Image: Keith Muir.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s first appearance in the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli with Josh Waters was an impressive one at Phillip Island this afternoon.

In the first 30-minute session of the season, former dual ASBK champion Waters stunned by slotting into fourth on the brand new GSX-R1000R.

Waters’ full-time return to ASBK was uncertain until an 11th-hour Suzuki dealer team was formed prior to the 2017 model’s recent world launch at Phillip Island, where he circulated on a stock bike among the Australian press and dealers.

Today marked Waters’ first appearance with Team Suzuki Ecstar aboard the Phil Tainton Racing-prepared GSX-R1000R in race-trim and already he’s just on half a second from the pace-setting time of Yamaha Racing Team’s Wayne Maxwell.

“It was great to ride the new bike for the first time in race-trim, even though it’s quite standard still,” Waters told CycleOnline.com.au. “It was a good first hit-out and we’ve got a few things we’d like to change for tomorrow to hopefully improve it further.

“Honestly, I didn’t [expect to be so close to the top], so that was a bit of a surprise. All of our main competitors were at the test earlier on and three weeks ago it wasn’t even confirmed that we’d be racing. I think it was a really good start to the weekend and series for us.”

With another free practice and a single qualifying session scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, Team Suzuki Ecstar will continue to make minor adjustments to the GSX-R1000R of Waters, which is significantly standard for round one as the team awaits the arrival of parts into the country.