Ben Attard and Aprilia's RSV4 have been gaining momentum so far in 2011.

The i-Style Natural Aprilia Racing Team continued its progression in the 2011 Australian Superbike Championship at Symmons Plains’ second round in Tasmania last weekend, with Ben Attard scoring sixth overall.

Attard sits fourth in the title chase after two rounds, his sixth place in race one coming after a late passing maneuver on Suzuki’s Robbie Bugden.

“We are definitely close to the front, not quite in that fighting pack yet which is where I really want to be but we’re only three or four tenths off which is not much,” the Queenslander said.

“We just need to find a little more in the chassis, the bike is plenty quick enough and we’ll just keep our concentration on the chassis now.”

Race two was almost a carbon copy of race one, however Attard ended up seventh after running off the track during the middle stages.

“I ran off in race two, just pushing too hard and tucked the front going into turn two,” Attard explained. “I ran off track and lost a few positions, we were going good, right on the back of the lead group and that’s when Robbie and Craig [Coxhell] got by.

“I got Craig and then was after Robbie but just ran out of laps, I was lining him up but the chequered flag came out and that was that. It’s frustrating because I don’t think the results look as good as I’d hoped and what we deserve at the moment but I’m sure our time will come.”

Team principal Steve Trinder was full of praise for both Attard and the Aprilia RSV4 following sixth and seventh places in Tasmania.

“It’s been a wonderful weekend, although I don’t feel the results show how far we have come,” he said. “Even though we are running around in sixth, it’s a very tight sixth, we’re talking tenths of a second.

“I have no doubt right now that it’s not our rider – Ben is doing a fantastic job, doing everything we are asking of him. We just need to get that chassis package developed around him and he will be fighting for the lead, I’m very confident about that.

“The first two rows would have to be one of the strongest fields I’ve ever seen in Australian Superbike racing, they are all current or former champions, there are no slouches out there.

“The Aprilia has come forward in leaps and bounds, speed is not an issue – we’ve got one of the fastest bikes on track and once we get this chassis to suit him 100 percent we’ll be in there and fighting for the lead.”

Round three of the Viking Group ASBK will be held at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Circuit in the Northern Territory over the weekend 14-17 April.