Victorian Josh Waters has rated his World Superbike experience as a career highlight after putting together a consistent performance at Phillip Island’s opening round last weekend.

The 2009 Australian Superbike Champion accepted an invitation to ride as a wild card aboard a Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the world championship races, marking his anticipated WSBK debut.

Waters qualified an impressive 11th fastest in his maiden outing on the World SBK-spec Suzuki, the 24-year-old finishing 18th in race one after suffering a flat front tyre, but backed up with 13th in the second 22-lap race.

“It’s been an amazing experience to ride in my first World Superbike event,” Waters said. “The team has been awesome and the Yoshimura bike is amazing – I’ve never ridden anything like it before. The WSBK-spec bikes are so different to our Australian ones.”

Upon debut Waters battled with some of the world’s best Superbike stars, including beating dual world champion James Toseland by over five seconds in race two.

Now, Waters will set his sights on his ASBK debut for the season at Symmons Plains in Tasmania this weekend, and he looks forward to the year ahead.

“It’s been great to race against the best riders in the world, and it shows just how competitive our Australian series is,” he added. “I’m now looking forward to getting back on my own bike for the next round at Symmons Plains next weekend.”