JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison will start tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race from 23rd on the grid after struggling to get the new ZX-10R to turn through the high-speed sections of the Thruxton circuit.

Ellison isn’t able to get to full throttle as the bike is running wide, so consequently is losing masses of precious time to his rivals as they are able to keep the power wound on as he has to back it off too much.

“We’ve turned the bike upside down and in and out, chasing our tails with setup. Obviously it’s a fast and bumpy track and we have found the bike isn’t reacting well and pushing me off-line,” said Ellison, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

“We’ve tried various things to make it turn on the power. We are not losing a lot in the chicanes but after the exit of that, we are losing heaps down to the last chicane. When the bike is on full throttle over the bumps, it won’t turn as much as we would like. The fast stuff, where you make up all the time, I haven’t got it to fully open yet so that’s where we are losing the time.”

To put this into perspective, Byrne’s outright lap record comprised these three sectors:

Sector one 25.655
Sector two 19.908
Sector three 28.284

Ellison best sectors from the two sessions in which he competed today make this ideal time:

Sector one 26.153
Sector two 20.608
Sector three 28.887

So you can see that sector two - the exit of Seagrave to just before the entry of Church - is where the Cumbrian is losing the most time.