Milwaukee Yamaha team boss Shaun Muir believes there is light at the end of the tunnel for his Aussie rider Josh Waters after radical setup changes at Snetterton yesterday saw him find some of the feel and pace he needs to compete.
The two-time Australian Superbike Champion has been struggling to find any feel from the front-end of his YZF-R1 but an alteration to forks and off-set at the Norfolk circuit saw him knock a second off his laptime and get back some of the confidence he badly needs.
"I think we saw a light at the end of the tunnel yesterday. We put in some radical changes to the setup, especially with the offset and although Josh still wasn't happy, he was able to find a second, so now we have somewhere to work from," said Muir, speaking to bikesportnews.com.
"Josh has not become a poor rider overnight. He is a class performer with the right feeling, the right tools and the right bike underneath him. The whole team is feeling his pain right now, and it my job to ensure that we can overcome this situation as soon as possible.
"We have a team meeting on Monday to plan the week out. Pete Jennings (crew chief) is looking into more setup options, Mick Shanley (James Ellison's crew chief) is helping out too with other ideas and between them I am sure we can get Josh in a good place. It’s a team effort and nobody more than James’ side of the garage will be more than delighted to see Josh at the front."
"I've been struggling to get a feel for the bike and it has been frustrating for the team. We have made adjustments but it didn't seem to make a difference. Same laptimes no matter what, until now so I have got a little bit of my confidence back, which will help," added Waters after the test.