JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam says he made a lot of progress on his first day with the Kawasaki he will race in this year’s MCE British Superbike series, spending his track time at Jerez getting used to the bike and a setup with no electronics.

Haslam waited for the Spanish track to dry after some overnight rain and concentrated on getting a feeling for the bike and then started to make some changes to the setup, focus on the front end as he acquaints himself with Showa suspension.

We got around 30 laps today as we didn’t get out until one o’clock because it was damp. We made some good progress in the last hour or so I would say, mainly with the chassis settings. With it being my first day on the bike, we just stuck with the 2015 settings,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“We have all been struggling with the front end and trying different approaches but in the last period we made some big strps, just ran out of time. Tomorrow we will start with the direction we found this afternoon but we have so much more to look at and to look forward to with this bike.

“The biggest thing for me is understanding where the bike is at. It is a new bike, it’s not the same as the factory guys, there are a lot of differences so you can’t just put in a setting. We are finding our own way and we are finding our direction. I have had a few spins and arse twitches after being used to riding with electronics but it’s nice to have the throttle connection.”