JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison has completed his first day of testing at Jerez and is only 1.4s slower than fastest man Jonathan Rea while still running a totally standard ZX-10R engine.

The Kendal native put in a best of 1’42.3 compared to Rea’s 1’40.9 and he is happy with his progress, believing the potential of the ZX-10R ion BSB trim is going to be huge.

“Day one has been really productive again. Obviously we are limited to what we can do as we are still running a completely standard engine. We have been playing a lot with spring rates and clickers on the suspension and each time making steps forward,” Ellison told bikesportnews.com this evening.

“We managed to run consistent 1’42s with a best of 1’42.3. That is faster than I was on the MotoGP bike and also pretty good compared to Jonathan Rea’s time considering he is on a full-blown World Superbike, running under the lap record on a 1’40.9.

“I’m happy with the progress so far as we still have a lot of work to do with the chasses and, as I said, we haven’t touched the motor yet as it is only two weeks old. It’s really impressive for Kawasaki to build such a competitive bike and I am excited to see its full potential.”