Suzuki Australia press release:

Team Suzuki ECSTAR Australia rider Josh Waters climbed up the Australian Superbike Championship standings at the weekend’s third round at Winton Raceway.

Waters, riding the all-new 2017 GSX-R1000, recorded seventh and eighth positions in the two 15-lap races at the technical 3km circuit, known as the ‘Nations Action Track’ and moved into sixth position in the standings with four rounds remaining.

After qualifying on the front row of the grid, the former Suzuki BSB and Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance regular with Yoshimura Suzuki, said: “It’s great to be putting the GSX-R1000 on the front row of the grid and doing it at under lap-record pace. I’m really pleased to be able to set my lap up on my own without a tow or any traffic.”

In the opening race, contested by 18 riders, there were three red flags, but on the final restart, the 30-year-old from Mildura found himself in a six-way battle in the opening laps and was pushing hard, setting his fastest lap on the fifth of the 15 laps. As the group separated, he ended up in another exciting battle and managed to bring the GSX-R1000 home in seventh position. He said: “It was an okay result, after not such a great start I ran into some problems as we found it difficult to pass. It was almost like follow the leader out there!”

In the second race, Waters was squeezed back to sixth position at the first turn. The leading group of three riders were able to make a gap and Waters was in a battle with five other riders all fighting for fourth position. In the middle stages of the race he was able to push into fifth and was on the pace to catch the fourth place rider, but he ran wide, lost several positions but fought back to bring the GSX-R1000 home in eighth.

Said Waters: “We made some changes for this race and I was feeling good. I was starting to move through the field, but unfortunately, due to a mistake in one of the turns, I lost some positions. I’m looking forward to the Darwin Round at Hidden Valley Raceway and I know the areas where we need to improve. We will work our butts-off between now and this round.”