RAF Reserves Kawasaki’s Ryan Vickers went through a raft of parts - including three different fuel tanks - at the Croft BSB test in order to be fully prepared for the Donington season opener.

The youngster, who hasn’t ridden since the Spain tests in March, was back up to speed quickly and now has the final test of pre-season before it all kicks off in a couple of weeks.

“It was a really good day of testing for us yesterday and was great to get back up to speed and get used to it all again as I haven’t ridden since the Spanish test in March,” said Vickers.

“It was a positive day and we learnt a lot, working through the areas we had focused on in Spain and continued in a good direction.

I feel like I got back into the swing of it pretty quickly and was able to get down to some good times considering I had to learn the track. In Spain we had consecutive days on track and the circuits are different from those in the UK, so to be able to compare on a British circuit with similar characteristics was good for me.

“We continued to work through changes to the electronics and chassis and the bike felt great, just like it did last time we tested – although it did take a few laps to get used to the speed again after a few months off!

“I felt good physically on the bike, which was a great feeling as although we have all been training hard, nothing compares to riding the Superbike.

“I felt like we left Spain with a good direction for the bike setup and we really worked well with the new team members and it soon felt like we had never been away. We continued in a really good direction and I feel like we have a good idea of what we need to achieve at the official test next week so that we are ready for round one.”