Carrick’s Alastair Seeley has commenced development work on the Kawasaki Superbike and Superstock machines he will ride for Mar-Train Racing at the North West 200 in May.

Seeley is also clocking up the miles on his British Supersport Yamaha R6 at the annual Pro-Test at Cartagena, organised by Barry Symmons.

The 34-year-old has joined Tim Martin’s title-winning outfit for 2014 and Seeley is already highly impressed with the YZF-R6.

The Ulster star, who narrowly missed out on the Supersport crown last season to Scotsman Stuart Easton, has already completed a three-day shakedown at Almeria before travelling to Cartagena, where he tested his Kawasaki ZX-10R machines for the first time.

The two-time British champion clinched victory in the Superstock race at last year’s weather-battered meeting on the north coast on a Kawasaki and believes the ZX-10R is the right machine to fire him to glory in the premier Superbike class.

Conditions at Almeria were less than perfect, but Seeley, whose Superstock and Supersport double in 2013 increased his tally of wins at the North West to ten, has been back out on all three machines at Cartagena.

“The weather was far from perfect for the three days [at Almeria] with heavy winds and a bit of rain, but we overcame a few little problems with chatter,” he said.

“It was all about finding the correct Metzeler tyre combinations, but I think we’ve solved the problem, although we will have another day on the ZX-10s at Cartagena this week.”

Assessing his run on the Supersport machine, Seeley - who won the British title in 2011 - added: “I did a couple of laps on the team’s British Supersport bike pretty much the way it left Brands after winning the championship and the only thing I changed were foot-peg and handlebar positions.

“The boys tell me I was half a second under Jack’s [Kennedy] best time so it sets us up well for the start of the year when we can be doing that in our first test. I just couldn’t fault that wee bike.”

Bradford’s Dean Harrison, who will ride for Mar-Train Racing in the Supersport class at the international road races, is also testing in Spain.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and Tommy Bridewell are also present at Cartagena, while Ian Hutchinson is in action on the FFX Yamaha YZF-R1 he will ride in the British Superbike Championship this year.

Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins and Josh Waters have had their first run on the GSX-R1000 machines and are joined by Supersport rider Taylor Mackenzie.

International road racing stars Guy Martin and William Dunlop have already rattled off over 350 laps between them at Almeria and the pair are due to undertake further testing at Cartagena on Saturday and Sunday as the test reaches a conclusion.



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