Image: Russell Colvin.

Twenty-one-year-old Michael Blair had his first sample aboard the Blairbuild Yamaha YZF-R1 last Monday and Tuesday during Australian Superbike testing at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Blair, who finished third in last year’s YRD-backed Supersport championship in the Australasian Superbike Championship will step up to the premier class in the 2016 season.

“It was pretty much a perfect two days’ worth of testing,” Blair said. “It’s the first time we are here at Phillip Island on the ‪‎Blairbuild‬ ‪Yamaha‬ ‪‎R1‬, and it’s not an easy track for how fast we are going. So we had to get used to the speed. It was a bit difficult at the start, but in the end we got the hang of it.”‬‬‬

Blair’s main goal was to get into the 1m34s, which he ended up doing, posting a 1m34.767s on Tuesday. That time gave him the ninth fastest time overall, 0.011s behind Robbie Bugden.

“I would have liked to have gone a bit quicker, but after doing over 100 laps over the last two days on a Superbike I have found it is a lot more physical than a Supersport bike, so I was pretty tired by the end of today,” he continued.

“Unfortunately we didn’t improve after midday, but there is nothing wrong with that. Main thing is nothing went wrong, we went faster every time we got on the bike. I’m really looking forward to the opening round of the ASBK/Phillip Island Superbike Championship in a few weeks time.”