Features 7 Mar 2011

Post Race with Josh Waters

MotoOnline.com.au catches up with Aussie Superbike returnee Josh Waters following Symmons Plains.

Last weekend’s second round of the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship at Symmons Plains in Tasmania marked the return of Josh Waters, the Team Suzuki rider immediately returning to his winning ways in race one.

Waters raced to fourth in the second leg for second overall, however the weekend wasn’t all smooth sailing for the 24-year-old as he took longer than expected to readapt to his ASBK GSX-R1000 during early practice sessions.

With a new race lap record of 53.475 set on lap seven during race one, Waters proved he was well and truly back on the pace – possibly even still in contention for the 2011 title despite missing round one.

MotoOnline.com.au called the Mildura local this afternoon to get his rundown on his weekend in Tasmania.

The ever popular Josh Waters returned for Team Suzuki at Symmons Plains, winning race one before scoring second overall. Image: TBG Sport/Andrew Gosling.

The ever popular Josh Waters returned for Team Suzuki at Symmons Plains, winning race one before scoring second overall. Image: TBG Sport/Andrew Gosling.

Your ASBK comeback didn’t start out so good, but you were able to recover and end up qualifying second before winning the first race of the weekend. Second overall was the end result, so were you satisfied with how the weekend panned out?

Yeah, at the start of the weekend I wasn’t so happy but at the end now that I look back I am really happy. It was great to win a race and also great to finish second overall on the podium. I have to say a huge thanks to Suzuki for staying behind me.

You weren’t too far off the pace on Friday, but it all seemed to click on Saturday afternoon. What was it that took a while to adapt back to your ASBK bike?

It just has a completely different feel to what the Yoshimura Suzuki World Superbike had and before that I’d been testing on the tyres I had to race WSBK on. I hadn’t ridden on the Dunlops all year, so it was just getting used to them – they’re extremely good.

It just took me a while to work into things. Also, the last five times I’d ridden a bike was all on the WSBK bike, so once I got back into the swing of things it worked out pretty good.

Race one saw you fight through the field in the middle stages to win and you had that same plan in race two but weren’t quit able to get it done, but both races were really exiting on the weekend…

Yeah, well before the race I knew it would be a battle of five guys. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Race one was awesome for me and then in race two I thought I could do the same thing, but just when I started to push in the last five laps I almost crashed a couple of times.

I almost caught them, but I think everybody was in the same boat and we were all having moments. Fourth in that race was good though – it just shows how tough the Australian championship is.

Waters impressed enough at Phillip Island to earn himself another WSBK ride with Yoshimura at Miller in the U.S. Image: TBG Sport/Andrew Gosling.

Waters impressed enough at Phillip Island to earn himself another WSBK ride with Yoshimura at Miller in the U.S. Image: TBG Sport/Andrew Gosling.

We’ve seen three different manufacturers on the podium at each of the opening two rounds, and Allerton has been really quick on the BMW. Are you guys still developing the GSX-R?

We’re always trying new things, but the bike is pretty similar and that’s good for me. I know Phil Tainton is always trying to improve the bike and in Darwin we’ll have a couple of new things to try. We’ll just keep our head down and hopefully have a good round up there.

I asked you on the weekend how many rounds you plan on racing and you said you’re not really sure just yet…

Yeah, I’m not sure but hopefully I can race the rest of the season. That’s what I want to do and I love the championship because it’s extremely tough this year. I want to put my head down and try go really good at Darwin.

If you do end up racing the rest of the series, can you still contend for the title even though you missed round one due to the WSBK event with Yoshimura at Phillip Island?

It’s still early on in the year, but I really need to be right up there at every round if I dream of that. I’ll keep trying my hardest and, to be honest, you need good luck on your side and maybe a little bad luck for others once you skip a round.

Just finally, you had the invite from Fujio Yoshimura to race the Miller WSBK round for Yoshimura Suzuki again. You must be excited for that one in May?

It’s awesome. To race the Phillip Island round was a dream come true, so now that I get to do it again I really look forward to riding over there. I have to say a huge thank you to Yoshimura Suzuki for picking me and also to Suzuki Australia for allowing me to do it.

Recent