Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters return to victory lane in Hidden Valley’s Australian Superbike Championship round last weekend, taking the overall victory and proving he is back to his best.

The overall round win marked Waters’ second in a row in the Top End, his first overall since returning from a serious head injury suffered while testing in the United States last season.

Waters was able to take Superpole, win race one and finish second in race two to take out the round, however CycleOnline.com.au has revealed that he’ll skip round three in order to travel to the U.S. for an AMA Superbike test next month.

We gave the Mildura resident a call this week to speak to him about a very important stage of his career, and as you’re about to see, he’s loving every minute of it.

Josh Waters was back at his best during Darwin's third round of the ASBK series. Image: Keith Muir.

Last weekend was a big breakthrough for you at a track you obviously really like, so how did it feel to get back in that overall winner’s circle?

Yeah, it was great, I would have loved to win the second race also to make it a perfect weekend, but it didn’t happen. Anyway, it was great to do what we did and I couldn’t believe how fast we went in the first race.

To win overall was great for myself and for Suzuki.

As you said, you were really fast in race one and broke the lap record with a lap even quicker than qualifying, so did the pace surprise you at all?

Well everyone thought we were going to go faster, but I kind of thought we’d do what we did. I remember last year how hard it was to go that fast, so yeah, I was a little bit surprised, but happy I was able to go faster than everyone else more than anything.

How about the heat? A lot of people were saying it was cooler up there and it did feel that way, so did that help with the race weekend?

Yeah, I think Sunday’s race day was hotter than last year though and it definitely wasn’t easy. It was hard, but we had great support from Suzuki Racesafe and we were really lucky there.

On Monday you had the 2011 model launch for the GSX-R600 and GSX-R750, which CycleOnline was lucky enough to be a part of, so is that something you enjoy – working with the press and riding the new bikes?

It was awesome and everyone they had down there were all great people. It was a really cool day and I wish we got to ride the bikes a little bit more because they were fantastic.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everybody has to say about them and also seeing what the public think of them when they get to ride them.

Waters was incredibly quick in race one, setting a new lap record in the process at Hidden Valley.

We broke the news that your skipping the WA round of ASBK and going to test at Miller with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki AMA team, so is that kind of a bittersweet feeling for you? On one hand you get to ride in the U.S. and prepare for the WSBK round next month, but on the other hand you’ve been quickly climbing the ASBK point standings after missing round one…

I’m really, really gutted about missing Perth because I’m only about 13 points out of second in the championship. I look at it like that and I think of what could be, but we’ve made the decision to go over and test.

I have to say a huge thank you to Suzuki Australia and the race team. For sure I’d love to be in Perth racing, but I need to chase my dream and hopefully go good at Miller.

You’re actually doing the test to learn the track before your WSBK race with Yoshimura, but since your last trip in America last year didn’t go to plan is this another opportunity for you to show the AMA teams how you operate and what you’re capable of?

Hopefully. I mean, especially after my results at Hidden Valley it makes me feel a lot better going over there and being able to go fast. I look forward to going back over and the test that I’m doing is an official AMA test so all the big hitters will be there.

To ride with the AMA Suzuki team will be really cool too.

Looking toward the WSBK weekend next month with Yoshimura Suzuki, you’ve made your debut in the series at Phillip Island, but you must be excited for your international race debut with the team on a familiar bike and at a track you get to test at beforehand…

Yeah, I really can’t wait for it. Hopefully I have a good test with the AMA team and learn the track, then I really look forward to Miller at the end of May and hopefully I can do a good job.

I’d love to go better than I did at Phillip Island, which would be great for the team, then we’ll see what happens from there.

No worries, well perfect and good luck with that. Australia is certainly behind you!

Alright, thanks for that… appreciate it.