Dunlop impresses during first test on MSS Kawasaki

William Dunlop impressed during his first test on the MSS Colchester Kawasaki at Cartagena in Spain, where the Ulster road racing star set his fastest ever lap last week.

The multiple North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix winner will ride the machine in the Superstock class at the international meetings this season plus the Irish National road races.

Dunlop, whose line-up of machinery for 2016 includes the Chris Dowd Racing Yamaha R1 Superbike and YZF-R6 Supersport machines, also evaluated a selection of Metzeler tyres, with the tyre company's Racing Manager, Jason Griffiths, in attendance to offer support and advice.

"It was a really positive test and important to get a good run of track time on what basically started out as a road bike with some suspension on it," said Dunlop, who is also set to compete in a number of British Superstock 1000 rounds this season.

"I would never have imagined to make my fastest ever laps around Cartagena on such a bike and to do that even with making changes and getting over small issues is a testament to the team.

"Nick [Morgan] and 'Jeb' [John Cobbold] have so much experience on what makes the bike work that they made the job easy and enjoyable for me. As everyone knows if you're enjoying riding you go fast. It's quite funny as that was the first time I'd actually properly met Nick," he added.

"It was also great to have the support of Jason and Metzeler out there, it gives me so much confidence having worked the tyres so hard. I'm happy and looking forward to the next test."

MSS Performance owner Morgan was full of praise for Dunlop and said the first test had exceeded his expectations.

"I'll be honest we approached the test not really knowing what to expect as we weren't looking for an outright fast circuit lap, which is what made the result so satisfying," said Morgan.

"It exceeded my expectations; we got through so much testing and information while William is so methodical and professional to work with it was a pleasure."

"William had never ridden a ZX-10R so it was acclimatisation, but we soon realised that we were into proper testing territory and it was great to see him achieve his fastest ever time round there - perfect!"