Team Suzuki’s reigning Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters will sit out this weekend’s fourth round of the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship, effectively ruling him out of title contention for season 2010.

Waters suffered a collapsed lung and a severe concussion in a testing crash while in the United States testing last month with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki AMA Superbike team, fighting to regain fitness since the incident at Willow Springs Raceway in California.

“We go racing to win championships, but we don’t do it at the risk of our riders’ well being,” Team Suzuki manager Phil Tainton explained to MotoOnline.com.au this afternoon.

“Josh is almost there, however RACESAFE tell us that he needs just one more week to recover and he’ll be there. We want to win the championship of course, and we firmly believe that Josh could have done it, but we don’t want to risk his health.”

Waters made the trip north to Queensland from his hometown of Mildura on Wednesday, undergoing medical tests yesterday with Suzuki RACESAFE’s Simon Maas, before it was decided he should sit out the event.

The 23-year-old was at the hospital as of Friday afternoon undergoing a final MRI, however it’s a very rare chance that he will be deemed fit enough to qualify tomorrow.

Suzuki’s Superbike effort will be spearheaded by former three-time champion Shawn Giles and sattelite rider Robbie Bugden, while Troy Herfoss will continue his focus on the Supersport title chase.

Waters is expected to test with Suzuki in the coming weeks before returning to action at Phillip Island’s upcoming round alongside the V8 Supercars Championship series next month.

Another leading Superbike rider to sit out this weekend’s action will be rookie Kris McLaren, who is set to undergo surgery to a previous wrist injury after experiencing ongoing issues in recent months.