Custom Plates-backed Yamaha YZF-R1 as part of the Apex Motorsport team, making an immediate impact by placing second in the official pre-race test last week.

It will be the first time we’ve seen 29-year-old Waters race at a national level locally since his title-winning campaign four years ago, going on to spend the 2013-2015 seasons in the British Superbike Championship and starring at the annual Suzuka 8 Hours.

“I have been at home this year,” Waters commented. “I got to race in Japan, which was really good, but I miss racing and I wanted to get back in to it. The opportunity came up to ride, I weighed up the options and decided that I wanted to be back home competing.

“I had some good experience overseas, but I also had some difficult experiences – things were different to how I thought they were going to be. You need everything to fall in to place overseas and I just wanted to be in a place that is familiar and where I am really happy.

“We have picked the hardest round to start off, because it’s the final round and everyone has done a full year with their bikes and team. They also all should be in the best shape they have been all year.

“It probably wasn’t the smartest round to pick for that side of things, but this round I am just looking to try my hardest. I think we will improve from the test and hopefully get some good results.”

It’s expected that this will be the beginning of a fulltime return to national competition for Waters, already confirmed to be contesting the Australian Motorcycling Grand Prix support races at Phillip Island next month and potentially shooting for a third ASBK crown in 2017.

“I would like to hang around next year,” he revealed. “The series is definitely getting stronger and everyone has made their return to the main series now. They have good people involved from the media, to the rule-makers, to the head honcho – it’s all going ahead. I still would like to race overseas, but I enjoy being home, and to be based in Australia would be easier.”

Waters will be one of many former ASBK champions to be in attendance this weekend at Winton, with series organiser Motorcycling Australia today announcing that ASBK ambassadors Steve Martin and Shawn Giles will be joined by the likes of Robbie Phillis, Peter Goddard, Martin Craggill, Craig Coxhell, Adam Ferguson and Mat Mladin trackside.