Josh Waters and Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech back on race and round podiums at Morgan Park.

Josh Waters and Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech Ducati V4R have maintained their ASBK championship lead with third place overall for the Morgan Park round held over the weekend 12-14 July.

With only limited time to test in the lead up to this pivotal round, and to get Josh, once again, familiar with the Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech Ducati V4R after testing for the upcoming Suzuka 8 Hour race to be held next weekend, Friday’s practice sessions took on a high level of importance.

The Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech team worked through their plan to ensure Josh was able to successfully progress through a closely packed Q1, ten riders covered by only one second. Unfortunately, the Q2 session was red flagged twice and declared with time remaining meaning Josh never got to utilise his new tyre option and would start both the sixteen lap races from fourth position. 

Josh got a good start in the opening race and slotted the Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech Ducati V4R into fourth position early on, finishing the first lap right behind pole sitter Broc Pearson. For the first eleven laps of the race, whilst maintaining track position, Josh was a model of consistency, able to reel off laps that only differed by .4 of a second. Over the final laps, despite closing in on Max Stauffer for third Josh was unable to find a way past and finished the race right on his tail in fourth.

The second race got underway in slightly cooler conditions and as the field made their way through turn one Josh was busy holding off a challenge from Glenn Allerton, maintaining fourth position through the first sector. Allerton was determined to get past and made a lunge on the brakes at turn ten on lap one relegating Josh back to fifth. Josh once again showed remarkable consistency in his lap times, this time differing by even less than race one and with Allerton crashing out on lap five the Gotzinger McMartin Racing with K-Tech rider was back in fourth. By lap ten Josh had caught Max Stauffer and made the pass to move into third position, which he held to the chequered flag.

Josh Waters now leads the 2024 title race by a margin of seventeen points over Mike Jones.

“That was a nice way to cap off round four of ASBK here at Morgan Park, third in the second race and third overall for the round” commented championship leader Josh Waters. “As is always the case here, the field was so tight and it was fun battling in the front pack across both races today, and ultimately managing to bring home some crucial championship points. We maintain a seventeen-point lead in the championship standings as we now look ahead to Phillip Island in just under two months. As always, huge shoutout to the Gotzinger McMartin Racing Team with K-Tech for all their hard work across the weekend”.

"The weekend didn't turn out as good as I would have liked but I am still very happy with third overall” said Team Owner Craig McMartin. “Ideally we needed to be on the front row but with the two red flags in qualifying we didn't get to put in a good lap so didn't have the track position of the start. Josh rode well in both the races to consolidate the championship lead and we look forward to Phillip Island”.