Leon Haslam has revealed he turned down a test role with Aprilia’s MotoGP squad in order to come back to the MCE British Superbike series in 2016.

The Derby rider also passed on some second-string satellite World Superbike rides because he wanted to be competitive, run at the front of a championship and win as many races as possible, so he signed for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team - which is fully factory supported next year.

“There were opportunities to become a test rider for a year. Testing for the Aprilia MotoGP team was one of the options I had but in my heart I want to race. I do enjoy testing and I have ridden for pretty much every manufacturer now but there is nothing like racing, nothing like winning and I need to do that. After being injured for the last couple of seasons and being on bikes that weren’t capable, I wasn’t having any fun,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“To have a year out was a possibility but only if it guaranteed me something competitive the year after but there were none of those and taking that time off is a big risk. I have chosen the being competitive route. Looking at what James (Ellison) had done convinced me of that. James has won races with the team and now they have the full Kawasaki support - it’s a new bike that Jonathan (Rea) says is a massive step forward. He was already singing the 2015 bike’s praises but the improvements this year are big.”

Read the full and exclusive interview in the current issue of Bikesport News.