Milwaukee Yamaha rider Josh Waters could not find the pace to make it into the top ten fastest times in the MCE British Superbike free practice sessions at Knockhill today.

The Aussie rider found the Scottish track ‘tough’ and discovered that small mistakes cost him that extra bit of time. But the team’s number one rider, James Ellison also struggled and he could not compete with the times set by the other factory riders.

Waters tired to improve on his form throughout the day. The rookie ended the opening free practice session in sixteenth, with a 50.751 lap. He did fractionally improve on his lap times in the final session of the day, with a 50.538, but could only scrap into the top twenty quickest times this afternoon. Waters is looking to make some changes to his bike, in the hope he can improve for qualifying tomorrow.

“It has been a really tough day today; I knew this would be a track where the smallest areas make a big difference, but this is not where we need to be,” said Waters.

“We have made some changes but at the moment we are still looking through the data to see where we can make the big steps forward we need for tomorrow and qualifying. The team will work hard together I am sure and we will see what we can come up with to try and turn this around tomorrow.”