Josh Waters and McMartin Racing maintain ASBK Championship lead despite difficult round at Queensland Raceway.

Josh Waters pushed through the obstacles to record two strong fourth place finishes on the McMartin Racing Ducati V4R and maintain and 18-point championship lead after the third round of the ASBK Championship at Queensland Raceway over the weekend.

The Queensland Raceway round is always a challenge for riders and teams due to the unique layout of the circuit, Josh was able to secure a second-row grid position on Saturday to set the McMartin Racing Team Ducati V4R up for a solid points haul over the weekend.

Race one saw Josh get a great jump off the line and complete the first lap in third place behind Mike Jones and Troy Herfoss. The nature of Queensland Raceway's layout ensures multiple overtakes per lap and lap two saw Josh relegated to fifth position with both Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday pushing past on the brakes. Josh managed to get the better of Allerton on lap seven to move back into fourth position, half a second behind Halliday in third. The gap stayed constant for a few laps with Josh posting consistent lap times, remarkable consistency from the Pirelli tyres and chassis setup on the McMartin Racing Ducati V4R saw Josh set his fastest lap on lap eleven before ensuring a safe finish and a solid haul of seventeen points. 

The McMartin Racing Team made a few changes to the Ducati Panigale V4R for race two to allow Josh to challenge for the podium. Race two started well with Josh holding down third position despite constant pressure from Halliday for the first thirteen laps. Halliday was able to finally find his way past as Josh had been setting extremely consistent lap times throughout the entire race, differing by only .5 of a second until the final lap when Josh rode sensibly to secure another fourth place and the solid championship points that accompany it.

Josh and the McMartin Racing Team Ducati V4R continue to lead the ASBK Championship by eighteen points heading into round four at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway in June.

“I would have really liked to be on the podium for at least one of the races” Commented Josh Waters. “We were quite close, and we made a step forward for race two but just wasn't enough. But this round was always going to be difficult, and I knew yesterday in Q2 I was on the limit and I did crash so in the two races today I needed to be smart. The team did a lot of work early in the weekend, even early this morning we were going through information to work out how we could make the bike better, so as always, a massive thanks to the team for all their effort this weekend. We now move on to Darwin, it won't be easy either, but I look forward to the challenge and I’m really looking forward to riding the McMartin Racing Ducati V4R around there”

“The weekend wasn't what we were hoping for, but we tried our best and we are just disappointed that we couldn't give Josh the bike that he needed to win both races” said Team Manager Craig McMartin. “I honestly think that Josh is good enough to win at every track if we give him the right bike. The team worked really hard all weekend and I really want to thank them all, we've been working really hard and Josh rode really well, but we move on to the next one and hopefully get a better result. Fourth is still not the end of the world so you've got to be smart he got two strong finishes so we're quite happy, you can’t win them all”.