Ellison positive despite frustrating day at Donington

James Ellison has left his last test ahead of the start of the 2015 MCE British Superbike season frustrated with his efforts, despite admitting that he has a lot of positives to take from the day.

The JP Speedfit Kawasaki rider spent most of the day working around problems on his machine that only materialised after returning from Spanish testing, meaning he wasn’t able to devote time to setting a faster lap on the leader board.

“We got to the stage where we had cured everything, so we went to out with a new tyre in, and immediately went a second faster. It wasn’t a clean lap and I had to pass someone, so I thought ‘right, mint!’ I have a timer on the dash that tells me if I’m up or down, and I had a quick glance down Dunlop Straight and I was 0.37 up.

“I could see there was a bike ahead of me, and just reeled this guy in – and when we got to the chicane, and he was parked in the middle of it! I got past him eventually, got to the line, and the chequered flag was out! So I got one lap on new rubber, but at least it ensured we’re quick enough.”

However, with problems addressed ahead of the opening round this weekend at the Derbyshire track, he admits that fixing them was more important than a fast lap.

“Even though it was a frustrating day sorting out those issues that only appeared here, but I’m only being negative because I know we could have been quicker! There are positives to take from it too, and we weren’t too far away, and I’m fired up and looking forward to racing now!”